Let them know you care...

This is what I was talking about in yesterday’s message – how you can’t be competitive with bummed out employees who are disengaged. In addition to all the good things you need to do to treat them right, the best of them all is to catch them doing things rights. You’re most likely (or you should be) teaching them how to do things right and coaching them as they practice getting it right. After all that, and while you’re doing all the other technical and administrative stuff on your list of daily to-dos, make time ( put it on your calendar so your phone reminds you to get up, walk around, get engaged, keep your eyes open, and catch your peeps doing things right. Nothing big… just eye contact and a heartfelt thank you.  Or fist bump. Or whatever’s your natural way of letting them know you’re there and care. That was a concept we figured out in 1987 at the Golden Nugget with housekeeping attendants. They thought we thought their’s was unimportant work, maybe because we didn’t make a big deal of the hard work they did every day. But when we started catching them doing things right, thanking them, and backing that up with simple rewards, morale skyrocketed, absenteeism became manageable, and turnover plummeted. All because we let them know we appreciated their efforts. That ah-ha moment became the gist of a new approach to employee relations. I’ve told this story many times before, but it never gets old. Nor do simple acts of appreciation and encouragement ever lose their impact. Try it today.

 

Charles Robert Schwab Sr. (born 1937) is an American investor and financial executive.[1]

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[1] The founder and chairman of the Charles Schwab Corporation, he pioneered discount sales of equity securities starting in 1975. His company became by far the largest discount securities dealer in the United States. He semi-retired from the company in 2008 when he stepped down as CEO, but he remains chairman and is the largest shareholder. As of 2025, his net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $11.2 billion, making him the 203rd richest person in the world.

 

Manage by walking around...

 

Pay attention to your employees. Because if you don’t, you’ll be left with dispirited, unmotivated, unappreciated workers who won’t be able to compete in a highly competitive world. 

·      Don’t take my word for it – ask your peeps if (A) they are happy at work and (B) if they think you pay enough attention to them (meaning you treat them good – as in (1) good communications, (2) good listening (to their input), (3) good training, (4) good recognition, (5) good engagement and (6) good pay and benefits.  

·      Both A and B should be yes; a no to either is a no to both. 

o   And about all those good things you’re supposed to be doing:

§  If 1-5 aren’t all good, then they’re not going to be as happy as you want and need them to be (and they want to be); 

§  Then they’l probably be looking for more of #6, or they’re just going through the motions, or they’re looking to leave. And none of those are good for the organization and its competitiveness.

So, pay attention, walk around, talk to them, maybe give them that little 2-question survey, and make sure they’re not dispirited, unmotivated, or unappreciated today.

 

Frances Hesselbein (1915 – 2022): American businesswoman and writer.[1]

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[1] She was the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, from 1976 to 1990, and the president and CEO of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management, the Leader to Leader Institute, and the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute, which later became the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership.

Build your knowledge and understanding ...

I know we shouldn’t live to please others, but it’s an ingrained urge that’s hard to control.  But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look after our own needs. I get what today’s author means about educating ourselves and fulfilling our dreams and destiny – most people work on that every day. But that word "Edify” – it means to instruct and improve, especially in moral and religious knowledge, or to uplift one's understanding or character. It can also mean to build up someone's knowledge or understanding in general. That pretty much sums up personal responsibility – and I think it should be a class that young people start to take in middle school, with add-ons through the end of high school. Woven in there should be career coaching with presentations by job experts, to start to give them an overview of the opportunities that exist. This relates to a story I saw in the news: America may not have the workers to fill all the jobs that the politicians are trying to lure back to the US. After two generations of kids being directed towards college, we now have to start highlighting the good jobs that non-college bound kids should consider and the vocational and technical training that exists. Building character is rooted in part in creating opportunities for people to strive for. Improving your knowledge and understanding is the best way to fulfill your dreams and destiny today.

 

Octavia Spencer (born 1970): American actress and winner of an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

We got to live together...

They say that music imitates life… it can also define it. The music of the 60s and 70s stretched our understanding of who we were and what we thought about the world around us. I suppose that’s true of every generation, but that’s when the music shaped and changed me. When people from everywhere and every walk of life came together. That was the lens I looked through when I entered the world of work and, interestingly, that shaped my thinking when creating workplace cultures in those workplaces. Didn’t matter who we were or what we believed outside of work, when there we were of one mind and objective: to keep the promise of service excellence. For sure there was a hierarchy, but on the floor, we were all everyday people pushing in the same direction. That’s the wonder of a workplace – it was true back then and that’s what you should aim for today.  

 

Sylvester Stewart (1943 – 2025): American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer better known by his stage name Sly Stone.[1]

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[1] He was the frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the development of psychedelic soul and funk with his pioneering fusion of soul, rock, psychedelia, and gospel in the 1960s and 1970s.

It's Elementary....

I think it’s common that people see things but don’t observe them. We live in a world of soundbites and snippets, often hearing and seeing only what someone wants us to see. Who watches an entire sports game anymore when the highlights reel shows us the biggest plays of all the games in less than a minute. What’s missed is the strategy behind scoring, the drama of missed opportunities, the nuance of a play, and the emotion of the moment. We may see customers and their transactions - those are the snapshots that record any discrete moment. But observations over time capture the personalities, preferences, behaviors, and expectations that put context to each frame. Teach your employees to see things while coaching them to observe all the colors and sounds that explain what they see. Poker players do this extremely well – watching the players and not the cards. The best customer service people hang back and let things play out, for better understanding and results. The pace of life and work is too damn fast, but the best results often come when we slow things down. That part is in our control. Practice the art of observation today.

 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930): British writer and physician who created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887.

Learn what you need to know...

Today’s quote seems a bit harsh, especially in these politically charged times. But backing away from that, all this means is that people need to think for themselves. To do that they must read, listen, and learn what they need to be able to make up their own minds. Not so much to be defensive as to be certain of their own thoughts and beliefs, to be able to hold their own in a conversation, and to feel good that they truly believe something rather than helplessly following an uncertain crowd. In the context of work in a service business, this means understanding what service is required and why, asking and learning about the company’s objectives and seeing how what you do fits in to that construct, and to come up with service strategies and techniques that work for you. So that making eye contact and smiling makes sense and is not just done by rote. So that your personality shines through because you really understand what, why, and how. Because leading is positive and following, often mindlessly, is aimless and sometimes meaningless. And whichever you choose, shows in you face, eyes, smile, and body language – one is bright, the other dull. Make it your business to know what you need to know so that you can affirmatively and confidently do what you need to do today.

 

Ayn Rand (1905 – 1982): Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which she named Objectivism.

Be a critical thinker...

Change is all around us. Always. Leaders must be prepared for change and prepare their employees for change.  By maintaining good two-way communications to help surface ideas and allow dialogue to discuss issues and solutions. By listening to front line employees who see where changes may be needed and encouraging their engagement and creativity. Successful change depends on the ability of employees at all levels to think critically and solve problems creatively and effectively. Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas. It involves questioning assumptions, evaluating evidence, and synthesizing information from various sources in order to form a well-reasoned judgment. Critical thinking is foundational because it allows people to assess situations accurately before deciding on a course of action. Everyone is responsible for thinking critically and preparing for change today.

 

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917 – 1963): American politician who served in both houses of Congress before being elected the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.