“There’s nowhere to go” is a common complaint from employees working for small or medium companies. It signifies a drop in motivation as even though they enjoy the environment and the work if they feel there are no opportunities for progression, they start to look elsewhere. This is further compounded by their managers agreeing with them about the state of the organisation. Here’s a strategy that may help.
Read More‘Can I have more money?' is one way to start the conversation, although not a very elegant one. Perhaps a more structured conversation would work better?
In my experience, employers are often open to giving their staff more money or a promotion, but not without good reason. For example, asking for a salary raise for doing the same work probably won’t yield you much success, however, offering to help the organisation 1. Solve a significant problem or 2. Make more money, will provide you with much more leverage. Also, keep in mind that the more you necessary you are to the business, the more inclined they will be to keep you happy at work compared to if you can be replaced easily by someone else who has similar skills.
Read MoreStrategic visions, strategic plans and strategic goals all look and sound great, but what actually comes of them? According to research carried out by the authors of the book '4 Disciplines of Execution' only 15% of employees actually understood the strategic goals of the company. In other words, only 15% of employees knew the meaning of their work. Naturally, this begs the question: 'how could they expect to achieve the goal or feel good about it if they don't know what it is?'.
Read MoreStress is part of everyone’s life at some stage or another. I think of dealing with it in three different ways: avoiding it if feasible; reducing it where possible; and finding better, more elegant ways of coping with it.
If you don’t know your favourite and most effective ways of dealing with stress before it happens, you’ll find it difficult to come up with them at short notice; that’s why it’s important to have them prepared in advance. Different situations will call for different responses, so we need to have flexible solutions. Here are some strategies that I find useful:
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