Claudine George has no problem
assigning employees a job they
wouldn’t normally do during the day.
It’s not that George, owner of professional
consulting firm ICONMA, wants to throw
them off, she just likes to give them a
chance to showcase their special skills. By
spotting unique talents in her employees,
George is able to assign them tasks to keep
them engaged and upbeat. The strategy has kept employees motivated, as
ICONMA has grown quickly since its opening in 1999, expanding to six branch offices
on its way to more than $21 million in 2006
revenue.
Smart Business spoke with George
about how she finds the right people and
keeps them motivated.
Q: How do you motivate your staff?
My job as a leader is to understand everyone’s strengths and what they bring to the
company and make sure those strengths
are utilized in the best possible way. I
believe that everyone wants to feel like
they did a good job and that they actually
contributed something and made a difference for the company.
I target the unique skills an employee
has, and I can remind them I appreciate
that by assigning jobs to their unique skill
set. Now, it’s not possible to do that every
day, but once in awhile, it helps if people
really feel like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s what I’m
good at, that’s what makes me different
than the guy in the next office.’
Let’s say our bookkeeper, she does the
usual routine of her job, but I know she’s
also good at research, so every once in
awhile I can do something where I say, ‘I’m
not really sure our current bank has the
best security, can you go online and
research that and see what our bank is
doing and see what others are doing?’ That
takes her out of that routine, and she’s putting some of her other skills to work. That
reinforces her confidence.
Q: What’s the key ingredient to communicating with your staff?
I have a background in psychology and
that has helped me listen to people — not just listening to our customers and what
they want, but listening to what people
need to do their jobs effectively.
One of the things I do when I’m dealing
with customers or employees that have a
problem is, I validate what they’re thinking. It immediately placates any situation,
and only from there can you work on a resolution.
If you automatically try to come up with
a resolution and say, ‘Problem solved, here
you go,’ they’ll be put on the defensive
because you haven’t really heard what the
problem is.
You have to make sure that they know
you understand exactly what it is that’s
going on that’s not working. You have to let
people complain and then, once they get it
off their chest, come back and say, ‘OK, so
you’re saying blah, blah,’ and try to relay
back what it is you think they’re going
through and express some empathy.
Q: How do you find the right people?
A proven track record of stability is
always apparent on their resumes. The
first thing you look at is whether they’ve
been jumping around different places.
But I also look for their drive and their
motivation. A lot of times you can hear it in
their voice how hungry they are. They have
to be driven and motivated to be successful. It’s not enough to just have them say
they’re OK with what we do; they have to
show something to us that lets us know
they are willing to go the extra mile, work
more hours, do what it takes to get the
work done.
They have to say something to you that
really lets you know they’re going to try
hard. We also have extensive, extensive
checks that we go through, and many of
the things we do even require tests. We
also check all their references — they have
to have at least three good ones that check
out — and we check their driver’s license
and do drug testing.
Q: How can you be sure employees have
that drive?
Sometimes you have to dig in, and not get
too personal, but you have to ask very
open-ended questions and really get them
talking, almost rambling on, so you can get
more information.
You can’t ask yes or no questions. You
have to really give them a chance to
expand and come across in a way that
builds a rapport and lets them feel like
they’re talking to a friend, because that’s
the only way you’ll get information out of
them.
Q: How do you make sure you’re getting
the most from your employees?
You have to have measures that show
their productivity. We’ve got everything
from spyware on computers to see if
they’re working to systems set up to show
how many resumes get submitted and
which ones are just junk and which ones
work.
We have measures of quality. We tell
them, ‘Your computer is for work use only.’
And if people don’t know, they find out
because we let them know.
HOW TO REACH: ICONMA LLC, www.iconma.com or (888)
451-2519