My CEO Life

Without employees we don’t have a business – a pretty obvious statement. However it is the level of connectedness to the business that will determine how successful a business really is.

Happy, connected employees will go above and beyond to deliver great projects and service. Unhappy, disconnect employees will turn up at 9 and go home at 5.

So the challenge for management is how do you build a connected workforce?

Yes, most of us will reward managers and project leaders who have clearly lead great projects or delivered great results. However we often miss the little things. The 1 percenters (in football parlance) that really help build the business. It is often the unsung heroes that go unnoticed.
So what can be done to recognised the unsung heroes?

Some of the initiatives we have implemented are

• Employee of the month awards – these are nominted by their fellow workmates and selected by me. To be nominated, a fellow employee must actually write a paragraph or two expounding the virtues of the nominee. It is a great way for me to find out who is doing a great job in the business.
• Spot awards – these are usually for those that have really put in big time. We will occasionally send an employee and their partner away for a weekend or a dinner for two.
• Bonuses – while all employees have a bonus component to their package, we often pay above and beyond when employees have done a great job over the half year.
• Walking around – this is a simple thing but one that is as important as the above. I spend a chunk of time in the head office and other offices, walking around, chatting to folk, listening to what they are doing and relating it back to where the business is going as a whole. This is priceless.

My HR manager recently sent me an article called Recognizing Unsung Heroes by Matthew Gilbert in Workforce Management, November 2004. It talks about KeySpan Corp and how the CEO approaches recognition of unsung heroes. A must read.

1. Education and Training – The Back Bone of the Business

   I recently has the following comment on my site Curious whether you have any  leadership development requirements at your company? Thinking about the idea of implementing Six Sigma, getting prepared to suggest.  Something like all managers required to become green belts,...

2. Can Messenger Help Run a Business

   In the beginning i tossed up between allowing microsoft messenger in the business and blocking its usage.  In hindsight – that was a waste of thinking time. Microsoft messenger is now the communication’s tool of choice for the business.  Most...

3. How to Retain Great People – Part 2

   I was recently asked the question “how do you attract and retain excellent employees?”.  This entry looks at the second part of the equation. Firstly, you need to make sure that your team members are paid at least at the...

4. Constraining Employees

   I have a great senior employee who is massively eager, capable and running at a million miles per hour – in generally right direction. The challenge is not motivation, guidance or direction. The challenge is constraining him. Why constrain, i...

5. What Makes a Good CEO?

   Now this is a tricky question as it depends on the business the CEO is running. The CEO of a not for profit will have some different skills versus a CEO of a large corporate versus a CEO of a...