Recognize the extraordinary. We have an award each month called Whatever It Takes, and anyone can be nominated. These people have gone way above the call of duty and have done something really extraordinary, like working all weekend on a project.
We send out an e-mail with the names of all the nominees, and then one is selected. They receive a $50 gift certificate on top of their home run, so they get $75.
We try to recognize our staff members as much as possible. Recognition means more to a lot of people than money, and it’s certainly cheaper. There are many times that people would rather be recognized in an e-mail to the entire staff than to even receive $100. I have people that work hard all year long to be top consultant or top account executive of the year — not because they get $1,000 but because they were recognized.
There are two people in my company who have been recognized as the top producer in the state. I’m very motivational to these people, and we all go to the state convention together and cheer each other on. For both of these individuals, they’re already making good money with their commissions, but it’s the recognition and the award — it’s being No. 1 that really has driven them, and I’m right there beside them, supporting them all the way.
Follow the Golden Rule. If you treat your staff the way that they want to be treated — and the way that you would want to be treated — then I think that will come back to you. We’ve got a lot of very long-tenured employees and management. If your management doesn’t turn over on the top, that makes people feel more secure and stable.
The secret is that you may want to be treated one way, but others may want to be treated a different way. If you’re working with someone who’s not a morning person, maybe you would treat them differently than the way you would treat a person who is chatty and likes to talk in the morning. It’s getting to know your co-workers.
One of the things that we’ve done is give personality tests to our staff and have meetings to discuss the results. Each employee goes online, takes the test and then the test comes up with the employee’s score. Someone on our staff is certified to meet with people concerning the different personality types.
Some of our groups have very different personalities in them, like opposites, so it’s helped them to know how to communicate with different personality types.
HOW TO REACH: Burnett Staffing Specialists, (713) 977-4777 or www.burnettstaffing.com
