What do giant corporations have in common with small businesses?

The necessity of staying profitable through changing economic times and rising international competition. 

In their book “The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What they Want, ” David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind and Michael Irwin Meltzer correlate superior financial performance with high employee morale.  

That shifts the focus on building a highly motivated, enthusiastic workforce away from a "feel good" initiative toward it's rightful place as a competitive profitability strategy.

Sirota, et al, identify four ways enthusiastic employees benefit a company:

• They produce more than the job requires, working extra hours to make things happen
• They actively seek to improve things rather than maintain the status quo
• They help each other
• They identify with the organization

In increasingly diverse working environments, identifying motivators and implementing new motivational strategies can be a challenge.  Leaders seek “the answer" that will increase the enthusiasm of every employee -- but they often seek it in their own heads. 

Instead, they should simply ask and listen!

Here are several proven ways to develop effective two-way communication:

• Employee Satisfaction Surveys: It's no coincidence that many of the most financially successful companies engage in frequent polling of their employees. From survey results, leadership can see how they are perceived and begin to close the gaps between perception and reality within the organization. 

Keys to Successful Surveys:

• Surveys must be anonymous.
• Criticism must be accepted by the leadership.
• Employees should not fear retribution.
• The feedback received must be acknowledged - either with action or an explanation.

• Participatory Goal Setting:  Goal setting should be an interactive process in which employees participate in defining actions and schedules in keeping with the mission and priorities of Senior Leaders.
  
• Regular Performance Feedback:  The most effective form of communication is immediate feedback.  Give specific praise for positive behavior when it happens, publicly and in person, if possible.   Give negative feedback in private in a two-way, solution-directed conversation.
  
• Informal Conversations:  Managers who know their team members personally have an edge on motivating them. Taking five minutes to ask a question about a vacation, look at a photograph or listen to a story is an investment that every effective leader will want to make.

Communication Case Study:  Setting a Deadline that is Ignored.