Building A Healthy Emotional Bank Account In Office

Managing people take a lot of skills and patience. Effective people management sometimes take a lot of my time and if it's not dealt with correctly, it will have more negetive impact in the long term. De-motivated and problematic employee 'spread' to other employees. Some people are hard working but come with negative attitude, some are very slow in their work and delivery while some are sarcastics. End of the day, it depends on which type of employee you can cope and manage daily.

The effective management of staff in the office requires the ability to motivate, create job design, performance rewards and group influence.

Well, according to Quint Studer, CEO of Studer Group, he recommended “building an emotional bank account” with employees. Studer feels that it's the right thing to do and will benefits in the long run. I think his point is valid because after a series of stress at work, soon or later staff morale will be low and feeling let down. Studer mentioned management must invest enough emotional capital in the account for that metaphorical rainy day.

Extract from businessadvicedaily.com:
“Most leaders truly want to do the right thing,” asserts Studer, author of “Hardwiring Excellence: Purpose, Worthwhile Work, Making a Difference.” “They want positive, productive, trust-based relationships with their people. But let’s face it: perfection doesn’t exist in leaders or in companies. You put in enough ‘deposits’ so that when the inevitable ‘withdrawals’ are made—let’s say you forget to say thank you or you have to institute pay cuts—there’s enough goodwill in the account to salvage those relationships.”

Withdrawals, Studer points out, are usually weightier than deposits—so great leaders do everything they can to make more of the latter. For instance:

Diagnose employee satisfaction—and act on the results. Use a proven, respected assessment tool to figure out where your problems lie. Then, commit to solving them. “One of the biggest issues we see in our work with clients is that people say, 'Well, they measured our satisfaction but nobody responded to what we said'” says Studer. “We advise organizations to be open about the results and have everyone vote on the top three issues. Eventually, you should address them all, but start with the top three.”

Harvest best practices. If assessments reveal that a high number of employees cite “poor communication” as a problem, dig deeper. You may find that one department manager got great communication scores. Find out what she is doing right and reward her. Then, work to apply her communication practices throughout the organization. “Your company doesn’t really have a problem with poor communication, just inconsistent communication,” says Studer. “Take what people are doing right and expand it. It’s much more effective than trying to start from scratch—and it builds goodwill.”

Announce that you’re making changes. Accept skepticism, but not cynicism. “Tell employees specifically what you are going to fix,” says Studer. “Naturally, they will be skeptical. You can even tell them that skepticism is fine, even expected, but ask that they try not to be cynical. If they start rolling their eyes and say, ‘Oh, we’ve heard all that before,’ tell them, ‘Look, you can be part of the problem or you can be open to change and see good things start to happen.’”

Go for “quick wins” to establish credibility. A quick win is an action that shows employees you really are committed to meeting their needs. If you are trying to establish an environment of fairness, for instance, don’t “pull rank” as a senior leader and cut in line. Don’t insist on having the parking spot nearest the door. Not only will it send a signal that you’re no more important than anyone else, the longer parking lot trek gives you the opportunity to talk to employees and stay on top of what’s going on in your company. Perhaps your quick win might take the form of getting a department a piece of equipment that employees have requested for years, or finally dealing with a low performer who’s been dragging everyone down.

“Round” relentlessly. Studer is a huge proponent of leadership “rounding,” a process similar to the one doctors use to check on their patients. In the business world, a CEO, V.P., or department manager “makes the rounds” daily to check on the status of his or her employees. “Basically, you take an hour a day to touch base with employees, make a personal connection, recognize successes, find out what’s going well, and determine what improvements can be made,” says Studer. “And of course, you fix any problems that come up. Rounding is the heart and soul of building the emotional bank account, because it shows employees day in and day out that you care.”

Get rid of low performers. Make no mistake: your employees don’t want to work with low performers. Nothing makes employees as discouraged and resentful as having to co-exist with people who don’t pull their own weight. In fact, low performers usually drive high performers right out the door. “Turning a blind eye to these people quickly drains the emotional bank account you’re trying to build up with your good employees,” says Studer. “However hard it may seem, you must move these people up or out.”

Avoid creating a “We/They” culture. The temptation to get on your employees’ good side by saying, for instance, “Well, I fought for the budget increase, but this is all I could get,” can be huge. It may feel easier or more comfortable at the moment, but ultimately you’re dividing the staff instead of uniting them. Of course, few leaders deliberately foster a “We/They” mentality, but it can be easy to do subconsciously. “Interestingly, the other side of the coin—‘I know you’ve begged for more money for years and here I took care of it in one afternoon!’—can be equally divisive,” adds Studer. “When you solve a big problem overnight, you might be undermining mid-level supervisors who’ve been working on a problem for a long time. Don’t walk around and perform magic.”

Be open and truthful with your employees, no matter how difficult it may be. “Let’s say you know that part of your organization is going to be outsourced in the next few months, or that there are going to be major cuts in benefits,” says Studer. “Even if it doesn’t directly affect your team, it certainly impacts them on an emotional level. Once the decision is final, you owe it to your employees to tell them. Don’t wait for them to read it in the paper. They will know that you knew all along—and a huge amount of trust will be lost.”

In the end, of course, trust is what building a healthy emotional bank account is all about, says Studer.

“When you’ve always been up front with your employees, and proven every day that you want what’s best for them, they’ll give you the benefit of the doubt when things don’t go their way,” he says. “They might not like it, and they may be angry, but they won’t feel betrayed to the point of leaving. They’ll realize that you’ve always treated them like adults, with respect and consideration. And that’s when you’ll truly see the value of the work you’ve been doing. That emotional capital you’ve invested will save the relationship—that's the very foundation of a healthy company.

Micheal Jackson - King of Pop Died

It came as a shock to me this morning when I heard it over the radio on the way to work. The king of Pop is dead! The entertainment world has lost the greatest entertainer in history. I still remember when I was a kid I used to sing along with my cousins and friends during the 80's. Michael Jackson has a place in a lot of our growing years.

From Associated Press:
updated 9:10 p.m. ET June 25, 2009
Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted child star who rose to become the “King of Pop” and the biggest celebrity in the world only to fall from his throne in a freakish series of scandals, died Thursday. He was 50.

Jackson died at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Ed Winter, the assistant chief coroner for Los Angeles County, confirmed his office had been notified of the death and would handle the investigation.

The circumstances of Jackson’s death were not immediately clear. Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m., Capt. Steve Ruda told the Los Angeles Times. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to the hospital, Ruda told the newspaper.

Jackson’s death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music’s premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.

His 1982 album “Thriller” — which included the blockbuster hits “Beat It,” “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” — is the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.

The public first knew him in the late 1960s, when as a boy he was the precocious, spinning lead singer of the Jackson 5, the music group he formed with his four older brothers. Among their No. 1 hits were “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” and “I’ll Be There.”

Jackson was preparing for what was to be his greatest comeback: He was scheduled for an unprecedented 50 shows at a London arena, with the first set for July 13. He was in rehearsals in Los Angeles for the concert, an extravaganza that was to capture the classic Jackson magic: showstopping dance moves, elaborate staging and throbbing dance beats. Singer Dionne Warwick said: “Michael was a friend and undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest entertainers that I fortunately had the pleasure of working with. ... We have lost an icon in our industry.”

Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital as word of his death spread. The emergency entrance at the UCLA Medical Center, which is near Jackson’s rented home, was roped off with police tape.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Jackson has just died,” a woman boarding a Manhattan bus called out, shortly after the news was announced. Immediately many riders reached for their cell phones.

So many people wanted to verify the early reports of Jackson’s death that the computers running Google’s news section interpreted the fusillade of “Michael Jackson” requests as an automated attack for about half an hour Thursday evening.

H1N1 Now A Pandemic

WHO has declared influenza H1N1 a pandemic, the highest level at phase six. Wow! That's serious. I wonder if most Malaysian take it seriously. In fact, I wonder if most people in the world take it seriously. I've asked around my friends who live in Canada, US and Australia, it seems they are going about with their lives. Nothing concerning them about H1N1. Not a worrisome line on their face.

With the summer holiday, a lot of travelling happened with students travelling back to their countries and families going overseas vacation. In just matter of weeks since summer holiday, our H1N1 case (imported) has risen to 11 cases. The health ministry has tied up the measures and precautions. As Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said" drastic measures" in place. When my dad came back from overseas, he was screened, asked his seat number, his next destination, contact details and was given a cert of clearance from the airport screening. This is unavoidable as I'm sure nobody want human to human tranmission. Looks like the pandemic is not going away soon and everyone is scare to fly.

Some of my colleagues have to fly to Singapore and China for training. I wish them safe travel.

Salary Not Enough

Today is 1st of June and I have finished my salary. Well, my bank account is officially empty. I made a few online transactions to pay mortages, bills, credit cards (not full payment) and now I have with less than RM20 for the rest of the month! I have yet to pay some utilities bills. What am I going to do? It's quite strange that during economic crisis, I still can't spread my salary until end of the month. I learnt to accept that salary not enough during the oil hike but now, who to blame? Myself? Maybe I should really cut down further on credit card usage. Maybe the price of daily goods still remain high despite the economy situation.

I spend RM3 on breakfast, RM10 for lunch and dinner at home. That's not too much, right?