Seven Steps to the Creation of a Great Workplace

Have you ever wondered; "What does it take to create a great workplace?" It is the workplace or the environment of the workplace that determines the level of engagement, productivity and profits of an organization. How and who is responsible for creating the environment of an organization. Some may say "everyone" and while everyone within an organization does contribute to the environment, it is the primary job of the leader.

The number 1 job of a leader is to create an environment where people are motivated to be the best they can.

If this job is done right, it just may justify the exorbitant compensation that often goes along with that job. Even doing it right does not mean that it is an easy task. Just ask someone who works and is working. Let's face it, most work is boring, no matter how hard the leader tries to create an exciting and encouraging environment, you just can't make lemonade from oranges. Finding and keeping people motivated to be their best requires an ongoing and thoughtful effort. It is in this effort that the challenge of leadership is at its greatest. You see people want to be happy with their work and people are happy doing things they like to do, things that actually satisfy what they value. But, people are different and have different values. Almost every one of us has some little nuance that makes us different. Appealing to all or even most is a task that often eludes even the most capable.

It is motivation that drives people to be their best and when they are at their best they are happier.

Contrary to what many of us have thought at one time or another, achieving important goals are not the thing the make us happy. It is the journey toward the goal where the real gold is found.

Right there is a "nugget"-people are happier moving toward the goal than they are when they reach the goal.

One might even conclude that the journey is better than the destination. Hummmmm???

So how do leaders perpetually motivate their people? The answer is they don't, at least they don't for very long. Most lasting motivation comes from within not from without.

Dr. Steven Stein, a previous guest on Internet Radio show, Entrepreneurs R Us, in his book, Make Your Workplace Great gave us some insight into steps leaders might take to make a GREAT WORKPLACE.

1. Be a Feedback Fanatic: Have you ever known anyone who began a job or a project with a specific goal to fail? Well neither have I. People usually begin a job with a plan to succeed or be happy, but something happens along the way. Often time they do not know what went wrong but those of us around them do but we fail to share that information for fear of hurting the person. Be Fearless! GIVE YOUR PEOPLE FEEDBACK -ON GOING.

2. Provide a Challenge: To perform at the highest level, people need to be challenged. If they are bored they will disengage. To keep your people "running at the most efficient pace keep them challenged.

3. Embrace Flexibility: Time is said to be more valuable than money and I believe it. Money we can always get, but time, once used, can never be reclaimed. Missing your son's ball game or your daughter's recital is often more than stressful, it is depressing. The time has come to base work and compensation on results not time spend working. Go to a 4 day work week or install a "flex-time" policy. Observe the difference in attitudes and performance.

4. Be Personally Accountable: Personal accountability is almost as a fly in a snow storm. People just do not want to be accountable for much of anything. Creating a culture or environment that exudes personal accountability is a step in the right direction.

5. Build Trust: People do not trust their leaders today because their leaders talk a lot but fail to do what they say. If you want to build trust in your organization, shut-up and listen. The evidence is compelling leaders who listen are more respected and trusted than those seldom listen.

6. Develop a Participative Management Style: With the rising complexity of problems there is a greater need for input from other sources. Seek the ideas of others, develop a team mind.

7. Stop and Celebrate: Celebrate as a team but even more importantly celebrate with your people in private. Studies show that personal, one-on-one praise is the most effective recognition. Find out what your people are good at and praise them for that, enjoy even the smallest achievements. Everybody loves a winner.

Earlier, we talked about happiness and that it is often found in the journey, more often than in the destination. If that is true, then it makes perfect sense to say "it is the journey that counts for each of us not so much the destination"

Lets talk about some general areas that impact the workplace environment and make the journey even better. Steve Stein, in his book "Make Your Workplace Great" named seven areas that have the greatest impact on performance. Lets take a quick look at each.

Job Happiness: Nearly 30 percent of the workforce are unhappy with their jobs. Why? Some people have great skills but not the ones needed for their job. Their job challenges them beyond their ability, or their job is so easy they devote time to looking for ways to appear busy.

Compensation: Most people are satisfied with their compensation. Pay your people 10 percent more than the competition and you will be a Champion.

Work/Life Balance: The costs of work overload? More mistakes, Absenteeism (300 billion a year in costs), Lack of desire to advance and Losing top performers to competitors, to name just a few.

Organizational Cohesiveness/Teamwork: Develop a shared purpose with the employee in mind involve the employee in important decisions.

Leadership: Possibly the weakest link in the leadership of any organization is at the middle manager level. Many are ill prepared to manage others and cannot even manage themselves. Maybe the biggest single obstacle to improved performance wrests in 2 areas Assertiveness and Accountability.

Anger Management: Anger is the single most experienced emotion in the workplace and destroys people and things that we can imagine.

Organizational Responsiveness: Many organizations are good about wanting to know what people want but much less competent at acting on the want.

Creating that great environment begins with understand what already exists. If you have been wanting to know what motivates your people, do something different; Ask Them

Entitlement Disrupts Workforce

Recently, I spoke to a wonderful group of Human Resource executives. The group from the Houston area known as the Bay Area Human Resources Management Association (BAHRMA) met to “sharpen their saws.” I was asked to participate and shared my thoughts on Strategic Performance, its value and how to get it.


During the presentation a young lady raised her hand to comment and told of a situation that echoes around our country, today; She told of an attitude of “Entitlement with which they struggle.”

The “Big E,” as we call it, is when employees express their belief that others and the organization to which they belong, are somehow blessed by their presence. Often there is no evidence supporting their right to a favored state, just a belief in their own minds that they, somehow, deserve special treatment, recognition, pay or all three.

She put it like this; “We are consistently faced with younger employees believing that we (older employees and the company) are somehow fortunate in our association with them.

They come to work late or miss deadlines and believe it to be Okay,” she says. “It seems, as if, they believe the organization should be thankful that they decided to come to work, at all.”

The Entitlement attitude seems to be more prevalent among younger employees. Our experience has been that many of the Generation Y employees do, somehow, believe that they have a right to a job. A belief, I support, at least in part. I believe that there is work for anyone who wants to work, not necessarily the work you may want, but work from which you can earn a living. That does, somewhat, differ from the Generation Y notion.

So, what can or should you do about an attitude of entitlement, whether it comes from Generation Y employees or elsewhere? We believe that corporate America is in control and if the attitude of Entitlement is an issue, in your company, you can do something about it. Here is what we recommend:



1. Clearly state expectations before you hire anyone.

2. Get agreement before you hire

3. Have a “Zero Tolerance Policy”

4. Operate with integrity



Many organizations complain about poor attitudes but shoot themselves in the foot by not being clear about the values of the organization, their expectations of the employee and enforcing their own rules. Organizations should know their values and clearly share them with potential employees, but few do, they should create a “Top Ten Reasons People Work for XYZ Corp.”, A Values Statement, and a clear, easy to read statement of expectations in the job a candidate is being asked to fill. Get them to sign and date those documents and keep them as a permanent record that the candidate acknowledged your expectation and agreed to them. That document should go in the employee file. That takes care of item 1 & 2, now lets talk about the rest.

Many organizations want people who have a great attitude, many do not, but it is their own fault. They continue to believe that they can put into someone something that is not there, hire someone that is marginal, and somehow expect superior performance. That seldom occurs. The key to having the right people and attitudes on your bus is hiring excellent people, in the first place and realizing we are all human and make mistakes, sometimes hiring the wrong person. When you hire someone who does not wish to adhere to something they agreed to before the hiring and obviously the wrong person for the job, fire them. That takes care of 3 & 4 above.

Applying these four simple rules will, I guarantee, diminish the number of employees that believe they are entitled to their jobs, but most importantly, send a clear message to the many people in your organization that you value their good work ethics and operate with integrity.