Key Psychological Needs of Employee Motivation (2 of 3)

My Grandson is 2 ½ years old and his job, as with every 2 ½-year-old, is to learn and master skills.  Each week when I visit him, I see he has learned something new. Words with a lot of syllables in the same sentence. Catch a ball (sort of).  Read (memorize) a book. Run AND

  • Autonomy is one of three employee psychological needs

Key Psychological Needs of Employee Motivation (1 of 3)

“My wife, Mary Jean, owned a soft ice cream store, which operated from April 15 through Labor Day. Both of our children, Kate and Andy, worked there during the summer months. After they had worked there a few weeks, Mary Jean made this comment to each of them: ‘You’ll often be working by yourself. I

3 Things Employees Cannot Live Without

“Rumor has it you got advisor of the year. Congratulations.” This was a sterile email I received from my boss in 2008.  I still wonder why my boss didn’t walk the 50 feet from her office, to my office, to personally congratulate me on this statewide award. Well, I actually know why. I worked in

LEARNING FROM GIRAFFES: Be social (Part 2 of 5)

Giraffes are social. And when they socialize, they like to be informal and mix things up. Giraffes move into and out of herds; they don’t stick with one group or develop territories (known as cliques or ingroups and outgroups in the workplace). Think of giraffes as being socially-fluid. What do you do at work? Do you

THE IMPORTANCE OF ASKING QUESTIONS: Solving the Right Problem (Part 2 of 6)

Hours of meetings, research, and effort ONLY to find out it was the WRONG problem. I remember this happening with a client a number of years ago when I delivered training on employee engagement.  The goal of the training was to “empower employees to work together better by building trust with each other”. Great! I

  • outline of person with words inside about kindness

TENDING YOUR G FACTOR DURING A PANDEMIC (Part 7 of 7)

I’ve been looking forward to this week’s G Factor for several weeks – GENEROSITY: show kindness and concern. Crises, like a  pandemic, often bring out the best in people.  I’ve read many articles, blogs, posts, etc. about kindness toward neighbors, coworkers, and family. One particular story grabbed my attention over a month ago and I

  • rubik's cube

TENDING YOUR G FACTOR DURING A PANDEMIC (Part 6 of 7)

This week, you don’t need to have the highest IQ to have G Factor. Nor do you have to be able to solve a Rubik’s Cube. That is because Genius comes in many forms. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines genius as “a person endowed with extraordinary mental superiority – especially a person with a high IQ”.  It