Property Management

Employee's Feeling Underappreciated

From [Inc.com] Of more than 500 full- and part-time employees surveyed nationwide, 35 percent said the company they worked for was ineffective at rewarding strong performance...[Read more here]

Moments of Truth

What do you do when an employee asks; What is your assessment of me up to this point in time? Let me tell, there are only two or three answers to that questions;

1. I am pleased with your performance.
2. I am pleased with your performance and here are some things to consider.
3. I am not impressed in the least and here are the steps we need to take.

I had that question asked of me today and number 3 was the answer. It was a moment of truth conversation and you know what happened. The employee thanked me for being honest. There were no defensive comments, no position statements and no hard feelings. Just plain and simple please, thank you and I appreciate you comments.

The key? Preservation of one's dignity...

Job Posting for the small in size but not it heart

I found this site to be of interest, check it out and let me know what you think.   jobkite.com

Are you ready to put the magic back into your Career?
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Working for a small business in America can be very engaging and dynamic, almost magical.

Rules of the Name Tag

Doing a name tag right isn't easy. Here are my rules:
a. BIG first name
b. positioned in a place where you can see it
c. ideally two-sided, on a short lanyard (why on earth would you make a one-sided lanyard tag?)
d. a piece of information that is an ice breaker. Here's my latest example. Every single sticker had a different picture. No real logic behind it. But what if there was? What if attendees picked their favorite movie star, metaphor, state capital, political gaffe, Saturday Night Live skit... anything worth talking about? -Seth Godin

TALENT

Seth writes a great post about marketing jobs.

The talent wars are on even in our industry. No longer can, "fog on the mirror under the nose,"  be the litmus test for which we hire. We do have to differentiate ourselves as a company or group of amazing individuals in order to attract other amazing individuals and as Seth's message demonstrates it should be done with authenticity in lieu of silliness.

Talent of the Month -Follow Up

The day turned out as planned. The prize patrol, as I come to refer to them, showed up with a plaque, balloons, a gift card and nomination forms in hand. I was handed the stage and I did my best to keep everyone in suspense by not reveling the winners name until the end. I always mess this up!

This day it was to be a Maintenance Technician who was honored. He was shocked to say the least. The initial shock lead to more shock when I let him know I would be taking him to lunch. Although when asked where he wanted to eat, he immediately blurted out his choice and favorite restaurant. A great choice I might ad.

All in all it was a great day, I learned a great deal about a front line talent that I might not have otherwise spent time with.

Talent of the Month

I've decided that "employee," "staff," "team" and "associate" are old and tired. In exchange for those terms I like Talent. Problem is that it's a noun! I hate when that happens. There is hope, after all Google is a noun and we Google (v) things all the time.

That being said, I am taking the Talent of the Month out for lunch today. The title, Talent of the Month, is used in exchange for our Employee of the Month (EOM) program. This year, in addition to reading their nominations during a Talent Function, handing them a card and a gift card, I now take them out to lunch. It's awesome to see the mortified look when they find out they will be one on one with me. Not that I am a scary person, far from it. It's just the thought.

It turned out awesome last month when we did it for the first time and I am excited about doing it again today. I will let you know how it goes.

Walking away

Love this post from Tom Peters: Thanks:

Hooray!
Thank you!

(Rick Semler, management guru and Semco [Brazil] founder, once offered a revision of MBWA/Managing By Walking Around. His MBWA was Managing By Walking Away. He almost religiously took a 6-week vacation in a place where he couldn't be reached (ever more difficult). His logic: Only by being truly out of touch could he truly delegate. I like that. And that's what seems to have occurred here. My colleagues, in the absence of Old Motormouth, outdid themselves!!! Well, New Zealand is on the planning boards already for January 2008.)

Number 5 of 7 top Interview Questions

Tell me a story that illustrates your ability to influence another person verbally.

Number 4 of 7 top Interview Quetions

Tell me a story about a time you had to deal with an unpopular decision.