Chocolate Rave

Employee morale is the subject of many corporate training programs these days.  Companies and organizations are tossing ideas back and forth about how to keep people motivated and successfully producing during the subject that is hanging over everyone’s heads at the moment, and that is the recession.  Due to many layoffs over the last few years, the employees that did manage to hold on to their jobs, are taking on more off a work load, all the while feeling the weight of long time co-workers and friends who were not so lucky.  Management teams are figuring out the best ways to keep their staff focused and engaged.  They have called upon traditional and time tested ways, but they are also being required to come up with creative and innovative ways of not only improving morale, but keeping staff productive and business moving forward.

Keeping employees in the loop, is one way to ensure that they remain involved and invested in the future of the business.  By keeping things hidden, trust begins to fail.  And while incentive programs are often in the manuals regarding the policies and procedures of a company, they and their importance is often overlooked.  When people are working hard, it’s simple…just tell them so.  Finding alternative ways to cut costs, without cutting jobs, will further employee loyalty, for one day things will turn around.  This is a way to take care of your business, while you are taking care of the individuals that allow your business to continue in a successful manner.  People are afraid, the economic situation and effects that it is having on people is real, and with leadership training the managers will find ways to come up with solutions that benefit everyone in the company.  While people are remaining productive in their jobs for fear of losing them, a more healthy productive is one that is based in positive experiences, rather than the fear of the negative ones.

The ability to listen is a dying art!  People are bombarded with information in this day and age and are often on overload.  Think about it – there are very few places that you find silence anymore.  Try it – switch of your TV, your computer and listen.  Is there silence??  Probably not…there is the sound of your refrigerator, the car passing in the street, children playing, your water heater switching on etc, etc  etc.

Have you noticed that when you overhear a conversation that its often a competition to see who can put their thoughts and ideas across first.  So rather than listening and responding participants don’t listen they just speak, and when they are not speaking they are tuned out and thinking about what they are going to say next.

When customer service staff are being trained one of the hardest lessons to teach is how to listen.  How to listen and empathize – not just to speak.  Try it the next time you are a participant in a conversation try to listen to what is being said.  Observe more than the words – observe the body language and tone of voice.  That is how you learn.  And a major rule of customer service is to know your customers.  Treat them with courtesy and respect.  Tip brought to you by the leaders in customer service software.