A brand is worthless if it doesn't connect with the right audiences in a relevant way - Unknown

Organisational tasks can be mundane and boring at times – let’s not kid ourselves. We’ve all had to experience that feeling of perpetually working on the same given responsibilities. Having to key in mountains of data; filing of a never-ending increase stack of documents; making routine phone calls to clients who have never answered your calls; a constant back-and-forth between two points. Eventually, demotivation takes over, we start withdrawing our commitment to the organisation, and end up delivering just enough to get by.

When faced with demotivated employees, what can organisational leaders to do undo the damage? 

Expressing gratitude to your employees is a fundamental step-one to recognising their efforts to the organisation. It doesn’t have to be anything grand or spectacular, a simple gesture is usually enough to get them back on track – a simple face-to-face ‘thank you; treating the team to a nice lunch – making sure your employees are aware that their work is appreciated.

Another way is to engage with your employees to understand the source of their demotivation. Communicate with them to figure out why they have been disconnected with their tasks-at-hand, and discuss potential ways in reestablishing their motivation. What’s important is not to dismiss their concerns, and instead identify underlying causes of demotivation within the organisation, in order to prevent future cases from surfacing.

It becomes difficult to commit to the organisation when employees just see themselves as cogs in the machine. Take the initiative to remove any notions of unimportance by letting them know how they contribute to the growth and development of the organisation. Foster a sense of accountability within employees, which functions to improve the connection between them and their tasks – and by extension, the organisation.

However, these steps do not suggest that employers are wholly accountable for re-motivating their employees. The onus is also on organisational personnel themselves in figuring out the source of their demotivation, or on working with those who are actively helping them back on track – such as employers who are using the previously mentioned approaches! It takes two to tango, and the responsibility lies with both employee and employer in delivering 100% to their responsibilities.

Link: Employee Motivation Has to Be More Than 'a Pat on the Back'

Image Source:

(1) ciphr.com

(2) leadershipmanagement.com.au

(3) myronstaana.net

(4) centerforworklife.com

Benjamin Lee Cheng Han | Benjamin is a student of International Relations at the University of Nottingham, currently exploring unchartered realms in the Public Relations field. Writing is clearly his interest – a decisive contributor to his foray into the public relations industry. To date, he boasts the proud record of having tamed one of the office cats, and drinking expired tea from the pantry.

It's not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen - Unknown

Delivering results is an organisational process – achieving sales targets; attending coaching / training sessions; brainstorming ideas for a client proposal – all represent instances whereby expectations are put forth, and expected to be fulfilled. However, when unrealistically high targets are imposed onto organisational personnel, this has the potential to trigger and motivate harmful behaviours amongst those affected.

Either from a managerial perspective (managing those who have been given unreasonable expectations) or from an employee perspective (having been asked to deliver impractical results), there are certain ways in effectively dealing with unrealistic targets which have been requested by those higher up on the organisational ladder. Instead of relying on tactics to achieve short-term results, without considering the impact on the long-term prospects of the organisation, Liane Davey suggests a guideline to managing unrealistic expectations.

Firstly, one should learn how to question unreasonable targets before accepting them as part of your responsibility. This definitely sounds easier than it seems, as you must make sure to not sound as if you are rejecting the goals when you voice out your concerns, which could lead to disastrous career repercussions. The correct approach is by being calm and rational in highlighting your concerns, then provide the necessary facts to substantiate your doubts about the targets.

An alternative approach if you wouldn’t want to advocate for a more reasonable target is by requesting for the resources to get the job done. Instead of changing the initial targets, you can request for options to enhance your capacity in completing the task at hand, such as additional staffing to increase productivity and relieve burden, or tools for reducing administrative burden, either for your team of for yourself.

After deciding the path to achieving the targets, you – either managing the team or as being part of the team – should then have an open discussion to define off-limit options. Tactics such as upselling minimal value products / services or listing unprofitable sales prices to reach targets should be explicitly ruled out from the get-go. By establishing clear boundaries for acceptable and unethical behaviour, you stand to create strong social pressure within the team, so that everyone acts in accordance with preset guidelines.

Although a culture of comparison could have the potential to motivate certain people in reaching their targets, more often than not, they have damaging effects on the mentality and productivity of those working to achieve the target. As an employee, one should avoid using oneself or another as a baseline in gauging success; as a manager, one should be quick to focus on the strategies which are working, instead of the individuals having success.

By applying typical management tactics, they tend to backfire as they do not conform to the added pressure usually associated with unreasonable targets. Even though Liane Davey’s suggestions specify steps to be taken by managers in charge of teams being dealt unfeasible goals, when broken down, these measures apply across all those affected, and should act as a reference point in dealing with unrealistic expectations.

Link: Managing a Team That’s Been Asked to Do Too Much

Image Source:

(1) blog.vernalmgmt.com

(2) businessinsider.com.au

(3) huffingtonpost.co.uk

Benjamin Lee Cheng Han | Benjamin is a student of International Relations at the University of Nottingham, currently exploring unchartered realms in the Public Relations field. Writing is clearly his interest – a decisive contributor to his foray into the public relations industry. To date, he boasts the proud record of having tamed one of the office cats, and drinking expired tea from the pantry.

More often than not, we prepare for ‘crisis management’ involving external causes – service breakdown, a fire took place, etc. Why? Because, we don’t often see our own employees causing anything close to a crisis, especially to their very own employers. But, as a recent case of a former Yelp employee, Talia – who wrote an open letter to her CEO (Jeremy Stoppelman) – would suggest, we have to consider that there are in fact internal factors, such as company employees, that can potentially put the company in a predicament. If you haven’t read her open letter, you can check it out here.

In this day and age, information spreads rapidly; out now and spread like wildfire within hours if not minutes. A day after publishing her open letter, one of the most popular opinion pieces in response to it – which was thereafter picked up by several prominent media houses – was published. In fact, Talia got fired in less than two hours of publishing her open letter (source).

When Stoppelman responded to her open letter via his Twitter account, he drew mostly criticisms for not truly addressing the issue, and for being unconvincing. On his third out of five tweets, he wrote that he has “not been personally involved in Talia being let go and it was not because she posted a Medium letter directed at” him. However, just a day before, Talia’s HR representative and manager had told her “that the letter violated Yelp’s “Terms of Conduct” and that’s why they had to let me go” (source). So, is it because of the Medium letter or not?

Inconsistency is a bane to crisis management.

So let’s be honest – when crisis hits you, especially in this day and age, you won’t see it from a kilometre away; it’s going to be in your face. And if I may be blatant, the juicier your crisis, the more (and prompt) unwanted-attention you’d receive.

We cannot stress enough how imperative it is to have an external and internal crisis management plan in hand. Sure, you might argue that you have an almost-solid company. But, are you really going to dismiss Stoppelman’s lesson, and risk going through the ordeal yourself? Having a crisis management plan isn’t so much about being pessimistic, but to be prepared to tackle almost-anything that compromises the company and contributes to its disadvantage, in a strategic manner (read: proper channels).

While it is important to have a crisis management plan, key personalities are essential to the execution of it. As with any companies, they (from Country Managers, to CEOs, and COOs) are bound to come and go. When new key personalities step into their position, it is necessary for them to learn the existence of the plan, and understand it inside and out. If they have more to add to the plan, even better!

At the end of the day, one of the key methods to clearing up controversies is addressing both internal and external factors.

Think like a customer - Paul Gilin

"Prevention is better than cure" - as it clichéd as it sounds, there is truth to this old saying. In the ealm of Internet, your online reputation is always at a risk. The infamous hack cases of Sony Pictures Entertainment and JP Morgan (two of many instances) proved that data breaches have unimaginable consequences. These cases show that the image of businesses would be compromised and affected if their online reputation were not protected. Public opinion could be turned against you on a dime, damaging your businesses in the process.

Digital crisis management plays an important role in safeguarding the name and reputation of your company. Individual and corporate digital reputations can greatly impact financial growth and overall success, hence it is essential to actively build up and manage your online assets as they are keys to protect your company from any catastrophic repercussion. As written by Carol Ruth below, her article talks about the significance of protecting your online reputation before it’s under attack, and how you can make preparation for it.

Everyone knows that businesses need to manage their reputation when something bad happens, whether it’s a negative Twitter comment, a poor Yelp review or something on a bigger scale. However, when crises strike, there is no magic pill that will save your online reputation.

That’s why you need to take a proactive stance when it comes to digital reputation management. Your first impression online or any negative perception, whether accurate or not, can jeopardise your company’s appeal to current and future customers and partners, ultimately impacting its growth.

The court of public opinion is not fair but often final. To that end, here are a few steps that can you can take right now to make sure that your business is well protected when it needs to be.

Your first step to managing your company’s reputation is to create online content, and a lot of it, while you control the narrative. Grant Greenberg, director of digital reputation management for Lumentus, a DRM expert firm, says, “The key is for companies and executives to start building their digital fortress now, before a crisis occurs. By proactively telling your story, you can tell your own story instead of letting others tell it for you.”

By building up this digital fortress of sorts, you have an opportunity to own a large chunk of your search results. Plus, as Greenberg mentioned, it makes it much easier to push down that negative story in online search rankings, if and when a personal issue, legal affair or cyber hack it happens.

To build that fortress, create and submit compelling and relevant content to blogs and websites. That does double duty, first by providing customer referrals but also adding DRM protection. Greenberg adds, “90 percent of people don’t make it past the first page of search results, so you want to be sure that you and your company’s great work is the first and only thing that people see.

Optimise your content

To be great, content it must be optimised. Greenberg advises his clients to answer questions like: “What are the relevant search terms associated with you and your business? What insight can you offer?” Whether it’s on a timely topic or your take on a passion project, you need to establish your credibility as a thought leader in the field. This optimization will also help to put your good credentials in front of breaking news online in times of crisis.

Realise that you don’t fully control your privacy

There are certain industries, including financial services (think investment banks, hedge funds and private equity firms) that try to remain under the radar for a variety of reasons, from eluding the competition to the low profile preferences of their executives. However, whether your company likes it or not, people are now searching about a business and its executives before deciding whether to buy or take their business elsewhere.

Trying to stay anonymous can backfire. If something goes wrong, or is even perceived to have gone wrong, perception will become reality online. Your desire to be anonymous can lead to negative press controlling the narrative about your company. Instead, be proactive instead of private.

Focus on management, too

An analysis by the Lumentus SEO team found that from July 2014 through July 2015, searches for executives by name were up 50 percent from prior years. That means that managing the online reputations of individuals associated with your company, especially key management, is just as important as the management of the company’s reputation.

“Companies and their executives must own all of their digital assets,” says Greenberg. “Even if they aren’t active on social media, they should own their handles, have profiles on company websites and work with their teams to create relevant content.”

If you are a solopreneur, you are the company and your profile will have a major impact on your business, too.

Enlisting a DRM company to help you to create policies, evaluate the online footprint of your executives and create thought leadership around key management will pay off both offensively and defensively for your business.

Think beyond business

When thinking about building a content trail, it often makes sense to think about content other than purely business. For example, “Many business and executives have charities they care deeply about and are heavily involved in,” says Greenberg. “Talking about those passions is key to humanizing a company and engaging the potential customer.”

From charitable associations to hobbies and interests, adjunct content creation can bring another element to your business. Just be careful and stray away from polarizing issues like politics that can end up doing more harm than good.

Taking control of your digital reputation today is not just good business, but it’s a form of insurance for when that negative story inevitably happens. Your positive content will continue to rank high and push the negative stories to the ladder pages of search results, while also working to prevent old news from creeping back up to haunt you.

All great changes are preceded by chaos - Deepak Chopra