Why Paying Your Employees $1000 Per Hour Isn’t Enough to Motivate Consistent Performance

Back in 2013 I posted a YouTube video explaining why millennials (teen and young adult workers) hated being paid by the hour.  With more than 350K views and a lot of controversial comments, it became apparent that I had struck the nerve that often separates employers and employees. But business owners wanted more – they needed…

How AI is Impacting the Emerging Workforce

For his 4th birthday, my grandson August (Auggie) was given an Echo Dot for Kids – Amazon’s Alexa for children. Even though I don’t own an Alexa or similar AI device, I thought I was somewhat familiar with what they do. Turns out, I wasn’t. I watched Auggie’s face light up when his dad finally…

How to Transform Workplace Grinches into Gleeful Contributors

When the Grinch stole Christmas from all the Whos down in Whoville, he went about it with passion and fury. The scrawny-limbed hermit with a nasty attitude and a foul grimace felt like an outsider who was unappreciated by his peers, so he decided to turn the tables and ruin Christmas for the entire village.…

Managing Behavior: A Simple but Profound Lesson from an Outhouse

I went camping with my wife in the Colorado Rockies over the weekend. The campground was clean and pristine, particularly the public outhouses. Anyone who’s frequented campgrounds that have no running water knows how disgusting the restrooms generally are. The sign that hangs above the toilets in the two gender-neutral stalls reveals the answer to…

How to Turbo-Charge Employee Recognition to Ensure Continued Performance

Every manager has been told that it’s important to acknowledge, recognize, and reward their top performing employees. Unfortunately, most haven’t been coached on how to do this effectively. And if one of the goals is to get the performer to continue performing at a high level, the why has to be linked to the what. “You’ve done a good job…

Money Can Buy Happiness, but Pride Is Not for Sale

Imagine that you are walking alone across a vacant parking lot on a breezy day, when out of the corner of your eye you notice a crumpled-up bill blowing at your feet. You immediately step on it to keep it from escaping, and then reach down to discover that it’s a $100 bill. No one…

How One Franchise Is Building a Systemwide Culture of Engagement

The world of franchising is exploding as more and more franchised brands and concepts emerge each year. Sadly, in many of those organizations, there exists a wide chasm separating disenfranchised franchisees from the brand’s franchisor usually stemming from broken promises and unfulfilled expectations. In those franchised brands that are thriving, however, harmony reigns supreme as both parties…

Three Ideas for Dealing with the Flakes You’ll Encounter in 2015

Is it just me, or have you noticed an outbreak in the number of flaky people out there? I’m not talking about liars, cheaters, and thieves. Flakes aren’t bad people who intentionally do bad things. Flakes are the irresponsible ‘me first’ knuckleheads who are lacking in the simple social graces. To assure we’re on the same page, allow me to share…

Happy Holidays to Everyone in the World! (and other meaningless sentiments)

Look through the holiday cards and messages you’ve received this holiday season and ask yourself which ones really give you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Very few, if any. The sad reality of living in a time-crunched impersonal digital age is that most holiday messages we now get are nothing but glorified PR blasts on behalf…