DBR-Vol2-N2

PAGE 23
THE ULTIMATE JOB
AUSTRALIA CAMPAIGN
HELPING YOU MEET THE CHALLENGES IN YOUR BUSINESS – RIGHT NOW VOL. 2, NO. 2
THE FIVE
DOMAINS
OF HIGH CORPORATE
PERFORMANCE
INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL:
APPRECIATE OR
YOU WILL DEPRECIATE
COMMON MYTHS ABOUT
EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION

8
38
42
THE FIVE DOMAINS
OF HIGH CORPORATE PERFORMANCE
INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL
APPRECIATE OR YOU WILL DEPRECIATE
COMMON MYTHS ABOUT
EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION
Chairman’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Getting The Best from Your Outsourcing Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
12 Strategies of High-Income Salespeople . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Improve Your Listening Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Drake Global Performance Initiatives (Australia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Be a Great Boss! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Drake Global Performance Initiatives (Canada & Hong Kong) . . . . . . . . . 29
Address Job Performance Without
Harming Commitment or Retention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Don’t Leave Your Corporate Reputation to Chance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Drake International Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
OUTPERFORM WITH THE DRAKE BUSINESS REVIEW
There is no better time to meet the challenges and opportunities in your business
than right now. For a complimentary subscription, visit www.drakeintl.com
EDITOR
Anne CameronSmith
DESIGNED BY
Agency Nextdoor / Jelly Studio
PUBLICATION TEAM
Tony Scala
Alexandra Tidy
Winston Floro
Published by Drake International Inc. © Copyright (c) 2010.
Reproduction of the Drake Business Review in whole or in part
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The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect those of the publisher. The Drake Business
Review is published solely for information purposes. It is not
intended as professional advice on any particular matter. Drake
International Inc. assumes no liability for errors or omissions, or
for damages arising from use of the published information.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of
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errors. The Publisher and Editor will assume no responsibility
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Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com
3

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
BUSINESS PRIORITIES IN A
CHANGING WORLD
THE ONE CONSISTENCY in our lives is
that the business world is always
changing. Keeping up in a world that is
constantly evolving is challenging for any
organization. We face information that is
accessible at an unprecedented pace,
barriers that are shrinking due to globalization,
and a customer-driven economy
that is intensifying competitive pressure.
Leadership development and expertise
will be key ingredients in managing this
accelerated change. Senior executives and
managers need to clearly understand the
dynamics of the changing business environment
and possess the critical skills to lead
their organizations into an uncertain future.
The Henley Business School at the
University of Reading in the UK conducted
a Corporate Learning Priorities survey in
November 2009 with some of the UK’s
largest employers. The results revealed
that developing the leadership skills of
middle managers and equipping them to
manage change are among the top learning
and development priorities for organizations
in 2010. Drake understands the importance
of creating and developing leaders for
competitive advantage. Through our
Leadership Development Solutions, we
help managers build their skills and grow
from good managers into strong and
effective leaders.
Our feature article by Kevin Oakes on
“The Five Domains of High Corporate
Performance” lists leadership as one of
the five core ingredients that separate
high-performing companies from their
lower-performing counterparts. The
article also states that leadership isn’t the
only ingredient: The whole talent
management practice is crucial. Oakes
indicates that companies that manage
talent well tend to fare better in financial
and performance measures.
In his article on Intellectual Capital starting
on page 38, David Lee reinforces that an
organization’s intellectual assets are its
most important source of competitive
advantage. His article highlights smart
companies and what they do to appreciate
and leverage their human capital assets.
People are your most competitive advantage,
and probably your biggest expense.
Have you ever had an expert third party
take a good look at the systems you use to
manage your intellectual assets? Drake’s
HR Audit Solutions identify what is working
well in your HR department, and what
could be improved. The audit can be
in-depth and comprehensive, or focused
on quickly tackling one particular issue.
On the subject of intellectual assets and
talent management, the law firm of Speechly
Bircham and the HRM Learning Board at
King’s College London conducted an annual
State of HR Survey. I was interested to learn
from the responses from HR professionals
that the top three major HR challenges for
2010 are:
Maintaining employee engagement
Succession planning
Managing growth and expansion
A cost-efficient method companies use to
help manage growth and expansion is the
utilization of flexible staff. It enables companies
to staff up and down in line with
business demands, and have access to talent
when needed the most. By retaining a core
of permanent staff and using flexible staff
to manage peak workloads, they achieve an
optimum staffing balance. This helps organizations
reduce costs, increase productivity,
and improve the bottom line.
Drake has decades of experience providing
the very best (tested and trained) flexible
staffing. We can help you fill gaps, keep
productivity high, and minimize disruptions
to your business. Flexible staffing is a positive
and valuable part of your workforce strategy.
Over all, for any company to grow and be
successful, you need the right people in
the right jobs with the right skills. Some
companies hired very talented people
during the economic downturn, when other
4
Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

FLEXIBLE STAFFING
IS A VALUABLE PART
OF YOUR WORKFORCE
STRATEGY.
organizations were trimming their staff.
Tough times often present the best opportunities
to hire great people. Going against
conventional wisdom is sometimes the
smart thing to do. However, if you made cuts
in your workforce early in the recession, you
may now need to quickly focus on re-staffing,
utilizing permanent and flexible workforce
strategies to actively plan for success.
I believe that 2010 will be a major year of
transition as we emerge from recession
mode to a return to growth. During the
financial crisis, many organizations focused
on survival methods and de-emphasized
talent management. The fact is, companies
will not be competitive, will not be market
leaders, and will not emerge from the recession
in a significantly enhanced position
without a focus on talent management and
workforce planning. This has always been
the foundation of an organization’s
strength, during bad times and good.
Workforce planning, talent management,
and high-impact leadership, combined
with excellent and consistent execution of
strategy, will be the defining marks of
stalwart organizations.
R.W. POLLOCK, CHAIRMAN
5

GET THE BEST
FROM YOUR OUTSOURCING AGENCY
Outsourcing of routine functions has
become a viable and an affordable option.
WITH INCREASING STANDARDIZATION
of procedures and operations, outsourcing
routine functions has become a
viable and affordable option to using
valuable in-house resources. More and
more companies prefer to outsource their
backend operations, communications,
data processing, and other employeeintensive
activities. Hence, their selection
has become a crucial function.
However, finding the right outsourcing
agency is not always easy. There must be a
synergy of operations between a company
and the outsourcing vendor, without
which there could be needless repetition
and lack of optimal use of the outsourced
company’s resources.
Companies that opt for outsourcing their
operations must carefully weigh the
advantages of maintaining in-house
operations against the advantages of
outsourcing them. The deciding factor
should be the impact of this decision on
the company’s bottom line.
USE THIS CHECKLIST TO GET THE MAXIMUM
OUTPUT FROM YOUR OUTSOURCING AGENCY:
1. Ensure the outsourcing agency has the
credentials and resources to ensure
speedy and efficient delivery of services.
Make sure you each clarify your position at
the onset of the vendor–client relationship.
Devise back-up plans for technical snags
before handing over operations.
2. Make sure you are getting your money’s
worth. Get all the costs, and work out the
cost to benefit ratio before you proceed.
3. Invite proposals from several outsourcing
agencies to discover what is available. Don’t
go with “low-cost, high-out” deals. Examine
such qualifications as resources, agency
service experience, market reputation, and
the profile of the management.Thoroughly
research the profile of the agency and its
market reputation before signing up.
4. Having made your final selection, let
the agency know that building and maintaining
the relationship will be a two-way
process. Both companies have to work in
sync to make the relationship work. In the
initial stages, the outsourcing agency may
seek your intervention. You must extend
assistance to help the outsourcing agency
streamline all the processes. Once the
activities take off, periodically review
using appropriate assessment tools to
ensure that your company is working with
a good outsourcing agency.
5. If the services do not live up to your expectations,
don’t be in a hurry to terminate the
contract. Very often, the problem lies on
both ends. Make sure that nothing on your
end caused the breakdown of the services.
Was your assistance timely? Did you do the
necessary routine check to ensure smooth
functioning? Was the breakdown of services
a freak case of bad coincidence? If there is
room to revive the relationship, do all that it
takes to restructure the processes.
With these recommendations, managers
can get better yield from their outsourcing
vendors and maintain a healthier clientvendor
relationship.
DBR
Reprinted from www.hrprofessor.com, a source of authorcontributed,
human capital management articles.
6
Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

FEATURE STORY
THE FIVE DOMAINS
OF HIGH CORPORATE PERFORMANCE
8 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

RESEARCH CONDUCTED BY
THE INSTITUTE FOR CORPORATE
PRODUCTIVITY (i4cp)
REVEALED THE FIVE KEY
HUMAN CAPITAL DOMAINS
THAT COMPANIES LEVERAGE
TO DRIVE PERFORMANCE.
AS THE WORLD’S LARGEST
VENDOR-FREE NETWORK OF
CORPORATIONS, i4cp IS
FOCUSED ON BUILDING AND
SUSTAINING HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE,
HIGH-PERFORMANCE
ORGANIZATIONS.
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT
FROM THEIR WHITE PAPER.
9

THE FIVE DOMAINS OF HIGH CORPORATE PERFORMANCE
HIGH-PERFORMANCE companies are the
role models of the organizational
world. They represent real-world versions
of a modern managerial ideal — the organization
that is so excellent in so many areas
that it consistently outperforms most of its
competitors for extended periods of time,
despite industry or economic conditions.
What are high-performance organizations
like? What do they do differently? Is
there a secret recipe that allows them to
outperform their competition?
What do we mean by high performance? Is
there a difference between “surviving" and
“performing”? Do we mean companies that
outperform others in their own industry or
across industries? How long a time period
constitutes “high performance"? And which
measures, financial or otherwise, are the
best ones to use?
Over the last four decades, i4cp researchers
have looked at various ways to define high
performance and the traits that separate
the consistently top organizations from
the rest. Over that time, they recognized
high-performing organizations as ones
that consistently outperform most of their
FIGURE 1 – THE FIVE DOMAINS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE ORGANIZATIONS
Responses based on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree
STRATEGY
competitors in four primary areas—
revenue growth, market share, profitability
and customer satisfaction.
They examined over 100 core human capital
areas to determine the differences between
high-performing and low-performing
organizations. The research clearly shows
that no single ingredient guarantees organizational
success. Rather, high performance is
like a delicate entrée based on a group of
core ingredients, any one of which, if left out
or of inferior quality, can ruin the entire item.
THE FIVE DOMAINS OF HIGH PERFORMANCE
Five core ingredients separate higher performers
from their lower-performing
counterparts:
1. Strategy: Their strategies are more consistent,
clearly communicated, and well
thought out. They are more likely than
other companies to say that their philosophies
are consistent with their strategies,
and their performance measurements mirror
their strategies.
2. Leadership: Leadership is clear, fair, and
talent-oriented. Those leaders are more
likely to promote the best people for the
3.91
5.41
job, make sure performance expectations
are well known and consistent with the
strategy, and are committed to developing
their people.
3. Talent: The organization has a commitment
to the right talent. While employees
are treated as unique individuals, the
organization takes a holistic approach to
managing and making decisions based on
data-driven information. This begins with
a strategic approach to workforce planning.
It entails looking at the organization
from outside in to identify the business
model components and areas that drive
value, and then to determine what the
organization needs.
4. Culture: The culture is strong in all the
right ways, and employees are more likely to
think the organization is a good place to
work. Employees not only adapt well to
change, they embrace it. High performers
also emphasize a readiness to meet new
challenges and are committed to innovation.
5. Market: They are more likely to have a
strong market focus, and to go above and
beyond for their customers. They are organized
internally around what’s best for the
customer, they think hard about customers’
future and long-term needs, and their strategy
is based on customer data.They are also
more likely to see customer information as
the most important factor for developing
new products and services.
LEADERSHIP
TALENT
CULTURE
MARKET
3.78
3.84
4.91
4.62
5.00
4.91
5.17
5.70
While these five domains — strategy, leadership,
talent, culture, and market focus —
may seem a bit broad or even obvious, the
degree of separation the research showed
between high and low performers within
these five elements is startling. Figure 1
from a recently-released study on high
performance by i4cp depicts this separation.
Average Score of Low Performers
Average Score of High Performers
10 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

THE FIVE DOMAINS OF HIGH CORPORATE PERFORMANCE
While the five core domains are critical, sub-categories
within each are even more critical to explore. Let’s look at
each domain individually.
ONE
STRATEGY
In the area of strategic approach, consistency
is important to high performance.
The common wisdom of “walk the talk” is
an indispensable ingredient in highperformance
organizations. If an executive
says one thing and then does another,
employees draw a variety of conclusions,most
of them destructive to the organization.
Executives in high-performance organizations
avoid these problems by ensuring
that employees are clear about the strategic
plan and the company’s approach to business,
and by ensuring that managers
behave consistently. In the research, highperformance
firms scored higher than the
lower performers in all attributes that
measure consistency of strategic approach.
The single most widely cited strategic
practice among high-performance organizations
was: “My organization’s philosophy
statement is consistent with its strategy.”
And the strategic practice in which high
performers outstrip low performers the
most is: “Organization-wide performance
measures match the organization’s strategy,”
followed by “Organization’s strategic plan is
clear and well thought out.”
These findings indicate that high performance
is not related just to consistency of
leadership behaviours, but to its consistency
with the overall philosophy of the organization.
Leaders come and go, but philosophy
tends to be more stable. Strategies should be
aligned with these philosophies as well as
with performance measures.
TWO
LEADERSHIP
Senior Leadership is frequently portrayed as
the key ingredient in creating a successful
organization, but recent research suggests
this can be overstated. Nitin Nohria
(Richard P. Chapman, Professor of Business
Administration at Harvard Business School)
and colleagues at Harvard found that, on
average, 14% of a firm’s performance is
dependent on its leaders. Leadership is only
one of five key components of organizational
systems that must operate in a
mutual harmony to be effective.
Research found that one of the most widely
agreed-on leadership-related strategies is
ensuring that “Everyone is clear about the
organization’s performance expectations.”
Another important factor associated
with high performance is “Making sure
employees believe that their behaviour
affects the organization.” Leaders can’t do
their jobs alone. They must be able to convince
others of just how important their
own behaviours are to the success of the
whole organization.
A third factor that was strongly associated
with performance is the idea that
“Management promotes the person who
has the best skills and knowledge to do the
job.” Performance tends to be higher in
organizations where promotions are based
on talent and merit rather than on other
factors, such as organizational politics.
Leadership behaviour can also be analyzed
from a broader perspective based on the highperformance
paradigm set out above,and can
be grouped into three major categories:
1. Supervisory relationship: For over 50
years, organizational researchers have
found that the most important relationship
in any organization is the one between
employees and their immediate supervisors.
A good relationship between employee and
supervisor is associated with high performance,
more safety-conscious behaviour,
better physical health, and higher employee
satisfaction.
2. Innovation in HR: The research also
uncovered that high-performance organizations
had more innovative human
resources than low-performance ones.Their
HR functions bring new approaches to
people management so they are continually
aware of what other companies are doing
to more effectively manage people.
3. Clarity of goals and consistency of
rewards: As noted above, high-performance
companies are clear and consistent in their
performance expectations, and they also
12 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

tend to be more consistent in the ways they
reward workers. They set clear performance
expectations, reward employees who have
the best ability, and reward those employees
who strive to best meet customer needs.
THREE
TALENT
Effective talent management (TM) helps
build a high-performing organization by
moving beyond a focus on HR practices,
processes, and systems to a strategic one
linked to business outcomes. This begins
with stepping outside of HR and looking
at the organization from an outside-in
perspective, which entails identifying the
business model components and areas
that drive value and determining what
the organization needs.
The cost of not doing talent management is
staggering, considering the cumulative
effects of lowered retention and increased
turnover; lack of workforce planning, which
leads to reactive rather than proactive
management; compromised succession
planning; the cost and time of hiring from
outside because talent has not been developed
internally; and the overall impact of all
these factors on the bottom line.
When it comes to effective talent management,
high-performance organizations excel
in these areas:
1. They have created a meaningful definition
of talent management for their organization
that supports the business strategy
and is understood by all stakeholders.
2. They have integrated the components
of talent management in both processes
and technologically.
3. They have assigned clear accountability
for talent management internally, and they
also make the business case for talent management
clear to gain senior-level support.
4. They determine what metrics they want
to capture to measure the success of their
talent management initiatives and have
assigned clear ownership of those metrics
while reporting on them frequently.
5. The executive team creates the organizational
incentives, monitors the progress, and
rewards behaviours that are in line with the
talent management objectives.
Research suggests that companies that
manage talent well tend to fare better in
financial and performance measures than
their less people-capable competitors.
FOUR
CULTURE
Being seen as a “good place to work” is a
solid indicator that an organization is a high
performer. Not only is this characteristic
the most widely cited by high-performance
organizations, it is also an area in which
those organizations outstrip low performers.
High-performance companies are also
well aware of such external factors as
customers, markets, and competitors, and
they are ready to take on new challenges.
Another element of culture that’s correlated
with high performance is a commitment
to innovation.
Ethics also play a big role in defining an organization’s
culture. A whopping 69% say their
organization adheres to the highest ethical
standards. However, the percentage is even
higher for top performers. The high positive
response rate reflects the current concern
over ethical behaviour in organizations, and
the data indicate a positive relationship
between performance and ethics.
Values, beliefs, and ethics are grouped into
four categories that drive high performance:
1. Approach to work: In addition to some of
the values noted above, employees in highperformance
companies tend to be loyal to
the company and to participate in their
organization’s social events.
2. How the organization treats its
employees: High-performance firms create
an environment that fosters cohesiveness,
loyalty, and readiness to change. Such
organizations tend to treat their employees
well, and employees, in turn, treat the
organization well. They also tend to be
more concerned about their employees
than do the low-performance organizations.
3. Employees have the freedom to use their
judgment: In high-performance organizations,
employees have more freedom to use
their own discretion than do those in lowperformance
ones. They also have more
liberty to change processes or procedures to
improve outcomes. Their supervisors have
the same type of freedom.
4. Ethics: As noted before, high-performance
organizations tend to have a stronger
set of ethics-related values than the lowperformance
ones.
It makes sense to examine these issues
today, because corporate cultures are likely
to become more critical in the future. The
research indicates that the external factors
influencing culture will have an even greater
impact 10 years from now. In the highly
multicultural, technology organizations of
tomorrow, it will be crucial for far-flung
organizations to forge unique identities both
for customers and for employees as part of
their “branding” efforts.
13

THE FIVE DOMAINS OF HIGH CORPORATE PERFORMANCE
Corporate cultures will also need to be
more adept at becoming “talent magnets”
in the future, and they’ll probably need to
adopt stronger values related to sustainability,
diversity, resiliency, and agility. In
addition, they’ll often need to represent
and express their cultures via virtual online
worlds, where geographically dispersed
employees can get a greater sense of
belonging and understanding.
None of these shifts will be easy. Even
organizations that currently have effective
corporate cultures will be challenged to
maintain them amid the changing and
tumultuous environment of the coming
decade. The good news is that positive cultures
are linked to greater adaptability.
Therefore, leaders should view the topic of
corporate culture not only as important to
high performance today but also as potentially
critical to their organization’s ability
to survive and thrive in the future.
FIVE
MARKET FOCUS
High-performance companies tend to be
more attuned to the current and future
needs of their customers than lowperformance
ones. High performance is also
associated with a very strong emphasis on
customer service, including vigorous efforts
to serve customers better than anyone else
in the industry. The research found high
performance to be linked with the use of
“customer information as the most
important factor related to developing new
products and services.” In short, highperformance
companies seek out and act on
the insight they gain from their customers.
High-performance firms also understand
that different customers have different
needs, and that some customers add more
to the bottom line than others. Such organizations
create different types of processes to
manage different categories of customers,
and they are attuned to shifts in the market
that require them to change how they treat
customers. In general, they are more outwardly
focused on customer needs and
behaviour than low-performance firms.
1. External focus: In general, high-performance
companies are more willing to hear
what is best for the customer rather than
what is best for the organization.
2. Philosophical approach: High-performance
organizations intend to be the “best in
the world” in providing value and exceeding
customer expectations, and are more likely
than others to “walk their talk” in terms of
customer focus.
3. Internal design: High-performance
organizations tend to be better at creating
and maintaining internal processes that
best meet the needs of the customer.
Their customer-focused processes are also
more flexible than those in low-performance
firms, and leave room for employees to use
their judgment in meeting customer needs.
Most corporations have recognized the
importance of customer focus. Now it's time
to put plans into action. Organizations are
beginning to promote a greater focus on
customers within many levels of their
business. Customers feature prominently in
vision statements, scorecard measures,
innovation efforts, employee performance
standards, reward programs, and other
important areas of business operations. This
increased focus should be reflected in the
bottom line.
ALIGNMENT AND EXECUTION
Often, high performance boils down to a
simple phrase: alignment and execution. It’s
important for a company’s values and
culture to align with its strategies, which
then must align with its market focus, talent
programs, and leadership approaches, and
then to execute on those strategies. The five
domains of high performance bring into
focus what top organizations align on and
execute against versus the low performers.
The research suggests that over the next
10 years, the five domains of high-performance
organizations are likely to remain
stable, while the ways in which companies
demonstrate those characteristics will
evolve. There will be innovations in leadership
competencies, talent-management
programs, technology usage, customer
service, performance metrics, and the like.
Achieving and maintaining high performance
in this environment will require
companies to adapt to a changing marketplace
and shifting social attitudes.
Organizational leaders will also need to
adapt to new theories and understandings
of high performance, staying abreast of
the research in the field. After all, today’s
favoured strategies and best practices can
easily become tomorrow’s failures of
imagination.Amid these changes in practices
and marketplaces, some companies are
especially outstanding in terms of their
ability to perform at a high level for years
at a time. These organizations will always
have much to teach us.
DBR
Excerpt reprinted with the permission of Kevin Oakes, CEO,
Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp). A pioneer in the
human capital field, he is a frequent international keynote
speaker and author. Kevin.oakes@i4cp.com . www.i4cp.com
14 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

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PEOPLE BUY
FROM PEOPLE
THEY TRUST,
NOT PEOPLE
THEY LIKE.
12
STRATEGIES
of High-Income
Salespeople
16 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

MANY SALESPEOPLE STILL use outdated
methods to plan their client and
prospect sales calls. Instead, they should be
following the philosophies and attitudes
of today’s successful salespeople and
tomorrow’s superstars.
to you in your life besides your career?
How do you like to spend your personal
time? What are your needs for career and
personal stimulation and feelings of selfworth?
Are they being satisfied in your
current selling position or circumstances?
To be a success in sales, you must first look
within to understand who you are and what
you are all about. Start by considering and
answering these key questions:
1
WHO ARE YOU? What are your opinions,
prejudices, judgments, attitudes, values
and beliefs, philosophies, and old baggage
that may be sabotaging your sales success?
Do you know who you really are? Do you
know who you take into your sales calls? Are
you sending a non-verbal message that is
consistent with your verbal behaviour? How
would your prospects and clients describe
your behaviour and attitudes?
A thorough and honest self-appraisal is
critical if you want to successfully sell in
today’s business climate.
WHAT IS YOUR BASIC FUNDAMENTAL
2 PURPOSE OR MISSION IN SELLING? Is it to
make money? Serve your clients? Grow your
company? Contribute to society? Provide for
your family’s current and future needs? Have
fun? Have the opportunity to determine
your own career and financial destiny?
What aspect of selling do you feel
passionate about? Would you change
careers for more praise, recognition, challenge,
responsibility, money, or opportunity?
Your reasons, more than your goals, will
determine your sense of peace, balance,
and fulfillment in your sales career.
WHAT TYPE OF PEOPLE DO YOU LIKE TO BE
3 AROUND? How do you like to spend
your career time? What else is important
Selling is about building successful,
positive, ongoing relationships — all types of
relationships. Your overall success will be
greatly affected by your willingness and
ability to establish and maintain positive
relationships.
HOW MUCH TIME ARE YOU DEVOTING TO
4 YOUR PERSONAL GROWTH? Do you
regularly read good books, listen to great
music, attend seminars, and network with
people who can help you? Do you take
time to recharge your battery with vacations
and weekend adventures? Do you take
time to relax? Do you get adequate rest
and proper nutrition?
A successful selling career requires stamina,
energy, and passion. You can't have these if
you abuse your mind and body.
To be a successful salesperson, you must
thoroughly know your clients' business, their
challenges and opportunities. On their
behalf, you need to think far ahead and be
their idea gold mine. Follow these key steps
to develop successful client relationships
and sales results:
SOLVING YOUR PROSPECTS’ OR CLIENTS’
5 PROBLEMS IS NO LONGER AN EFFECTIVE
SALES STRATEGY. Successful salespeople today
and tomorrow will be ‘creative problem
creators’. Effective salespeople will be
ruthless in their pursuit of uncovering, or
creating, an awareness of client problems
that the clients themselves weren't even
aware they had. They will think far ahead of
their clients, not just along with them.
17

SUCCESSFUL SALESPEOPLE DON’T SELL PRICE.
THEY SELL VALUE.
To guarantee your success in the coming
years, you must take this one approach. Find
out what is preventing your prospects from
getting a good night’s sleep. Determine
what is worrying them, and you won't have
to worry about customer loyalty, reducing
prices, or over-aggressive competition.
Even poor salespeople can solve a
client’s problem with the right product,
service, feature, or approach. It takes
creative, forward-looking, and imaginative
thinking to excel.
PEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE THEY TRUST, NOT
6 PEOPLE THEY LIKE. The key to building
trust is simple. Promise a lot, and deliver
more. Do what you say you will do, and then
some. Honour your commitments, communicate
with integrity, and be a resource for
your client, not just a salesperson selling a
product or service.
What can you offer your client other than
your products or services? You can provide a
continuous flow of ideas. You can be an idea
gold mine. But to be able to provide this level
of information, you must constantly take in
new information about the marketplace,
your clients’ businesses, human behaviour,
and those current events that affect your
business and the business of your clients
and prospects.
We are not talking about devouring the
local newspaper or evening news. Instead,
subscribe to publications that feed your
mind positive and worthwhile information
that helps you improve your selling behaviour
or learn how about the changing
circumstances or trends in your target or
niche industries.
Peak-performance salespeople study their
clients’ business, their industry, and their
competition, and are walking encyclopedias
of information on their own products and
services. Do anything less, and you are fair
game for anyone, and everyone, to take your
business away from you.
SUCCESSFUL SALESPEOPLE DON'T SELL PRICE;
7 THEY SELL VALUE. Price always seems high
if value is perceived as low. When you focus
on price — because of poor product knowledge,
poor client knowledge, or poor sales
skills — you will always lose in the long run.
Clients don't want cheap; they want the best
value for their dollar. If you are focusing on
price, you will never make it big in this
dynamic profession. However, if you always
sell value, you will never have to worry about
losing business to price competition.
In the short term, you might lose an
occasional sale; however, if you are in this
business for the long haul for both your
company and your client, sooner or later
your prospects or clients will come back to
you and the value they need and desire.
Only poor salespeople believe that prospects
buy for price alone, and that price is their
major motivator.
EFFECTIVE PROSPECTING IS THE MOST
8 IMPORTANT SALES SKILL YOU WILL EVER
NEED TO MASTER. It is more important than
good closing techniques, good sales presentations,
or the ability to answer client
resistance. The best salespeople are at their
best when they are getting information. If
you are spending your time planning your
sales presentation, you are making a basic
assumption that everyone buying from
you buys for the same reasons. If you have
been selling for more than 30 days, you
know that this is not true.
I can remember in my first sales position
that I was told to memorize my presentation,
the answers to objections and closes,
and then go out and deliver the company
story. I was fired in six months because I
found out that no one was interested in my
company’s story. The prospects wanted me
to learn their story. T. Connor.
What are your clients’stories? What are their
wants, needs, desires, opinions, problems,
attitudes, and/or judgments?
The most important element of the sales
process is not the giving of information, but
the getting of information. Successful salespeople
don't plan their sales presentations;
they have a presentation strategy. If you have
been selling your product or service for over
three months, you should know what to say
and when without planning it.The pros never
go into a sales situation, however, without
planning their questions, the information
they are going to get. Remember, your
prospect will tell you what you need to know
to sell them. But you have to ask. And don't
forget, the information you don't get now will
cost you sales or sales relationships later.
AN EFFECTIVE SALES PRESENTATION IS NOT
9 A ONE-WAY CONVERSATION, BUT RATHER
A TWO-WAY CONVERSATION. Many salespeople
have been trained to deliver their sales
message as a programmed discussion of
the features and benefits of their product
or service. This approach to selling has
never been used by the real pros. It is not
an effective way to represent the product
18
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THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL CLOSING IS EFFECTIVE PROSPECTING.
or service in the most professional
manner, and it is certainly not in the best
interests of the prospect. Successful salespeople
are more concerned about getting
a client than making a sale.
Every prospect buys for their reasons, not
those of the salesperson or the company.
When you deliver your standard approach
or presentation, you assume that each
prospect buys for the same reasons, at the
same time, and in the same way, in the
buying cycle. This just isn't true. Nor does
it make good sense to try to sell this way.
The successful salesperson customizes
each sales conversation to the buying
style, needs, interests, desires, and problems
of each buyer. They don't try to shove their
buying reasons or features down the
throat of the customer.
SALES RESISTANCE FROM THE CLIENT
10 OR PROSPECT GIVES YOU VALUABLE
INSIGHT INTO THEIR THINKING. Successful
salespeople don't try to manoeuvre around
this resistance but get it into the open
quickly. For example, confident salespeople
who know the value of their products and
services don't run and hide from price
objections; they bring up the value of
working with a quality supplier early in the
sales process.
They are not afraid of their product or service
inadequacies; they know that the other
aspects of their organization, such as
personal service or value added, more than
make up for what they don't have or can’t
provide. No product or service is ever perfect
for every prospect in every situation; sooner
or later, every prospect must go without
something. The approach of successful
salespeople is to ensure that the prospect
understands that what they are getting
more than makes up for what they are
missing, as well as how it will satisfy their
needs, desires, problems, or opportunities.
It is untrue that you should be able to sell
everyone sooner or later, which would make
selling much easier. The reality is that not
everyone in the marketplace is a good
prospect for you now, or in the future. They
may be a prospect, but not the best one for
the time, energy, and resources you have
available right now. Timing is critical in successful
selling. Given the tremendous
amount of potential new business in the
world today, you do not want to take the
time, energy, and corporate resources to try
to turn poor prospects into customers or
clients. As an aside, if you are able to sell a
poor prospect for whatever reason, you will
often find they cause you the most stress,
and distress, and are generally not worth it.
Some salespeople believe that to sell
successfully in a particular market or to a
certain prospect, you must take business
that is not profitable, does not fit your
customer mix or long-term objectives. The
key to successful selling is your ability to
always be in front of the most qualified
prospects or clients, not just any prospects
or clients.
11
CLOSING THE SALE IS NOT A MATTER OF
TRICKS, MANIPULATION, FEAR, GUILT, OR
HARD-SELL TACTICS. Closing the sale on a wellqualified
prospect is the natural conclusion
to everything you have done in the sales
process that is correct and effective. You can
make people buy things they don't need,
but you can't make people buy things they
don't want. Poor salespeople try to turn poor
prospects into customers or clients. Good
salespeople identify good prospects early
in the process and help them get what
they want. They accomplish this with good
listening skills, a lot of client or prospect
understanding, and a willingness to be
flexible and compromise.
12
AFTER-SALES SERVICE IS THE GLUE
THAT KEEPS CLIENTS LOYAL, BUYING
MORE, AND WILLING TO GIVE YOU REFERRALS.
The best salespeople work as hard to keep
their clients as they did to get them. They
understand that clients always have new
choices for the services or products they
sell. To keep their clients satisfied, they constantly
conduct client reality checks, checks
of client perceptions and attitudes. Poor
salespeople take the money and run.
One lesson that the best salespeople have
learned is that it is always easier, and less
costly, to do more business with a present
client than it is to find new clients. They
put as much of their time, energy, and
resources into keeping clients and building
client relationships as they do looking for
new clients.
If you want to excel in the sales profession
today and in the years ahead, refocus your
attitudes and approaches, and don’t be
afraid to adapt or change your strategies.
DBR
Excerpt reprinted with the permission of Tim Connor, CSP, a globally
renowned sales and management speaker and trainer for 36
years, and bestselling author of over 75 books including Soft Sell,
the best-selling sales book in the world, now in 21 languages.
tim@timconnor.com 704-895-1230; www.TimConnor.com;
www.CorporateDisconnect.com
19

The average
individual spends
more time each
day listening than
in speaking,
writing or reading.
IMPROVE YOUR
LISTENING SKILLS
YOU DEVOTE ABOUT 40 TO 45 PERCENT
of your working hours to listening.
However, listening is a skill, and if you have
not taken steps to improve it, you listen
at only 25 percent efficiency. You can
significantly raise the level of your listening
performance with a small amount of
study and practice.
WHAT LISTENING IS
We hear when sound waves strike our
eardrums. When we don't remember what
we have heard, it is probably because we
did not listen. For example, when we are
introduced to a new employee or acquaintance,
we often can't recall the person's
name only a few minutes later. Why?
Because we probably failed to listen to the
name when we were introduced.
After two weeks, most listeners can
remember only 25 percent of what they
heard in a briefing or speech. Therefore,
listening is not effective for receipt and
retention of factual details. For this, we
must depend on the written word.
Research has shown that we can improve
our listening comprehension by about 25
percent. You can acquire the ability to listen
more effectively through discipline and
practice. As a listener, you should physically
and mentally prepare yourself for the
communication. You must be physically
relaxed and mentally alert to receive and
understand the message. Effective listening
requires sustained concentration (regardless
of the length of the message), attention to
the main ideas presented, note-taking (if the
conditions are appropriate), and no emotional
20 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

M E D O X

IMPROVE YOUR LISTENING SKILLS
blocks to the message by the listener. You
cannot listen passively and expect to retain
the message. If you want to be an effective
listener, you must give the communicator of
the message sufficient attention, and make
an effort to understand the viewpoint.
GUIDES TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING SKILLS
Realize that listening is hard work
Listening is characterized by faster heart
action, quicker blood circulation, and a small
rise in body temperature. Researchers have
found that the higher we climb on the
organizational ladder, the more difficult
listening becomes. In day-to-day conversations,
show the communicator you are
interested, by looking and acting like you are.
Prepare to listen
To receive the message clearly, the receiver
must have the correct mental attitude.
Recognize your own biases
Learn what your biases are and channel
them properly. You can then keep them from
interfering with the message.
Resist distractions
Good listeners adjust quickly to any kind of
abnormal situation, while poor listeners
can become distracted. Learn from good
listeners.
Keep an open mind
Good listeners don’t feel threatened or
insulted, or need to resist messages that
contradict their beliefs, attitudes, ideas, or
personal values.Try to identify and rationalize
the words or phrases most upsetting to
your emotions.
Find an area of interest
Good listeners are interested and attentive.
They find ways to make the message
relevant to themselves and/or their jobs.
Make your listening efficient by asking
yourself: “What is he or she saying that I
can use? Are there any worthwhile ideas,
workable approaches, or solutions?”
Show some empathy
Showing empathy encourages others to
communicate honestly and openly.Therefore,
try to see the communicator's point of view.
Hold your fire
Be patient. Don't interrupt. Don't become
over-stimulated, too excited, or excited too
soon by what the speaker says. Be sure you
understand what the speaker means —
withhold your evaluation until your
comprehension is complete. Mentally
arguing with a communicator is one of the
principal reasons that so little listening
takes place in some discussions. Don't
argue: If you win, you lose.
Listen critically and delay judgment
Good listeners delay making a judgment
about the communicator’s personality,
the principal points of the message, and
the response. Ask questions and listen
critically to the answers. Then, at the
appropriate time, you can pass judgment
in an enlightened manner.
Exercise your mind
Good listeners develop an appetite for
hearing a variety of difficult presentations
that challenge mental capacities. Try it.
Capitalize on “thought speed”
Most of us think about four times faster
than the communicator speaks. It is almost
impossible to slow down our thinking speed.
What do you do with the excess thinking
time while someone is speaking? The good
listener uses thought speed to advantage by
applying spare thinking time to carefully
consider what is being said. Through
listening training, thought speed can be
converted into your greatest asset.
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING
Some of the barriers to effective listening are:
Recognizing that a personal risk is
involved. Our thoughts and ideas might
be changed in some way. Any change is
threatening — initially
Listening for only those things that are
relevant to our own goals and objectives
Listening for only those things that serve
to satisfy our own needs
Casting aside those things that don't
conform to our own models of the world
Filtering the thoughts and ideas of the
communicator according to our attitudes,
beliefs, expectations, and relationship to
the communicator of the message.
LIMIT YOUR OWN TALKING
You cannot be an effective listener if you
are too busy talking. Following receipt of
each oral communication, there is time for
a response. As the receiver of the message,
don't monopolize the conversation. Give
the communicator an opportunity to
respond to your comments, and the
chance to have the last word.
CLOSING COMMENTS
Are you a good listener? Do you listen
intently and try to understand what the
communicator means? Do you try to put
your understanding of the message into
your own words and feed back what you
feel the communicator meant, without
adding to or deleting anything from the
message? If so, you will reach a better
understanding with the originator of the
message, and you will have taken a positive
step toward improving your ability to listen
and communicate with others.
DBR
Reprinted with the permission of www.bizmove.com.
22 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

DRAKE INTERNATIONAL
GLOBAL PERFORMANCE
INITIATIVES
DRAKE, AUSTRALIA
The Ultimate Job
Australia Campaign
Drake International has launched The
Ultimate Job Campaign in Australia. The
objective of this exciting 2010 campaign is
to find The Ultimate Job in Melbourne,
Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.
Does your Capital city have The Ultimate
Job? Does your company have The Ultimate
Job ? Are you The Ultimate Job applicant?
through diverse media channels, including
print, radio and social media.
Voting from the public will take place via
telephone, and text/SMS.
HOW IT WORKS
Businesses in each Capital city who feel they
have the best permanent job can submit
their application to be short listed for The
Ultimate Job by visiting www.theultimatejob.com.au
and following the prompts.
Applicants will be invited, and encouraged,
to apply for the short-listed jobs.
Each The Ultimate Job campaign will be
3 months in duration and commences in
Melbourne July 7, ending on October 5.
Sydney is the next city to launch in
August, with the remaining capital cities
to be launched in September.
A CELEBRITY PANEL
A Celebrity Panel in each city will review all
company applications to shortlist the Top
10 positions to be in the running for The
Ultimate Job.
Entries from the short-listed companies
for The Ultimate Job will be promoted
The public will be encouraged to vote,
either online or via text message, for their
favourite job from the Top 10 short listed
positions. The company with the most
votes at the end of the competition from
the public, and judges, will win The
Ultimate Job title.
GALA NIGHT
The Ultimate Job will be announced at a
Gala Night, in front of the participating
companies and media of the city. All short
listed jobs will be introduced by the celebrity
judges, from the tenth choice to the first
choice. All winning applicants for each job
will also be showcased during the gala.
PROCEEDS FOR CHARITY
Throughout the campaign, all funds
raised (voting donations, a percentage of
the placement fee, and gala night) will go
to Mission Australia, a not for profit company
dedicated to assisting the homeless
and long-term unemployed.
CORPORATE PUBLICITY
The Ultimate Job Australian campaign is
a wonderful and unique opportunity for
all companies who have entered to raise
their profile, and promote their “Employer
of Choice” image. The companies will have
their logos, and a short profile of their job,
supplied to the public and linked back to
their corporate website.
For the lucky short listed companies, the
exposure will be magnified by broadcasting
a five minute video about each The
Ultimate Job.
Whether The Ultimate Job Australia is
about career growth, money, life style,
sports, giving back to the community, or
whatever, be a part of the adventure!
DBR
For more information on how your company can get involved,
and get promoted, contact Ali Evans at +61 3 9245 0245 or visit
www.theultimatejob.com.au.
23

PI + PI = PI

BE A
GREAT
BOSS!
Immediate supervisors
provide shockingly little
daily guidance, direction,
feedback, and support
to employees.
SINCE 1993, BRUCE TULGAN has studied
the experience of thousands of managers
at all levels in a range of industries
through workplace interviews, focus
groups, polls, questionnaires, and intensive
seminars. His ongoing research has been
the basis of numerous articles, books, and
management-training programs in hundreds
of companies.
His research confirmed that all throughout
today’s workplaces, immediate supervisors
provide shockingly little daily guidance,
direction, feedback, and support to
employees. They do not spend enough
time spelling out expectations, tracking
performance, correcting failure, and
rewarding success. This “undermanagement”
— the opposite of micromanagement
— is so widespread, it’s an epidemic.
WHY IS THAT?
It has always been hard to manage people.
Today, it’s harder than ever, as the
workplace becomes more and more highpressure,
and the workforce becomes more
and more high maintenance. Staff look to
their immediate supervisors to meet their
basic needs and expectations, and freely
make demands of them. And like everybody
else, most managers have more tasks and
responsibilities of their own, along with
more administrative duties.
But some things don’t change. Most
managers still move into positions of
supervisory responsibility because they are
very good at something, but not usually
managing people. Once promoted, most
new managers receive very little effective
management training. What little they
do receive is usually dominated by the
prevailing approach, which Tulgan calls
26
Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

“false empowerment”, which says:
Managers should not keep close track of
staff and definitely should not zero in on
employee failures; staff should be made to
feel they “own” their work and should be
set free to make their own decisions;
managers are merely facilitators, there to
align the natural talents and desires of staff
with fitting roles in the workplace;
managers should not tell people how to do
their jobs, but rather let staff come up with
their own methods. The idea is to make
staff feel good inside, and results will take
care of themselves.
But real managers don’t operate in fantasyland.
They have to deal with the hard
realities of managing people:
You cannot always hire superstars. You
have to hire the best person available,
and often that person is in the middle
of the talent spectrum, not at the top.
When you do hire superstars, they can
be even harder to manage than the
mediocre people.
Staff do not have the power to do
things their own way in the workplace.
They are not free to ignore tasks they
don’t like.
Even if you set clear expectations, staff
don’t always achieve them.
Not everybody is a winner. Dealing
with failure is a big part of managing.
Staff can’t always work in the areas
they enjoy most. A lot of work must be
done, and staff are hired to do what
needs to be done.
Staff don’t always earn praise. Those
who do earn praise usually want tangible
rewards, not just praise.
Somebody is in charge, and staff will
“be held accountable”.
EIGHT STEPS BACK TO BASICS
In today’s high-pressure workplace,
employees need a boss who sets them up
for success every step of the way and who
helps them earn what they need. Practise
the art of real empowerment, through
regular guidance, direction, and support.
1
Get in the habit of
managing every day
Start by setting aside one hour every day for
managing up front before anything goes
right, wrong, or average. You have to make
choices every day. Concentrate on four or
five people a day. Your goal is to make these
one-on-one sessions routine, brief, straight
and simple. All you need is 15 minutes.
2
Learn to talk like
a performance coach
The best way to build rapport with your
employees is by talking about the work.
27

BE A GREAT BOSS
The most effective managers have a way
of talking that is both authoritative and
sympathetic, both demanding and
supportive, both disciplined and patient.
Don’t wait for problems to start coaching.
Tune in to the individual you are coaching.
Focus on specific instances of individual
performance.
Describe the employee’s performance
honestly and vividly.
Develop concrete next steps.
3
Take it one
person at a time
As you talk with each person face to face,
tune in and keep fine-tuning your
approach with each employee by continually
answering five key questions:
Who is this person at work?
Why do I need to manage this person?
What do I need to talk about with them?
How should I talk with this person?
Where and when should we talk?
4
Make accountability
a real process
Employees must trust and believe a fair
and accurate process exists for keeping
track of their actions and tying their
behaviour to real consequences:
Make sure that your employees know
that they will have to explain their
actions to you up close and often.
Focus on concrete actions within the
direct control of the employee.
Be the boss who is known for holding
people accountable.
Raise your standards.
Take charge on day one. Today is always
day one.
Separate your role as the boss from
your personal relationships.
If you have no authority, use influence.
If you don’t have the expertise, act like
a very shrewd client.
5
Tell people what to do
and how to do it
It is a fallacy that rehearsing wrong ways
of doing things is a good way to learn how
to do things right. The best way to engage
employees in adopting best practices is to
convert them into standard operating procedures
and require them to follow those
procedures precisely. Give employees stepby-step
checklists whenever possible.
Follow up, follow up, and follow up some
more. Every step of the way, ask employees:
“Can you do this? Are you sure? What do
you need from me? How are you going to
do that? How are you going to start? What
steps will you follow?”
6
Track performance
every step of the way
What expectations, goals, deadlines,
requirements were spelled out? Exactly
how did each employee’s actions match
up with those clear expectations?
Knowledge is power: The more you keep
track, the easier it will be to keep track. The
greater your reputation for being all over
the details, the more people will be likely to
share information with you and answer
your questions fully and honestly. Monitor,
measure, and document performance —
good, bad, and average — with every
employee, every step of the way.
7
Solve small problems before
they turn into big problems
Without regular daily or weekly management
conversations, the manager has no
natural venue in which to provide the
employee with regular evaluation and
feedback — good, bad, or neutral. In the
course of regular guidance and direction,
addressing one small problem after another
is what ongoing continuous performance
improvement actually looks like.
8
Do more for some people
and less for others
You can’t do everything for everybody. But
why would you ever want to? Give every
person the chance to meet the basic
expectations of their jobs and then the
chance to go above and beyond — and to
be rewarded accordingly. Be generous and
flexible. Expand your repertoire of
rewards, and start using every resource
you have to drive performance. Make special
deals and small accommodations in
exchange for extra performance.
Be the boss who says, “Great news, I’m the
boss! I consider that a sacred responsibility.
I’m going to make sure that everything goes
well around here. I’m going to help you get
a lot of work done very well, all day long. I’m
going to set you up for success every step of
the way. I’m going to spell out expectations
for you every step of the way. I’m going to
help you plan. I’m going to work with you to
clarify goals, guidelines, and specifications.
I’m going to help you break big deadlines
into smaller time frames with concrete
performance benchmarks. I’m going to help
you keep track of what you are doing and
how you are doing it. I’m going to help you
find the shortcuts, avoid the pitfalls, and
follow the best practices. Count on me.
When you need something, I’m going to
help you find it… and earn it.”
DBR
Bruce Tulgan founded RainmakerThinking, Inc. in 1993. He is a
keynote speaker and seminar leader and the author of numerous
books, including Not Everyone Gets a Trophy (2009), the
best-seller It's Okay to Be the Boss (2007), and the classic
Managing Generation X (1995). His weekly video newsletter is
available for free at www.rainmakerthinking.com.
28 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

DRAKE INTERNATIONAL
GLOBAL PERFORMANCE
INITIATIVES
DRAKE, CANADA
DRAKE CANADA PRESENTS 1-DAY
SEMINAR ON BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY
Drake Canada has joined forces with Blue
Ocean Strategy Canada (BOSC) to present
a 1-day seminar in Toronto, Ontario on
Sept. 15, 2010.
WHAT IS BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY?
Competing in overcrowded industries is
no way to sustain high performance. The
real opportunity is to create blue oceans
of uncontested market space.
As companies continue to reinvent themselves
to become more profitable and sustainable,
the topic of Talent Management
has never been so critical to their success.
Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS), pioneered by
INSEAD professors W. Chan Kim and Renée
Mauborgne, was summarized in their
2005 book Blue Ocean Strategy: How to
Create Uncontested Market Space and
Make the Competition Irrelevant (Harvard
Press, 240 pp). The book has been translated
into more than 40 languages and sold more
than 2 million copies—an international
bestseller.
forever searching for competitive advantage,
differentiation, sustained growth, and
above average profitability, typically introduce
products and services into a bloody
“red ocean”—an existing market where
they fight over a shrinking profit pool.
Well known examples of Blue Ocean
thinking are the Cirque de Soleil, Ikea, Wii,
CNN, Yellow Tail Wines, the BlackBerry, the
iPhone, and iPod.
DBR
For more information please contact Tony Scala, VP Marketing
at 416-216-1153 or by email at tscala@na.drakeintl.com. To register,
please visit www.creatingblueoceans.ca
DRAKE, HONG KONG
DRAKE HONG KONG PLAYS MAJOR SUPPORT
ROLE AT RUGBY SEVENS TOURNAMENT
Recently, Hong Kong hosted the world’s
premier Rugby Sevens Tournament, and
Drake Hong Kong played a major role.
The three day event required consultants on
site from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day. From a
list of six companies, Drake Hong Kong was
selected as the sole provider.
Drake successfully provided 80 temporary
staff to help ensure the event was well
organized, and ran smoothly. In addition,
Drake secured additional staff on a standby
basis for last minute requirements.
Kukri (Asia) Limited was an official sponsor,
and were involved in staffing the Rugby
Sevens Tournament in Hong Kong.
Drake International has a worldwide reputation,
and a fifty-nine year history for
providing the very best temporary workers.
Drake provides its clients with a real
understanding of the skills, knowledge
and behaviours needed to keep productivity
high, and revenue on track. Drake gets you
the best staff for your short-term needs,
quickly and easily.
This year marks 32 years of Sevens Rugby in
Hong Kong. Drake was proud to be a part of
this year’s event, and looks forward to the
opportunity to play a supporting role in
future Sevens Rugby tournaments, and
other events.
The book and the Blue Ocean Strategy
methodology are based on a study of 150
strategic moves spanning more than 100
years and 30 industries. The basic tenet of
Blue Ocean Strategy is that companies,
Thank you for providing us with the staff to operate the Hong Kong Sevens
2010. As a credit to your assistance, we achieved record-breaking sales in
the stadium, which is now the highest record so far!
HENRY TAM, FINANCE MANAGER, KUKRI (ASIA) LIMITED.
29

ADDRESS
JOB PERFORMANCE
WITHOUT HARMING COMMITMENT OR RETENTION
30 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

PREPARE IN ADVANCE
Take time to think about what you are
going to say. Prepare for this conversation
as you would any other critical business
meeting or presentation. Realize that the
words you use will have an impact on how
well the employee responds and have an
effect on the targeted improvements.
Do your homework. Investigate and know
the facts of a situation, without relying too
heavily on what employees, other managers,
or customers may have told you.
Make notes on the positive aspects of the
employee’s performance and use specific
examples. This is absolutely critical, as the
degree to which the employee takes your
correction to heart, and their job satisfaction,
will be affected by how effectively you
balance correction with appropriate recognition
of your employee’s good performance.
Hopefully, you have been acknowledging
the employee’s strong points all along
before having a correction discussion.
Make notes about the issue at hand. You
must have facts to support your reason for
the correction and express them in objective
terms. For example, “You are gone too
much” is subjective and vague. A more
accurate way to get the point across is to
say: “I see that you missed five days of
work last month, and that is placing extra
pressures on your co-workers.”
Make notes on what you expect in terms
of improvement, and be prepared to identify
what resources you are willing to offer
to help the employee reach that goal.
HAVING THE TALK
Be confident and know that you are doing
what is best for your company as well as
for your employee. You have the right to
expect your employee to do the right thing
and perform up to established standards.
Choose the right time and the right place
for this discussion.
Include anyone relevant to the discussion,
such as the office manager or human
resources manager. Avoid inviting anyone
who does not need to be there.
Address one issue at a time. Try to avoid a
whole laundry-list of things you want
improved.
Give your employee a chance to respond
and explain, but don’t let the conversation
deteriorate into an argument or start
blaming other employees. Remain openminded.
Your employee could have a valid
point or insight into your operations that you
may be unaware of or haven’t considered.
Acknowledge whenever a shortfall in your
operations has negatively affected their
performance.
Know the facts about the
situation – do your homework.
31

Acknowledge shortfalls in
your organization that have
negatively impacted the
employee’s performance.
Use a calm tone of voice. When you’ve
made your point, stop talking.
Browbeating accomplishes nothing but
demoralizes the employee and damages
the lines of communication.
Be sensitive, yet assertive. Phrase your
comments so that the employee understands
you respect their feelings; however,
you must also ensure your remarks are
taken seriously.
State in a positive manner exactly what
and how you expect the employee to
change. For example, instead of saying
“Don’t be late,” try “It’s important to me,
and to the company, that you always
arrive by 9 a.m.”
Ask what you can do to help. Encourage
the employee to approach you with any
suggestions for assistance or resources
that will address the problem.
Establish a timeline for following up with the
employee. This gives a clear understanding
that you will be checking on their progress.
Be sure that you and the employee understand
each other and what is expected
before you end the meeting. Have the
employee summarize things as they
understand them.
Stress that you want your employee to
feel comfortable talking with you about
any questions or concerns, big or small.
Never speak in a demeaning manner,
issue threats, or incite fear.
Restate your confidence in the employee’s
ability to perform well, if appropriate.
Confirm your willingness to do anything
you can to help them become successful.
Thank your employee for meeting with you.
If they handle the conversation professionally,
compliment them. How employees
accept correction is a sign of their maturity
and professionalism.
AFTER YOUR TALK
Be patient. Most employees need a little
time and space to absorb what you have
said, and to process their emotions.
Document all aspects of the meeting.
Record what was discussed and when;
who was present; any specific changes
in behaviour or performance required;
and timeline for follow-up. Place a copy
of your notes from the meeting in the
employee’s personal file. (Ensure you
follow procedures and guidelines
required in your own HR policies.)
Make sure you keep your end of the
bargain in terms of follow-up. The
entire process of correcting an employee
is for naught if you do not keep your
word. If you fail to follow up, employees
will catch on quickly that you don't
mean what you say.
SUMMARY
Correcting employees is a necessary part
of managing. It gives them the opportunity
to improve their performance and further
develop their skills. The benefits of
correcting an employee far outweigh the
drawbacks and discomfort of ignoring
their problems.
There are serious consequences if you fail
to correct employees or wait too long to
do so. Poor performance, whether demonstrated
in the form of an attitude problem
or lack of results, creates a huge financial
burden for your organization to carry.
32 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

8Suggestions to Soothe or
Prevent Uneasy Discussions
Every manager and supervisor must learn
to handle difficult employees effectively
and quickly. Communicate your expectations
clearly and insist that standards be
met on time. Work to help good employees
get out of performance or attitude ruts.
Give them every chance to turn things
around, because it’s costly to replace
employees. If your employee can’t
improve, or won’t, then make a timely and
prudent decision to let the employee go
for the benefit of the organization.
DBR
Reprinted with the permission of Mark Holmes, consultant,
professional speaker, and author of the best-selling Wooing
Customers Back; The People Keeper; and numerous E-books. He
is President of Consultant Board Inc. 417 883-7434.
www.ManageMyEmployees.com Practical tools for motivating,
retaining and leading employees.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Speak with your employee regularly, and work on your relationship.
Developing a positive relationship will go a long way toward
making uncomfortable discussions easier.
Address performance issues early rather than allowing problems to
worsen. Bring issues to the attention of the employee and help
them find ways to improve before problems affect an appraisal or
salary review.
Always support your observations—good and bad behaviour—
with plenty of facts and specific examples. Don’t use language that
can trigger negative responses like “You never” or “You always.”
Be future-tense. Focus your discussions 30% on the problem
and 70% on the solution. You will gain more ground with the
employee if you focus your dialogue on how to avoid the
problem in the future.
Regularly emphasize the importance of each employee’s role in the
organization. Link corporate goals with the employee’s performance
to build greater ownership and engagement in results.
Remind the employee of the consequences of not performing well.
Explain how it’s your objective to help them improve and achieve
work objectives, not to punish them. However, do this while being
very firm about the performance standards or results expected.
Encourage any questions or concerns your employee may have.
Convey a sense that you’re in this with them, that their problems
or concerns are also yours. Work on solving any issues you can and
removing any obstacles for them to achieve higher performance.
Ask the employee for their thoughts and ideas about improving
work performance. Then make an action plan together with steps
that each of you will take before the next meeting.
33

DON’T LEAVE YOUR
CORPORATE REPUTATION
TO CHANCE
What would happen to your
business if you had no say in
your company’s reputation? Do
you knowingly and blindly hand
over control of your reputation
to people who have no financial
stake in your company?
Many companies leave customer perceptions
completely to chance. They are so
entrenched in their business and the services
and products they sell that they lose sight of
one of the most important factors of
sustainability — their reputation in the
minds of their customers.
Companies that don’t take an active part in
defining their culture and reputation give
these up to their customers. Unfortunately
for them, unhappy customers are the ones
doing most of the talking.
Many studies support the finding that
happy customers tell four to eight people
about their positive experiences. However,
dissatisfied customers tell up to 20 people
within 24 hours when they are dissatisfied
with the customer experience. With social
media outlets, dissatisfied customers can
spread their message instantly.
Companies can be defined by their dissatisfied
customers before they even realize it is
happening. Is your company enabling these
upset customers to dictate your reputation?
Are you losing potential customers and not
even knowing it? Studies have found that
usually the customers who are leaving you,
leave you quietly and don’t tell anyone in
your organization the reason why.
The goal of your company is to stand out in
the crowd. Set yourself apart from the broad
field of competitors by crafting and implementing
a reputation that will make your
potential customers want to go out of their
way to do business with you.
Define your desired culture. The culture
will be the way you live and breathe within
your organization. It becomes your way of
life. It will be the consistent experience of
the actions, behaviours, and practices that
customers and your staff come to expect
and appreciate when interacting with you.
Leadership must embrace both the culture
and core values. Teams are much more likely
to properly convey the desired message
and actions to customers when they see it
coming from leadership themselves.
In determining your culture, focus on the
characteristics of your business, not the field
of business you are in. To begin the process,
consider words such as progressive, innovative,
educational, effective, efficient, quality
conscious, socially conscious, fun, empowering,
broad-minded, and respectful.
Once the ideal culture and core values are in
place, ingrain them into your teams. Ensure
that everyone in your organization understands
and embraces the culture and the
core values. This process is crucial. If your
team does not understand the image the
company is striving to convey, how can they
properly implement and communicate it to
the customers they are serving?
Clearly define your desired customer
experience. Examine your culture from the
perspective of your customers. Identify the
ideal business interaction between your
customers and you. What does it look
like to them? What feelings are they experiencing?
How is your staff treating them?
Is your staff engaged with the customers?
Are they forming relationships with your
customers? What are your customers saying
about you?
Train your teams. Improve your teams'
customer service skills and ensure consistency
across the board. Don’t focus on
best practices; focus on the next practice.
Best practices are simply an improvement
on what your competition is already
doing; the next practice is to do it differently
in a way that impresses your customer.
People do business with those they know,
like, and trust. This concept has been
around for ages. Customers do not buy
your product or service; they can find that
34
Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS TELL UP TO 20 PEOPLE WITHIN 24 HOURS.
from any number of your competitors.
What they are buying from you is the
relationship you are promising them if
they do business with you.
Effective business relationships are forged in
much the same way that effective personal
relationships are sustained — by engaging
and communicating. When companies
engage with their customers, they are
forming mutually beneficial partnerships. By
engaging with and understanding your
customers, you can tailor a solution with
your service or product designed specifically
to solve a problem or need they have.
Understanding your customers and their
needs and wants enables you to deliver
service in a way that your competition can’t
or isn’t willing to deliver. Your customers are
more likely to continue doing business with
you because of the lengths you go to delight
and please them.
Engagement means caring. Customers
often don’t care how much you know until
they know how much you care. Engagement
with the customer demonstrates a genuine
concern to give them what they are looking
for. Customers increase their purchase
amounts and frequency when they understand
that you are providing them with the
material or service you feel best meets their
needs. Discovering the issues behind their
reason for purchasing your products will
help you develop a relationship with the
customer that is truly centred around them.
Customers appreciate the extra time and
attention you spend getting to know them
and their situation, and are more willing
to work with companies that value the
symbiotic relationship.
Customer retention is the direct result of
excellent customer service and customer
satisfaction. Once the culture has become
customer-centric and customers are truly
engaged, the service you deliver to them
becomes valued.The entrepreneurial spirit in
each of your team members begins to
emerge as they make decisions and deliver
enhanced customer service as if they were
the business owner. Customers are viewed
as not only people who do business with you
but also the ones who keep you in business.
Many organizations empower their staff
to use their creativity to delight and retain
customers. Some companies have friendly
competitions to determine the most creative
method an employee used that month to
solve a customer issue or delight a customer.
With guidelines in place, staff have the
authority to act in the best interest of the
customer, and deliver excellent service
that far surpasses anything the competition
has even thought of.
Define as many aspects of the customer
experience as possible. Give your teams clear
expectations about what you want them to
deliver to their customers. Without clear
expectations, everything is left to chance. As
a business, you have the opportunity to
strategically place yourself in the hearts of
your customers by consistently giving them
what they want and building a relationship
with them that your competition isn’t even
thinking about.
Successful business relationships continue
long after the initial product or service has
been purchased. The initial purchase is just
the first step in the relationship. If you have
been successful in building a sustainable
relationship, you have created an indelible
image and feeling in the mind of the
customer that makes them want to return
again and again. Whether it be for information,
education, fact finding, or preparation
for the next purchase, the relationship is
based on much more than the initial product
or service that was purchased.
Customer-centric companies that define
their own reputations are acting as consultants
to their customers and helping them in
any way possible. Their goal is to solve the
problems of their customers before they
themselves are even aware that there is one.
Unless you are the only game in town,
there is no way to retain your customers
without delivering excellent service. Your
organization’s reputation is up to you. Be
proactive and define how you want to be
known, and what your customers should
experience. Doing this will set you apart
from the competition. Keep your focus on
your customers, and they will have no reason
to go anywhere else.
DBR
Visit www.KristinaEvey.com for more information on the services
and programs that Kristina Evey offers to companies interested
in improving their relationships with their customers.
36
Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

INTELLECTUAL
APPRECIATE OR YOU WILL DEPRECIATE
CAPITAL
38 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

WE ARE REPEATEDLY REMINDED THAT
an organization’s intellectual assets
are its most important source of competitive
advantage. Yet, as most of us have experienced
in our work life and as customers,
many organizations don’t seem to grasp
this fact. Instead of appreciating this critical
asset, in both the intellectual and fiduciary
sense, they squander it. They don’t ask for
employee input, or they ask for input and
never use it. They tell front-line people how
to do their jobs, rather than asking those
closest to the process for their suggestions.
They tie potential innovators’ hands with
red tape and politics.
In such an environment, a wealth of knowledge
and wisdom go untapped, leaving the
organization with a frozen asset it cannot
use to compete in the marketplace. Not only
do many organizations leave great reserves
of intellectual capital dormant, they literally
depreciate this asset by creating an environment
that leads to ’dumbed-down’ thinking.
Before investing in knowledge management
technology, organizations wishing to
compete in the knowledge economy need
to ask themselves: “Have we created an
environment that encourages intelligent,
innovative thinking, and the willingness to
share such thinking with others?”
Without a satisfactory answer to this
question or a strategy, no amount of
state-of-the-art technology will help an
organization compete in today’s economy.
Understanding what psychological and
organizational factors influence the appreciation
and leveraging of intellectual capital
should be the first task of any organization.
Here’s how smart companies appreciate and
leverage their most important asset.
Eleven Characteristics
of Smart Companies
1 They communicate a compelling big
picture. Employees need to know what the
goal is, how the game is played, and how to
contribute. Employee intelligence is
unleashed when they get the big picture
and value it emotionally. Then, and only
then, will employees care enough to spend
time thinking about how to improve products,
services, and processes.
2 They provide the informational “grist”
for the “idea mill”. In addition to communicating
a compelling big picture, smart
companies also provide employees with
the nitty-gritty information they need to
both innovate and make improvements.
3 They give employees control over their
jobs. Lack of control leads to learned
helplessness, according to decades of
research by Dr. Martin Seligman, Director of
the University of Pennsylvania Positive
Psychology Center, and his associates.
Learned helplessness results in people not
even bothering to seek solutions because
they “know” no solution exists. This is not a
fertile breeding ground for innovation or
intelligent problem solving.
Lack of control and the resulting feeling of
helplessness not only prevent people from
attempting to solve problems, it also affects
their ability to think. Research shows that
powerlessness can make smart people
dumb. This is one of the major ways organizations
depreciate their intellectual assets.
Without control over their jobs and the ability
to exercise judgment, employees get
caught in a downward spiral of poorer and
poorer judgment and decision-making skills
leading to a greater sense of helplessness.
Smart companies know that intellectual
capacity works like physical capacity — you
use it or lose it.They give employees plenty of
opportunities to use judgment, make decisions,and
exercise control over their worklife.
By doing this, they appreciate and leverage
the “thought power” of their workforce.
4 They provide an environment that
fosters trust. Intellectual capital appreciates
most rapidly if shared. It also can be
leveraged only when it is shared.
In organizations with low trust, employees
get a clear message that they are expendable.
Nobody is about to give up their
bargaining chips — the special knowledge
and know-how that might help them
keep their job.
Thus, in a fear-based environment, huge
stores of critical knowledge lie dormant,
only used occasionally by the sole owner of
that knowledge. And where does this
important knowledge base go when its sole
owner leaves the organization? To the competition.
This is one of the major problems
of downsizing. It often leads to ‘dumbsizing’.
5 They reward managers for coaching,
not for having all the answers. Smart companies
understand that thinking outside
the box requires emotional safety and the
freedom to do so.
Overtly or covertly punishing employees for
thinking on their own or rewarding them for
running to the boss for answers dumbs down
employees, according to Harvard University’s
Dr. Ellen Langer. Her research revealed that
employees were most likely to generate
useful solutions when working for a boss
who had a positive expectation that employ-
39

ees would find a solution and who didn’t
need to have the right answer all the time.
“Know-it-all” bosses tended to cultivate
“know nothing” subordinates. When
managers feel comfortable not knowing all
the answers and can coach employees to
generate their own solutions, intellectual
capital appreciates. To reinforce such
knowledge-generating behaviours by
supervisors, smart companies include these
behaviours in their managers’ performance
goals and compensation structure.
6 They make capturing and sharing
knowledge fun. The Forum Corporation, a
global leader in workplace learning,
demonstrates the profitability of this practice.
Since its competitive advantage clearly
depends on the combined intelligence and
knowledge of its consultants, its success
depends on its ability to cultivate, capture,
and disseminate knowledge throughout
the organization. Forum has learned to do
this in part through making the process
fun. For instance, its World Cup Soccer contest
of best practice ideas for all of its consultants
worldwide yielded over 500 quality
contributions to the knowledge base.
7 They reward knowledge sharing and
knowledge using.The old adage “what gets
rewarded gets repeated” holds true for
knowledge sharing. This is critical for
organizations with a low-trust, knowledgehoarding
culture. Smart companies build in
explicit rewards for both the quality and
quantity of information sharing and for
using shared information.
One company created a fun way of rewarding
employee use of shared knowledge by
instituting an award called The Thief of the
Month, given to the employee who demonstrated
the best use of someone else’s idea.
8 They communicate and celebrate the 11 They know how to create a positive
joy of knowledge sharing. Smart companies
constantly tell success stories of how
employees shared knowledge that benefited
others and were rewarded for doing so.
They also communicate examples of how
employees used knowledge captured by
their colleagues to do a better job or to
make their job easier.
emotional climate. Smart companies
understand intuitively what psychological
research clearly demonstrates — emotions
and intellect are inextricably interwoven.
Emotions focus attention, shape thought,
and influence cognitive functioning.
Employees who feel inspired, proud, and
valued, think about how to make their
9 They focus on people, not on technology.
organization better, notice opportunities to
do so, and have full use of their intellectual
With the amazing technological offerings
available, such as Internet-based groupware,
project websites, web-based and
powers. Employees who feel afraid,resentful,
and depressed, do not, and they lost much
of their intellectual capacity.
video conferencing, it’s easy to get caught
up in the “gee whiz” aspect of knowledge
management. However, a simple collaborative
technology like email can be a powerful
knowledge-sharing vehicle.
Smart companies understand this relationship
between thought and emotion and
the effect positive emotion has on cognitive
functioning. Research shows that when
people feel intellectually challenged but
This was critical in Forum’s success.When it
first implemented its knowledge-sharing
process, it focused on behaviour and
culture, using low-tech solutions. Once the
process and behaviour were embedded, it
moved to more powerful, sophisticated
solutions. By eliminating a steep software
learning curve for employees to struggle
with, it also eliminated a potential hurdle
emotionally safe, they are far more creative
and innovative. They also have greater
access to their rational, analytical capabilities,
which are lost when one is downshifted
due to emotional pain. Addressing employee
emotions isn’t a “warm, fuzzy” thing to do
only if one has the time, but rather an
absolutely critical component to a serious
Intellectual asset–appreciation program.
to employee buy-in. Once employees felt
comfortable with the process of knowledge
sharing and experienced its benefits, Forum
transitioned into more sophisticated corporate
technology.
CONCLUSION
Successfully competing in the knowledge
economy requires understanding what
factors influence intellectual functioning
10 They build in reflection and capture
and what organizational practices cultivate
intellectual capital. When we look at both
time. The ability to reflect on and codify
experience is central to knowledge creation.
Without reflection, we don’t learn from
experience or generate new models and
strategies. Smart companies realize that
the scientific research on intellectual
functioning and the practices of smart
companies, we see common themes in how
they appreciate and leverage this critical
source of competitive advantage.
expecting staff to rush from project to
project, and rewarding this activity, are DBR
counterproductive in a knowledge economy.
An excerpt reprinted with the permission of author David Lee,
Principal of HumanNature@Work, an internationally recognized
authority on organizational and managerial practices that optimize
employee performance. www.Humannatureatwork.com
40 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

you ?
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for
Are
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» Is Succession Planning treated as an employee replacement
program, or as a structured component of performance
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» Does your company have a Capability Framework?
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A Drake International Solution

COMMON
MYTHS
ABOUT EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION
Motivating employees is
extremely important to
managers and supervisors,
but despite its importance,
several myths persist.
MYTH 1: I can motivate people
Not really. They have to motivate themselves.
You can’t motivate people any more
than you can empower them. Employees
have to motivate and empower themselves.
However, you can set up an environment in
which they can best motivate and empower
themselves. The key is knowing how to set
up the environment for each of your
employees.
MYTH 4: I know what motivates me, so I
know what motivates my employees
Different people are motivated by different
things. You may be motivated by earning
time away from your job to spend with
family. You may be motivated by recognition
of a job well done. People are not motivated
by the same things. Again, a key goal is
to understand what motivates each of your
employees.
MYTH 2: Money is a good motivator
Certain things like money, a nice office, and
job security can help people from becoming
less motivated, but they usually don’t help
people to become more motivated. A key
goal is to understand the motivations of
each of your employees.
MYTH 5: Increased job satisfaction means
increased job performance
Research shows this isn’t necessarily true. If
the goals of the organization are not
aligned with the goals of employees, then
employees aren’t effectively working
toward the mission of the organization.
MYTH 3: Fear is a good motivator
Fear is a great motivator — for a very short
time. A lot of yelling from the boss certainly
won’t "light a fire under employees" for an
extended period.
MYTH 6: I can’t comprehend employee
motivation — it’s a science
Not true. Some very basic steps you can take
will go a long way toward supporting your
employees to motivate themselves to
increased performance in their jobs.
42
Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

MYTH 3:
FEAR IS A
GOOD
MOTIVATOR
BASIC PRINCIPLES
TO REMEMBER
Motivating employees starts
with motivating yourself
Enthusiasm is contagious. If you’re enthusiastic
about your job, it’s much easier for
others to be as well. And if you’re succeeding
in taking care of yourself and your own job,
you’ll have a much clearer perspective on
how others are doing in theirs.
A great place to start learning about
motivation is to start understanding your
own motivations. Is it time with family? Is it
recognition for a job well done or learning
opportunities? How is your job configured
to support your own motivations? What can
you do to better motivate yourself?
Always work to align goals of the
organization with goals of employees
Employees can be all fired up about their
work and working very hard. However, if the
results of their work don’t contribute to the
goals of the organization, then the organization
is not any better off than if the
employees were sitting on their hands.
Therefore, it’s critical that managers and
supervisors know what they want from
their employees.
What is required from employees should
be worded in terms of goals for the organization.
Identifying the goals for the
organization is usually done during strategic
planning. Ensure that employees have
strong input into identifying their goals,
and that these goals are aligned with the
goals of the organization.
Key to supporting the motivation of
your employees is understanding what
motivates each of them
Each person is motivated by different
things. Whatever steps you take to support
the motivation of your employees should
first include finding out what it is that really
motivates each of them. You can find this
out by asking them, listening to them, and
observing them.
Recognize that supporting employee
motivation is a process, not a task
Organizations change all the time, as do
people. Indeed, it is an ongoing process to
sustain an environment in which employees
can strongly motivate themselves. If you
look at sustaining employee motivation as
an ongoing process, then you’ll be much
more fulfilled and motivated yourself.
Support employee motivation by
using organizational systems
Use reliable and comprehensive systems in
the workplace to help motivate employees.
For example, establish compensation
systems, employee performance systems,
and organizational policies and procedures
to support employee motivation.
Establishing systems and structures helps
ensure clear understanding and equitable
treatment of employees.
43

COMMON MYTHS ABOUT EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION
STEPS YOU CAN TAKE
These specific steps can help you go a long
way toward motivating employees:
What motivational factors sustain you,
and what can you do to sustain them.
This little bit of motivation planning can give
a strong perspective on how to think about
supporting the motivations of employees.
Make a list of three to five things that
motivate each of your employees.
Fill out the list yourself for each of your
employees, and then them fill out the list for
themselves. Compare your answers to theirs.
Then meet with each of them to discuss
what they think are their most important
motivational factors. Last, take some time
alone to write down how you will modify
your approaches with each employee to
ensure their motivational factors are being
met. Learn to become more comfortable
with them. The place to start is to recognize
their importance.
Ensure your reward system takes each
employee into consideration.
For example, their jobs might be redesigned
to be more fulfilling. You might find more
opportunities to provide recognition, if that
is important to them. Or you might develop
a personnel policy that rewards employees
with more family time.
Have one-on-one meetings
with each employee.
Employees are motivated more by your care
and concern for them than by your attention
to them. Get to know your employees, their
families, their favourite foods, names of
their children, and so on. This can sound
manipulative, and it will be if not done sincerely.
However, even if you want to get to
know each of your employees, it may not
happen unless you intentionally set aside
time to be with each of them.
Cultivate strong delegation skills.
Delegation includes conveying responsibility
and authority to your employees so they
can carry out certain tasks. It allows
employees to take a stronger role in their
jobs, which usually means more fulfillment
and motivation.
Reward it when you see it.
A critical lesson for new managers and
supervisors is to learn to focus on employee
behaviours, not on employee personalities.
Performance in the workplace should be
based on behaviours toward goals, not on
popularity of employees.
Reward it soon after you see it.
This helps to reinforce the notion that you
highly prefer the behaviours that you’re currently
seeing from your employees.
Generally, the shorter the time between an
employee’s action and your reward for the
action, the clearer it is to the employee that
you highly prefer that action
Implement at least the basic principles
of performance management.
Good performance management includes
identifying goals, measures to indicate if
the goals are being met or not, ongoing
attention and feedback, and corrective
actions, when necessary, to redirect activities
back toward achieving the goals.
Establish goals that are SMARTER.
SMARTER goals are: specific, measurable,
acceptable, realistic, timely, extending of
capabilities,and rewarding to those involved.
Clearly convey how employee results
contribute to organizational results.
Employees often feel strong fulfillment from
realizing that they’re actually making a
difference. This realization often requires
clear communication about organizational
goals, employee progress toward those
goals, and celebration when goals are met.
Celebrate achievements.
This critical step is often forgotten.
Experienced managers come to understand
that acknowledging and celebrating a
solution to a problem can be every bit as
important as the solution itself. Without
ongoing acknowledgment of success,
employees become frustrated, skeptical,
and even cynical about efforts in the
organization.
Let employees hear from their customers.
Let employees hear customers proclaim the
benefits of the efforts of the employee. For
example, if the employee is working to keep
internal computer systems running for other
employees in the organization, have these
“internal customers” express their gratitude
to the employee.
Admit to yourself if you don’t like
an employee.
Managers and supervisors are people. It’s
usual to not like someone who works for
you. In this case, admit this to yourself.
Explore what it is you don’t like, to come to a
clearer perception of how you can accomplish
a positive working relationship with
the employee. It often helps just to talk out
loud about how you feel and get someone
else’s opinion about the situation.
If you continue to focus on employee
behaviours and performance, and not
personalities, you’ll go a long way toward
ensuring that your treatment of employees
remains fair and equitable.
DBR
Reprinted with the permission of Carter McNamara.
www.authenticityconsulting.com
44 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

1 In 3 Workforces
Are Less Motivated
Since The GFC…
Is Your Company
One Of Them?
Successful companies know the importance
of an energized, engaged and effective
workforce. It shows in their bottom-line.
Drake WorkWise is a leading provider of quality,
cost-effective psychological and business
solutions for personal, organizational and
performance issues in the workplace.
We provide:
Access to highly qualified senior staff
365 days a year, 24-hours a day
Tailored and timely
interventions
Measurable deliverables
and outcomes
1300 135 600 (Australia only)
www.drakeworkwise.com
drake workwise

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46 Drake Business Review | Volume 2, Number 2 | drakeintl.com