Motivating A Workforce for the Turn of the Century

"The Three Powerfule E's Educate, Encourage and Empower"

Motivating A Workforce for the Turn of the Century

There are a significant amount of articles, speeches and operating procedures that deal with motivational techniques with employees in corporate America. If companies are to strive for excellence towards the turn of the century, it is imperative that they treat their employees the same way they want to have their customers treated.

Educate, Encourage and Empower. These are three powerful E words that can tear a company apart if not used and if used can build an organization to achievements that seemed unattainable.

Most company managers, supervisors, or so called leaders are afraid to EDUCATE their employees for fear of their jobs. "If they do better than me, they might get promoted faster than me or might make more money than me." As a trainer for different companies it amazes me sometimes that companies say one thing on paper and do the complete opposite in their day to day operations. Most company executives and managers will only train their people on the specific task at hand because they don’t want to feel threatened by an employee who knows more than they do. When an employee believes that someone is taking time to educate them, as opposed to training them, they tend to take more stock in what they do. I’ve always said that it is not hard to train someone, I can train a lion to roll over and roar, but I have taken that lion out of it’s element. If I were to educate that lion, he would be the king of the jungle. It is the same with humans, educate people on their strengths and you have a dedicated employee working for you. If a company spends even 10 minutes a day on educating an employee, that individual will give them a lifetime of dedicated service. Just ten minutes a day and that employee still has 1430 minutes to concentrate on performing their job.

Often in corporations, people in position begin to crave power. I see that a lot. I’m working with some of the largest corporations - mostly service companies, and I see tremendous power struggles. I see people who get caught up in the game and lose sight of what their goals are, or they never had goals to begin with. When this happens, the ability to ENCOURAGE people is gone. When employers find out what someone’s strengths are, it needs to be harnessed. Everyone has a vast amount of potential, a good employer tries to turn that potential into performance. Encouraging people to use their strengths to better the organization and better themselves will have a lasting effect on a growing business.

The shift in attitude to an EMPOWERED mindset must start at the top in an organization for renewal efforts to be effective and successful long term. Effective leaders give team members the self-confidence to act, to take charge of their responsibilities, and make changes occur rather than merely perform assigned tasks. In short…LEADERS CREATE LEADERS.

Small businesses that use the powerful 3 E’s early on in their day to day activities, will find it much easier to not only keep their employees for years to come, but to actually have employees that want to stay because they feel worthy. Start Educating, Encouraging and Empowering your workforce today and notice the fantastic results tomorrow.