Would People Call You An Artist in Your Work?

I have to give a shout out to the guy who is painting the outside of my house.  Not only is he here everyday when he tells me he will be, but he is clean, neat and meticulous about his work.  His tools, which you would believe would be covered with paint, are as clean as if they were brand new!   If I wanted the job done quickly, I could have hired other painting contractor, but I didn’t.  I hired a person who treats my home as if it were his own.  The pride in his work is awesome.

If you have ever had work done on your home then you know the feeling of someone else being around your private and personal things.  You also know that after they leave and you have paid them for their service, you are the one to live with the outcome of their work.   You can only hope that you got what you paid for and that they delivered on their promise.

How does this story relate to you?  If you are in business for yourself you want referrals to keep your business going.  Ask yourself if the work you do would be acceptable if you were the one paying for the service.  Do you leave people as “raving fans” of your service?   Are your customers/clients commenting on how exceptional your work is  and how happy they are that they hired you?  Or is it another case of pay and go!

If you are an employee working for someone else then you are the face of that company.  However, your work is a reflection on you as well as the company.  You are getting paid for your work, is the work you are doing worth what you are getting paid to do it?   We all would like to be paid more, but what would you pay someone to produce the work you do?

There are 309,263,833 people in the US and growing.  That is a lot of people!  When you are hired for a job think of how many other people didn’t get that job and the responsibility that is on you to do a great job!

How To De-Motivate An Employee

What do you think of this sad, but true story?

An employee was given a goal.  As a sales representative his goal was to sell X amount of product and supplies.  For his hard work and dedication to the company and his strong work ethic, when he met his goal he would be given a cash bonus.

Throughout the year this employee worked hard to provide superior service to his clients and to sell them products that they needed.  He developed his pipeline and stayed true to the course.

Many times he worked over an 8-10 hour day even though he has a young family that wanted to spend time with him.  He was late for dinners, worked after the children were in bed and even filled orders on the weekend.

He kept his eye on the goal and was excited when he saw that he was exceeding his goal.  He received high praise from his manager.  He was even told the approximate amount of his bonus.

However, when the time came to pay the bonus the company started to exhibit some  hesitancy.  They didn’t think it was possible for anyone to make the target goal much less pass the target!    The amount of the bonus was substantial.

To make this story short, here is what this company did.  They started by showing the employees signs that they were not intending to pay the entire amount of bonus he earned.  They took the employee and put him on commission only.  After all if he could make such goals, surely he could continue to do so on a commission basis.   They then told him that they were not going to pay him the entire bonus and instead came up with their own number.

If you ever want an example of how to de-motivate an employee this is it.  If you ever want an example of how to demonstrate and live your company values and ethics, this isn’t it! As the employee that this happened to, what do you think he is going to do for this company in the future?  What message do you think he will share with others about this company’s values?

This company needs a lesson in SMART goals!  Obviously the one that is for Attainable and Realistic were never thought of when they opened their month and inserted their rather large foot.