Employee recognition and how it prevents company catastrophes

In all his years helping companies grow, Emile Haddad has noticed that in many instances, huge disasters that bring down entire businesses begin with the smallest things. Because of this, it’s important for business owners and managers to take a closer look at some details that may have a company-wide effect.

For this blog, Emile Haddad focuses on how the simple act of recognizing the efforts of employees can be enough to stave off a catastrophe.

Picture this – a small distribution business with about a dozen or so office workers taking in calls and plotting out schedules through which the company delivery vans will be delivering products. In the office, all 12 of the employees work hard for 8 hours a day, 5, maybe 6 days a week. Of course, not everyone works at the same pace. Some employees get the job done faster than others. Other employees get sick. However, even with the slight disparities in productivity, the tasks get done, and the products get delivered.

At the end of the year, management decides to reward four, maybe five of its employees who they deem to have worked the hardest and make a huge deal of their efforts. The rest of the team are left there staring at each other, having had fought tooth and nail, but never given credit.

What happens after? Feeling dejected, the remaining seven or eight decide to (secretly) look for new jobs. They hand in their resignation papers at the start of the following year all at the same time.
Now, Emile Haddad suggests an alternative take on it – where everyone is recognized, but only one outstanding employee is given an award. This way, nobody is alienated, and everyone feels they’re still appreciated. Think about it.

Emile Haddad is a Seattle-based business consultant who teaches entrepreneurs about the importance of respect and building a culture of excellence in the workplace. For similar reads, go to this page.

The proper way to reprimand employees

Emile Haddad always believes that the relationship between management and employees is critical to the success of a company. He also believes that this relationship is as fragile as anything else in the company, thus needs to be nurtured and taken care of.
 One of the biggest factors that affect this is how employees are reprimanded by their higher ups. Haddad recounts how surprised he was, years ago, when he started helping companies grow and expand. He remembers how so many supervisors and managers who were technically skilled had no idea how to reprimand their subordinates, or worse, reprimanded them the wrong way.

Here are a few tips he shares when it comes to reprimanding employees.

• As the saying goes, “Praise in public, reprimand in private.” Managers and supervisors need to know that nobody responds well after being humiliated in front of their peers. Also, when reprimanding in private, higher ups should keep the conversation as confidential as it should be.

• When reprimanding, managers and supervisors need to be specific. They need to point out the exact problem and stay on it throughout the conversation. Anything less than this may end up confusing the employee.

• In line with the previous item, higher ups should also keep a consistent, firm tone of authority. Of all the things needed when reprimanding an employee, Emile Haddad puts professionalism at the top of the list. Having said that, he also suggests that the conversation end with unsolicited advice on how an employee can improve.

Emile Haddad is a Seattle, WA-based business coach and consultant. He believes that a culture of excellence can be cultivated by observing the values of professionalism and accountability. More tips and insights on business here.

Why companies should implement employee goal setting

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In most companies, the employees are as important as any resource, which is why they should be engaged in organizational activities. One of the many ways to do so is to involve them in goal setting. A 2017 research by McKinsey shows that employee goal setting can elevate employee performance and benefit the organization as a whole.


Some of the advantages of its implementation are the following:

Linked personal goals to overall business objectives: It is normal for employees to set for themselves goals and dreams. But if they see that their personal goals and expectations are aligned to the business priorities, they can be motivated to improve their performance. According to McKinsey, 91 percent of companies that have successful performance management systems employ workers whose personal objectives are correlated with those of the business.

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Increased accountability: Because employees are involved in the establishment of collective and individual organizational goals, it could give them a sense of ownership and purpose in their work. This can encourage better performance and motivate them to give their best.

Professional development: Through employee goal setting, not only can organizational goals be formulated, the business leaders can come up with a list of employee goals and milestones that are geared toward developing their skills and building their experiences.

Seattle, WA-based business consultant Emile Haddad has helped organizations build a culture of excellence within their workplaces. He has also taught many employees about the different skills they need to attain professional success. Visit this blog to read similar articles.

How Micromanagement Hinders Employee Growth

Trust in the workplace is crucial to the success of everyone. When working with teams or an individual, allowing them to thrive and use all their capabilities can yield impressive results. There might be setbacks in the process, but it will boost their morale and encourage them to continue doing their best.

Unfortunately, micromanagers exist. Even after delegating tasks to members, a micromanaging superior can end up obsessing over the details that another person is responsible for. This creates a frustrating and tension-filled atmosphere in the office. Instead of enabling others to succeed at a task, constantly checking in and interfering with what they do can lower their self-esteem.

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Micromanagers claim that they interfere because they don’t want their co-workers to fail. Checking in with them from time-to-time is necessary, but taking over their tasks while making them feel that they are incompetent might be a reflection of a leader’s own ineffectiveness. In reality, micromanagers end up losing time to do their own tasks because they are so engrossed in the progress of another person.

Image source: Entrepreneur.com

In order to have healthy dynamics in the workplace, leaders must believe that their team members are capable of carrying out the tasks. If some members are falling behind, they can offer help with the mindset of guiding them toward improvement. To boost employees’ accountability, leaders should allow members to carry out their tasks with minimal supervision, making them own up to the job. In the end, having a workplace where people know their place becomes more efficient. When a leader stops being a micromanager, the members will accomplish more than what is expected of them.

Emile Haddad is a Seattle-based business consultant who teaches entrepreneurs about the importance of respect in the workplace. Once respect is present in the office, employees will learn to follow their superiors not because they are told to, but because they want to. To read more articles on leadership and management, subscribe to this blog.

Keeping good company: What needs to change to retain talent

It is very difficult to find good talent and even more difficult to retain it. Forbes asserts that almost 30% of employees would see themselves working for a different company in the next 12 months, with a whopping 70% seeing themselves as unappreciated by their respective companies. This indicates that some companies lack what their more talented employees need to encourage them to stay.

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Many CEOs harp about their initiatives to keep talent within their companies, though some of these initiatives fail to realize this goal. Many of these are based on theory rather than practice, and do not take into account the reasons why employees leave.

While some employees leave companies because of issues with their superiors, many leave simply because they do not feel engaged, valued, and rewarded. The company, then, should try making its employees feel appreciated while making sure that its own leadership does not falter in its goals.

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Companies often find themselves in a rut whenever much-needed talented individuals suddenly depart. Taking action to retain good company within the company means making talented individuals feel more appreciated and rewarded for their contributions.

More details on the shortcomings that lead employees away from the companies they work for are outlined in this article from Forbes.com.

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