"Trust is earned, not given"

Trust & Loyalty, Loyalty & Trust.

Where are these two things today?



When the economy got bad and layoffs started becoming more and more frequent, people began trusting their bosses about as much as they would trust being locked in a room with a sleeping bear, about to wake up and pounce without much notice. It's understandable that when companies start doing bad, the effects are felt everywhere from the top of the employment chain all the way to the bottom. With these cuts, layoffs because a fear looming over employees heads. The people who held jobs would be thankful to have survived the day as they left their office for the night.



Maybe I'm being a little over dramatic, but the point is that a lot of people were terrified. The people that they have come to known as respectable bosses were suddenly becoming the enemy. They lost faith in their superiors. The morale of almost every industry drastically decreased. When you lose that faith and trust in your employer, your loyalty to them also goes out the window.



Now, businesses must take on the responsibility of earning back that trust. There was a time when people loved going to work, they felt secure there. They felt that if they worked hard and completed the tasks at hand, that they would be allowed to keep their jobs. We need to get back to that.



I read an article by a man named Roger Hall called "Bring Trust and Loyalty Back to the Workplace" and he made some very good suggestions that I would like to share with all of you:



1. Schedule 'face time' with every employee

2. Choose appropriate communication channels

3. Over acknowledge and praise often

4. Be honest

5. Walk the Talk



I can't help but be reminded of when I was younger and I would disappoint my mom somehow, and she would say "you have to earn my trust back." That's exactly what employers have to do now. Yes, it may take time and effort on their part but the benefits of having happy employers who value, trust and are loyal to their bosses will have much more of a payout than what needs to be invested upfront.

Michela ><((">

Michela is a ><(("> Team member at Catch Your Limit Consulting, a managment and marketing firm with offices in Tallahassee, FL and Richmond, VA. To learn more, visit www.catchyourlimit.com .

Speechless

I heard the following in a recent conversation with a marketing exec. I would have laughed had the potential consequences not meant that people will probably lose their jobs. I'm going to be a little vague on the details because I don't want to risk the exec's job anymore than it's already at risk.

Here's the story.

A new Chairman had decided he thought the current advertising was old fashioned. He proposed a contest where people would be offered a chance to win thousands of dollars if they visited the website.

Traffic went from 5,000 hits a month to 50,000 hits per month.

Sales however are dropping.

When the exec explained that the traffic was (1) due to the chance at the money, not interest in their product and (2) the contest did not communicate with the brand's target market the Chair's response was some of those 50,000 have to be interested.

This kind of ignorance is so absurd that if you saw it on an episode of The Office you'd think, they went too far.

I am truly at a loss for words.


><(("> Gayle Turner


Gayle is a ><((“> Team Member at Catch Your Limit Consulting, a management and marketing firm with offices in Tallahassee, Florida and Richmond, Virginia. He is a keynote speaker, facilitator, blogger and contributing author for international, national and regional publications. To learn more, visit http://www.catchyourlimit.com/ .

Who's Up Next

Employers saw a lot of differences and challenges when hiring the most recent workforce group, the gen y-ers.

But they haven't seen anything, yet.

Next up is generation z. You might not have heard of them yet, as they were only born as early as 1995, but they'll be entering the workforce very soon. And like every other generation, they have their pros and cons. It's finding a way to work with those pros and cons that will help make this generation a huge success in your business.

Let's look at the cons, then pros of their different attributes:

In a blog written by Penelope Trunk, a writer on managing careers, she states that "generation z will not be team players". Instead, they'll prefer to get things done themselves. This can prove to be difficult to work with, but at the same time they don't need loads of direction. Their parents, as a result of their overkill parents, are less likely to tell them exactly what to do, where to do it, and when. Therefore, they learn to know what they want, and how to push themselves to get it (a skill I'm sadly lacking).

Because they're so used to fast-paced games, computers, and school work, they will expect this same high speed in their jobs. If you think gen y gets bored too easily, then watch out. But on the upside, you can utilize this speed tremendously in your business. They will sift through information at speeds we could only dream of. They will also multitask as if by second nature, in the end boosting their productivity.

But with these skills, comes a little attitude. In an article published by HRGuru, they warn companies that this generation places "even less priority on their career in search of more flexibility and balance between work, family and personal time". They also have a mistrust of larger corporations after watching their parents get laid off, even if they had worked there for many years. This means you have to give them more incentives to choose your business.

Eventually gen z will disperse into the workforce with as much ease as any other new generation. After the bumps and grinds, businesses will see their true potential, and make positive changes to accommodate and utilize their unique skills.

><(("> Becca Carpenter

Becca is a ><(("> Team member at Catch Your Limit Consulting, a management and marketing firm with offices in Tallahassee, FL and Richmond, VA. To learn more, visit www.catchyourlimit.com.

Collaborate and Learn

In sort of a sequel to Michela's last blog, I was thinking about the generation discussion and I believe that having multiple generations in the workplace is very beneficial. It also can be catastrophic if everyone is too stubborn in their own ways but that comes with anything you do. When you have a variety of generations and experience in the workplace you can accomplish so much more. Gen-Y's are obviously considered more "techy" but can sometimes lack in the knowledge of traditional methods that are still being implemented in the company today. Sometimes old fashion methods just work better for certain people/companies, so Gen-Ys should keep that in mind and think of it as a learning experience instead of a waste of time. It works both ways though. The Baby Boomers or Gen-X running the company obviously know whats working but a lot of the times a Gen-Y may notice a way to be more productive and save time, energy, &/or resources. I believe you can never learn too much, even if you consider it useless, outdated, or maybe too advanced, there was or will be a time and place when that information was or will be valuable. Just knowing a little more then, say, a competitor, may give you that edge up you need. And that last point I find extremely important when several Gens are collaborating, the fact that everyone is learning how to communicate. There will never be a time when only ONE generation exists (at least lets hope not). Through out life we are constantly thrown in situations when we have an encounter with with a different generation than ourselves. (clients, shopping, waiters, hotel managers, etc) Already having the experience of working with other generations, knowing their likes, dislikes, interests will benefit you in the long run. So before you pop up your blinders on what the "crazy ipod kids" or "the outdated folks" have to say, try and keep an open mind, you never know what you may pick up.

><(("> Erin Albano

Erin is a ><(("> Team member at Catch Your Limit Consulting, a management and marketing firm with offices in Tallahassee, FL and Richmond, VA. To learn more, visit www.catchyourlimit.com .

Expectations v. Reality : Which Side are You On

It is no surprise that the way an office is run is changing due to the increasing presence of us "Gen Y"-ers. We've been labeled everything from the 'MyPods' to 'the Baby Boomlets' to 'the Boomerang Generation" (and that's just to name a few). We've had negative connotations associated with us, such as lazy, greedy, self-centered and unrealistic. We've been ridiculed for our outlook on life, but what if the perceptions on both sides of the matter are just so completely polar from one another that we are struggling to find middle ground?

I was reading an article on eweek.com called "Generation Y for Dummies" , in which they listed some of the main differences between these 'millennials' and senior management in companies.

One of the differences they mentioned was as follows:

"Generation Y workers have a reputation for experiencing boredom and frustration with slow-paced environments, traditional hierarchies and even slightly outdated technologies- that is, almost everything common in most workplaces."

So now my question is, whats wrong with that?

In this day and age, we are having to work longer hours. It's no longer a traditional 9-5 work day. It's a stay late, be twice as productive(if not even more), do the job of what traditionally would have been 3 or 4 different positions, work environment. We need that fast pace.

The boredom and frustration comes in when we feel our time is being wasted, precious time that could be spent with our loved ones for example.

I personally have no problem working long hours, staying late, working weekends, whatever it is that needs to be done to get the job done -and well- but I have worked with people on projects who are strong believers in 'face time' (aka being there even if you aren't doing anything/contributing) and that is extremely frustrating.

Generation Y-ers value their time. We believe that there needs to be a balance in personal and work life as opposed to our parents who would have sacrificed anything for work. Again, this is often viewed as laziness or selfishness but I suggest for people to stand back and look at it again with a new angle. In my lifetime, I have already witnessed multliple natural disasters that have stripped people's loved ones right out of their lives in a matter of seconds. It's just like that saying "live like your dying", you've got to appreciate every moment in your life and not just worry about working yourself to death. Not to become a complete downer, but most people when they become terminally ill or who are just older in age, will say if they could've changed one thing about their life, it would've been to spend more time with those close to them.

When it comes to our work environment, we like it to be open and yes- we like to be equipped with all the latest technology. Our knowledge of these tools could be utilized to our maximum potential and benefit the company greatly. They could increase productivity and again, save us even an hour or two, if not more, of that precious time. It is also this knowledge that sometimes causes conflicts with those senior managers who are too routine, and stuck in their ways to accept the new and boot out the old. We are not afraid of CEOs and senior management, we see our ideas as valuable and worth sharing with all members of the company. What's wrong with that? Shouldn't a work environment encourage this open sourcing of information and sharing? Isn't that how good ideas develop into great ideas? As workers, if we are terrified of management what kind of work do you think would be produced?

I know that this street runs both ways, and there are certain aspects of our generation that are lacking but instead of debating who's expectations are realistic and who's right or wrong about these things, we should instead aim our efforts into finding that ying-yang balance and making the most out of the experiences and knowledge of all the generations involved.

><(("> Michela Fleury

Michela is a ><(("> Team member at Catch Your Limit Consulting, a managment and marketing firm with offices in Tallahassee, FL and Richmond, VA. To learn more, visit www.catchyourlimit.com .