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We're here to take your talents to new heights.

Just what is it that you're looking for from your career? Whether it's constant growth and development, meaningful work, opportunities for promotion, or just colleagues you can have fun with along the way, one thing is for certain; you'll find it all here at Enterprise. All you need to do is bring your personality, enthusiasm, talent and team spirit along for the ride, and we'll do the rest. Because at Enterprise, we love helping people get to where they want to be.

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Search and apply for graduate jobs, internships, placements and corporate roles with Enterprise Rent-A-Car - twice winner of Graduate Employer of the year.

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Fleet Management Software - Enterprise Fleet Management

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Enterprise Fleet Management will help you proactively monitor fleet performance to maximize safety and performance while reducing fleet costs.

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If your business is built around the creation of a product, managing the manufacture of that item dictates the degree of success your business enjoys. Understanding a variety of production management techniques gives you a toolbox for approaching bottlenecks and improvements. Even if you run a small business, ...

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John Richardson was my superior in the navy

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I work for them

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Southeastern Grocers, Inc. (SEG), parent company and home of BI-LO, Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, is one of the largest conventional supermarket companies in the U.S. SEG grocery stores, liquor stores and in-store pharmacies serve communities throughout the seven southeastern states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.

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Masters in Human Resources | MBA in Human Resource Management

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Human resources is used to describe both the people who work for a company or organization and the department responsible for managing all matters related to employees, who collectively represent one of the most valuable resources in any businesses or organization. The term human resources was first coined in the 1960s when the value of labor relations began to garner attention and when notions such as motivation, organizational behavior, and selection assessments began to take shape in all types of work settings.

Human resource management is a contemporary, umbrella term used to describe the management and development of employees in an organization. Also called personnel or talent management (although these terms are a bit antiquated), human resource management involves overseeing all things related to managing an organization's human capital.

Human resource management is therefore focused on a number of major areas, including:

Recruiting and staffing

Compensation and benefits

Training and learning

Labor and employee relations

Organization development

Due to the many areas of human resource management, it is typical for professionals in this field to possess specific expertise in one or more areas. Just a few of the related career titles for HR professionals include:

A Closer Look at Human Resource Management

Human resource management involves developing and administering programs that are designed to increase the effectiveness of an organization or business. It includes the entire spectrum of creating, managing, and cultivating the employer-employee relationship.

For most organizations, agencies, and businesses, the human resources department is responsible for:

Managing job recruitment, selection, and promotion

Developing and overseeing employee benefits and wellness programs

Developing, promoting, and enforcing personnel policies

Promoting employee career development and job training

Providing orientation programs for new hires

Providing guidance regarding disciplinary actions

Serving as a primary contact for work-site injuries or accidents

Human resource management is about:

Addressing current employee concerns: Unlike company managers who oversee the day-to-day work of employees, HR departments deal with employee concerns such as benefits, pay, employee investments, pension plans, and training. Their work may also include settling conflicts between employees or between employees and their managers.

Acquiring new employees: The human resource management team recruits potential employees, oversees the hiring process (background checks, drug testing, etc.), and provides new employee orientation.

Managing the employee separation process: The HR management team must complete a specific set of tasks if an employee quits, is fired, or is laid off. Paperwork must be completed to ensure that the process was completed legally. Severance pay may be offered or negotiated, benefits must be settled, and access to company resources must be severed via the collection of keys, badges, computers, or sensitive materials from the employee.

Improving morale: Effective HR teams encourage company employees to do their best, which contributes to the overall success of the company. Their work often involves rewarding employees for good performance and creating a positive work environment.

The Changing Shape of Human Resource Management

Human resource management involves both strategic and comprehensive approaches to managing people, as well as workplace culture and environment.

The role of human resources professionals is to ensure that a company's most important asset-its human capital-is being nurtured and supported through the creation and management of programs, policies, and procedures, and by fostering a positive work environment through effective employee-employer relations.

The concept behind human resource management is that employees who are subject to effective human resource management are able to more effectively and productively contribute to a company's overall direction, thereby ensuring that company goals and objectives are accomplished.

Today's human resource management team is responsible for much more than traditional personnel or administrative tasks. Instead, members of a human resource management team are more focused on adding value to the strategic utilization of employees and ensuring that employee programs are impacting the business in positive and measurable ways.

An August 2014 Forbes article explored the shifting goal of today's human resource management teams. More specifically, the article found that HR teams focused on things that don't add true value to the organization are often deemed reactive, uncreative, and lacking basic business understanding. On the other hand, HR professionals who want to be recognized as true business partners must see themselves as business people who specialize in HR, not as HR people who advise a business.

Todays' human resources managers/business partners must understand the workings of the business and be able to comfortably speak the language of business leaders in order to have a measured and proven impact on business objectives.

The Agenda of Today's Human Resource Management Team

Today's HR management team must focus their efforts on five, critical areas, according to the Forbes article:

Define and align organizational purpose: A company's employees must be able to clearly articulate why the company exists in order to achieve a purpose-driven, sustainable, high-performing organization. Employees must also understand how their efforts connect, or align, with the organization's purpose.

Recruit the best talent by creating, marketing, and selling an Employee Value Proposition (EVP): False marketing and misconceptions about an organization are some of the main reasons why the employer-employee relationship fails. Therefore, companies must create, market, and sell an EVP that is true and accurate as to not mislead potential employees.

Focus on employee strengths: Companies must make every effort to understand what candidates and employees do best and put them into roles where they can play to their strengths as much as possible.

Create organizational alignment: Achievements must align with the organization's objectives so as to build a successful and sustainable organization.

Accurately measure the same things: All internal departments and employees must be measuring the same things as to achieve a definitive organizational result and to ensure that everyone knows exactly where the organization is at all times.
Start your career in Human resources today with a degree in human resources.

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What is Human Resources | HR | What is Human Resource Management

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Human resources is used to describe both the people who work for a company or organization and the department responsible for managing all matters related to employees, who collectively represent one of the most valuable resources in any businesses or organization.

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Controlling is the process of ensuring that actual activities conform to planned activities.

Planning and controlling are closely related.

In fact, controlling is more pervasive than planning.

Controlling helps managers monitor the effectiveness of their planning, organizing, and leading activities.

In fact, controlling determines what is being accomplished - that is, evaluating the performance and, if necessary, taking corrective measures so that the performance takes place according to plans.

Controlling can also be viewed as detecting and correcting significant variations in the results obtained from planned activities.

Importance of Controlling in Management

Planning without controlling is useless.

Undoubtedly, controlling also helps managers monitor environmental changes and the effects of these changes on the organizations' progress.

Coping with changes

Each and every modern organization has to cope with changes in the environment.

New products and technologies emerge, government regulations are too often amended or enacted, and competitors change their strategies.

The control function helps managers to respond to these environmental changes as and when necessary.

Creating better quality

Modern industries follow total quality management (TQM) which has led to dramatic improvements in control. Under it, process flaws are spotted, and the process is purged of mistakes.

Employees are empowered to inspect and improve their own work and this also helps change their attitudes and approaches to achieving effective control.

There are innumerable examples in which the TQM program had helped restore quality, decrease cost and increase production of giant organizations that confronted threats of shutdowns owing to low quality, high cost and declining productivity.

Creating faster cycles

Control helps speed up the cycles involved in creating and then delivering new products and services to customers.

Speed is essential in complying with customers' orders.

But modern marketing managers must remember that today's customers expect not only speed but also customized products and services.

It is clear that the most successful companies try to personalize things and tailor them to individual needs. They most successfully target narrow customer niches with specific models.

Read: What is Management by objectives (MBO)? Defined and Explained

Adding value

An organization that strives to survive through competition should be able to "add value" to products or services so that customers prefer them to those offered by the organization's rivals.

Very often this added value takes the form of above-average quality achieved through exacting control procedures.

Facilitating delegation and teamwork

Modern participative management has changed the nature of the control process. Under the traditional system, the manager would specify both the standards for performance and the methods for achieving them.

Under a new. participative system, managers communicate the standards, but then let employees, either as individuals or as teams, use their own creativity to decide how to solve certain work problems.

The control process, then, lets the manager monitor the employees' progress without hampering employees' creativity or involvement with the work.

Control as a Feed-back System

Most managers exercise control through information feedback, which shows deviations from standards and initiates changes.

In other words, feedback information helps compare performance with a standard and to initiate corrective action.

In controlling, managers do measure actual performance, compare this measurement against standards, and identify and analyze deviations.

But then, for making necessary corrections, they must develop a program for corrective action and implement this program in order to arrive at the performance desired.
Read: Feed-forward Control
Control Techniques

Managers use a large number of tools and techniques for effective controlling.

Therefore,

We need to discuss specific techniques for managing the control process.

First, we'll discuss budgetary control. And then we shall deal with other control techniques and methods.

Budgetary Control

Budgeting is the formulation of plans for a given future period in numerical terms.

Organizations may establish budgets for units, departments, divisions, or the whole organization. The usual time period for a budget is one year and is generally expressed in financial terms.

Budgets are the foundation of most control systems.

They provide yardsticks for measuring performance and facilitate comparisons across divisions, between levels in the organization, and from one time period to another.

Types of Budgets: Most organizations use a number of different kinds of budgets:

(1) financial;

(2) operating and

(3) non-monetary.

Non-budgetary Control Devices

The following are some control devices which are not related to the budget.

Operational audit/internal audit

It is the regular and independent appraisal of the accounting, financial, and other operations of an enterprise by a staff of internal auditors.

In its most usual form, operational auditing includes auditing of accounts, appraisal of operations in general and weighing actual results against planned results.

Operational auditors, thus, assures that accounts really reflect the fact, appraise procedures, policies, quality of management, the effectiveness of methods and other phases of operations.

Milestone budgeting

Used by an increasing number of companies in recent years in controlling engineering and development, milestone budgeting breaks a project down into controllable pieces and then carefully follows them.

In this approach to control, "milestones" are defined as identifiable segments. When a given segment is accomplished, its cost or other results can be determined.

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What is Controlling? Importance of Controlling in Management

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Controlling helps managers monitor the effectiveness of their planning, organizing, and leading activities; monitor environmental changes and effects of these changes on the organizations' progress. Controlling also is detecting and correcting significant variations in the results obtained from planned activities

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Toyota Defects/ Poor Management

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June 29, 2016
The automaker said that welds that connect side curtain air bags could deteriorate over time, causing the devices to inflate without cause. The recall covers Toyota Prius models from 2009 through 2015 and Lexus CT200 models from 2010 through 2015. The total accounts for 1.4 million vehicles, 482,000 of them in the United States, Toyota said in the announcement.

Additionally, 2.87 million vehicles internationally are being recalled for possible cracks in the fuel tank, Toyota said. Some Prius models are affected by both defects, the company said, as are the Auris, Corolla, Zelas, Lucas and Lexus HS250h and CT200h manufactured from 2006 through 2015. About 900,000 Priuses are affected by both defects, which brings the total vehicles recalled to 3.37 million. Most vehicles with fuel-tank issues were sold in Japan and China.

The latest air-bag issues are unrelated to another recall for vehicles from multiple automakers that have Takata air bags, Toyota said. They are made instead by Sweden-based Autoliv, which said in a statement that it is cooperating with Toyota and American and Japanese authorities.

In seven cases, according to Autoliv, air bags partially inflated without a deployment signal in unoccupied parked cars.

As of this week, Toyota said, it was unaware of any injuries or fatalities related to either recall.

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Toyota recalls 3.37 million cars over air bag and fuel tank defects

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June 29, 2016 The automaker said that welds that connect side curtain air bags could deteriorate over time, causing the devices to inflate without cause. The recall covers Toyota Prius models from 2009 through 2015 and Lexus CT200 models from 2010 through 2015.

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Always be a leader

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Leading and coaching a single person, let alone an entire organization, can be a daunting endeavor. People and teams are complex. In any coaching situation, there are a number of ways things can go south.

The most effective coaches break down the coaching process into smaller objectives and then focus on sequencing them strategically. If you attempt to skip or bypass any of these stages, you'll find your audience is much less open to adopting new success initiatives.

Here are five essentials to effective coaching, in chronological order rather than order of importance:

1. Build trust by developing a real relationship.

The best leaders concentrate more on their team's success than their own. Anytime a leader's actions don't directly reflect this philosophy, there's bound to be turmoil.

That's why trust is important. If trust isn't established first, it's going to prove very difficult to make an impact. A leader should never assume that their title commands trust -- it needs to be earned. This requires not only time but also a real intentional focus on getting to know each team member and their goals and ambitions.
Related: 22 Qualities That Make a Great Leader
2. Listen, listen, listen.

I've made the mistake of working with a new team member and immediately going into diagnostic mode, trying to fix everything at once. By barging in and starting to prescribe solutions instead of listening intently and carefully, I rushed into feedback that lacked contextual understanding.

I was doling out advice that lacked the surrounding critical nuance required to really make a difference. The art of listening not only shows your team member that you care and want to hear from them, but it also does wonders to build a solid relationship foundation.

3. Use positivity as your base.

Great leaders are fundamentally great encouragers. At their core, they are people who bring out the best in others by supporting and leading in such a way that they radiate energy.

These radiators are naturally good at developing relationships. Effective leaders have a desire to build relationships that strengthen with time.
Related: How to Start a Business With (Almost) No Money
In other words, the longer they last, the more powerful the level of trust and connection. Real depth will rarely ever be established between two parties if one operates from a base level of negativity. The most influential directors in any organization know, if nothing else, they must impact others through positivity as a permission-to-play rule.

4. Aim for one target.

Relationships lead to trust, and positivity produces receptiveness. Establishing these powerful connections creates the right setting for a leader to actually coach and mentor.
Related: 11 Habits of Truly Happy People
The key is for the leader to focus their sights on one goal for each team member at a time. Generally, while you are asking a team member to stretch and grow in one area, they'll also be required to continue to be competent in many other aspects of their job description.

Because so many business roles today are multi-faceted, it's increasingly more important to identify a singular breakthrough area at a time. A more targeted focus not only will greatly increase the likelihood of quicker progress, it also will create confidence that other goals can be achieved in the future.

5. Be a consistent presence.

Every team member you get to lead will have enough ups and downs in their lives without a boss that adds on. Effective leaders are consistent in their temperament, messaging, availability and mission. Just like advertising, a consistent, cumulative approach is highly effective at building and creating change and improvement.

Libraries across the world are filled with insightful and sophisticated ideas on how to lead and make an impact. The best leaders take a variety of ideas into account and adopt a style that suits them. No doubt, there are diversified leadership styles and approaches that can all have significant impact.

However,it's hard to find effective approaches that don't emphasize the five essentials of developing trust, listening attentively, positive reinforcement, targeting and consistency.

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The 5 Essentials to Effective Coaching | Entrepreneur

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There are all sorts of management styles, but none of them will work without the right foundation.

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A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better. - Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur.

Everyone on Samit's team knows that he's "there for them." He checks in with them often to see how they are, and he helps them develop the skills they need to advance their careers, even if this means that they may move on.

Samit also makes an effort to see situations from others' perspectives. He makes decisions with the team's best interests in mind, and ensures that everyone has the resources and knowledge they need to meet their objectives.

As a result of this, his team is one of the most successful in the department, with low staff turnover and high engagement.

Samit is an example of a "servant leader." In this article, we'll explore what servant leadership is, and the advantages it can bring you as a leader. We'll also look at situations where it isn't appropriate.

What Is Servant Leadership?

Robert K. Greenleaf first coined the phrase "servant leadership" in his 1970 essay, " The Servant as a Leader." However, it's an approach that people have used for centuries.

As a servant leader, you're a "servant first" - you focus on the needs of others, especially team members, before you consider your own. You acknowledge other people's perspectives, give them the support they need to meet their work and personal goals, involve them in decisions where appropriate, and build a sense of community within your team. This leads to higher engagement, more trust, and stronger relationships with team members and other stakeholders. It can also lead to increased innovation.

However, servant leadership is problematic in hierarchical, autocratic cultures where managers and leaders are expected to make all the decisions. Here, servant leaders may struggle to earn respect.

Important:

Remember that servant leadership is about focusing on other people's needs - not their feelings. Don't avoid making unpopular decisions or giving team members negative feedback when this is needed.

Also, do not rely on it exclusively - use it alongside styles like Transformational Leadership, where you develop an inspiring vision of the future, motivate people to deliver this, manage its implementation, and build an ever-stronger team.

How to Become a Servant Leader

According to Larry C. Spears, former president of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, these are the 10 most important characteristics of servant leaders:

1. Listening.

2. Empathy.

3. Healing.

4. Awareness.

5. Persuasion.

6. Conceptualization.

7. Foresight.

8. Stewardship.

9. Commitment to the growth of people.

10. Building community.

Once you've decided to prioritize other people's needs over your own in the long term, you can work on developing your skills in each area. Let's look at how you can do this.

1. Listening

2. Empathy

3. Healing

This characteristic relates to the emotional health and "wholeness" of people, and involves supporting them both physically and mentally.

4. Self-Awareness

You can become more self-aware by knowing your strengths and weaknesses, and asking for other people's feedback on them. Also, learn to manage your emotions, so that you consider how your actions and behavior might affect others.

5. Persuasion

There are many tools and models that you can use to be more persuasive, without damaging relationships or taking advantage of others. You should also build your expert power - when people perceive you as an expert, they are more likely to listen to you when you want to persuade or inspire them.

6. Conceptualization

This characteristic relates to your ability to "dream great dreams," so that you look beyond day-to-day realities to the bigger picture.

7. Foresight

Foresight is when you can predict what's likely to happen in the future by learning from past experiences, identifying what's happening now, and understanding the consequences of your decisions.

You can use tools such as SWOT Analysis and PEST Analysis to think about your current situation and environment, while Scenario Analysis helps you understand how the future could play out. Use the ORAPAPA checklist when you make a decision, to learn from experience and make sure that you've considered all the angles.

Also, learn to trust your intuition - if your instinct is telling you that something is wrong, listen to it!

8. Stewardship

Stewardship is about taking responsibility for the actions and performance of your team, and being accountable for the role team members play in your organization.

9. Commitment to the Growth of People

Servant leaders are committed to the personal and professional development of everyone on their teams.

10. Building Community

The last characteristic is to do with building a sense of community within your organization.

You can do this by providing opportunities for people to interact with one another across the company. For instance, you could organize social events such as team lunches and barbecues, design your workspace to encourage people to chat informally away from their desks, and dedicate the first few minutes of meetings to non-work-related conversations.

Encourage people to take responsibility for their work, and remind them how what they do contributes to the success and overall objectives of the organization.

Tip:

See our article on Leadership Styles to explore popular leadership approaches and the advantages and disadvantages of each one.

And see this Expert Interview for a valuable discussion on the misconceptions and realities of servant leadership.

Key Points

You are a servant leader when you focus on the needs of others before you consider your own. It's a longer-term approach to leadership, rather than a technique that you can adopt in specific situations. Therefore, you can use it with other leadership styles such as Transformational Leadership.

You can become a servant leader by working on these 10 characteristics:

1. Listening.

2. Empathy.

3. Healing.

4. Awareness.

5. Persuasion.

6. Conceptualization.

7. Foresight.

8. Stewardship.

9. Commitment to the growth of people.

10. Building community.

Servant leaders are likely to have more engaged employees and enjoy better relationships with team members and other stakeholders than leaders who don't put the interests of others before their own.

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Servant Leadership: Putting Your Team First, and Yourself Second

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A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better. - Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur. Everyone on Samit's team knows that he's "there for them."

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Who I don't want to be

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Common Sense

Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management, has memorably called the rising Republican presidential star Carly Fiorina " one of the worst technology C.E.O.s in history."

But he didn't call her the worst technology chief executive in history. In fairness to Ms. Fiorina, she may not even be the worst chief executive of Hewlett-Packard.

A contender for that dubious distinction would surely be Léo Apotheker.

During their tenures at H.P., both Ms. Fiorina and Mr. Apotheker presided over what were hailed as transformative acquisitions: Compaq, the personal computer company that merged with H.P. in a $25 billion stock swap under Ms. Fiorina in 2002, and Autonomy, a British software concern that H.P. bought for $11 billion in 2011 in a deal overseen by Mr. Apotheker.

They were transformative, all right, though hardly in the way their proponents intended. H.P.'s stock price fell by more than half during Ms. Fiorina's six-year tenure and by roughly 50 percent in just the year Mr. Apotheker was chief executive. The board forced both Ms. Fiorina and Mr. Apotheker to resign.

The remnants of Compaq will be spun off by H.P., and in 2012 it wrote off $1.2 billion in value of the Compaq brand name. H.P. wrote off $8.8 billion related to Autonomy.

Some consider the Autonomy acquisition to be the worst corporate deal ever.

Just how bad is confirmed by the latest revelations from a shareholders' suit over the deal: Mr. Apotheker didn't even read the due diligence report on Autonomy that H.P. commissioned from KPMG, the giant accounting firm. Nor did Raymond J. Lane, the board chairman, or any other member of the board, according to a report prepared by the law firm Proskauer Rose, which was hired to represent H.P.'s independent directors.

Had they read even the executive summary, they would have discovered numerous warnings - enough to have prevented the deal in the first place, or at least to have led them to renegotiate it.

"For the C.E.O. not to have read it, for an acquisition this size, is highly disturbing," said Charles M. Elson, director of the Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware and co-author of "The Art of M&A Due Diligence." "And the entire board should have at least read the executive summary."

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Hewlett-Packard has sued Autonomy's former chief, Michael Lynch, who in turn has countersued. Credit Hazel Thompson for The New York Times

Colby A. Smith, a lawyer at the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton who is representing Mr. Apotheker, said, "Neither KPMG nor any member of the finance function nor any member of the board ever raised to Léo's attention any concern about finances or accounting at Autonomy."

I've read the full report, which was also disclosed in the shareholders' lawsuit. The executive summary stresses repeatedly that Autonomy stonewalled KPMG accountants, who were granted "access to very limited proprietary financial and tax information," the KPMG report says at the outset.

"The data and access provided to us during due diligence was very limited," the report says, which, it adds, is "not unusual" when dealing with acquisitions in Britain.

The report also questions Autonomy's claimed stellar revenue growth, a critical factor in justifying the exorbitant price H.P. ended up paying: "A significant amount of the revenue growth is due to acquisitions," the report said. Just how significant couldn't be determined given Autonomy's lack of cooperation, but the accountants warned that "organic growth rate has declined at both its core business and overall business."

While management maintained that growth rates "weren't impacted by one-time transactions, it was not prepared to provide customer data to validate this statement."

The report also raised questions about Autonomy's revenue recognition practices - how accounting for sales was done - although again it noted that without more information, it couldn't provide answers.

The report concluded, "The lack of access has limited the analysis we could perform."

The Proskauer report noted that Autonomy and its auditor, Deloitte, had specifically refused to give KPMG access to its work papers, even though a top executive working on the deal at H.P. had identified those papers as a "must have."

I'd say that for $11 billion, H.P. should have been able to see whatever it wanted.

What H.P. directors did get before approving the deal was a one-page "management summary," which dismissed the KPMG due diligence report with one sentence: "No material issues found."

An H.P. spokesman said it wasn't clear who prepared that summary but noted that at least six H.P. officials reviewed the accounting report in detail with the KPMG partner in charge of it, Andrew Gersh, who didn't raise any serious concerns.

In a statement, KPMG said, "We stand behind our work and our report, but beyond that our professional obligations and client confidentiality agreements prevent us from speaking in any greater detail."

On at least two occasions, Aug. 16, before the deal was announced, and Sept. 4, after the deal was announced and investors punished H.P.'s stock price, Mr. Lane, the board chairman, expressed serious reservations. In an email to Mr. Apotheker, Mr. Lane wrote that he was "haunted" by Autonomy, was worried that it was a "roll up," (meaning that growth came through acquisitions) and asked if H.P. could get out of the deal. "I don't think it's the panacea we think it is," he wrote.

Mr. Apotheker's reply hasn't been disclosed, but according to people who have seen it, he assured Mr. Lane that Autonomy had legitimate organic growth. H.P.'s lawyers also said it was extremely difficult to back out of a signed and announced deal under British law.

But the KPMG report surely provided enough evidence - Autonomy's refusal to back up its assertions with documents, as well as KPMG's warning that Autonomy's organic growth was declining and revenue growth came in large part through acquisitions, just as Mr. Lane feared - to renegotiate or cancel the deal before it was announced.

According to Professor Elson, "The KPMG report could have been a road map out of the deal." The lack of cooperation "was stressed so high in the executive summary, which makes it clear that they needed to do a deeper dive," he said. "That's the whole point of due diligence. If it raises questions, you have the right to restructure the deal or walk away. You don't buy a pig in a poke. You certainly shouldn't pay $11 billion to buy a pig in a poke."

As it turned out, it was only after the deal closed that H.P. discovered what it now maintains was a huge fraud on the part of Autonomy's top executives, including Autonomy's chief executive, Michael Lynch, and its chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain. Even then, it took a whistle-blower and nearly six months of intensive forensic accounting work for H.P. to piece together its claims.

"No amount of due diligence could have uncovered that for more than two years prior to HP's acquisition of Autonomy, Mike Lynch and Sushovan Hussain conducted a systematic and sustained scheme to make Autonomy look like a rapidly growing, pure software company whose performance was consistently in line with market expectations," an H.P. spokeswoman, Sarah Pompei, said this week.

In March, H.P. accused Mr. Lynch and Mr. Hussain of fraud in a lawsuit filed in Britain. The company is seeking $5.1 billion in damages. Mr. Lynch has denied the accusations and promptly countersued for $150 million, accusing H.P. of false and negligent statements. A federal grand jury continues to hear evidence in the Justice Department's criminal investigation of H.P.'s accusations against the former Autonomy executives.

For its part, H.P. has revised its requirements for merger due diligence, including the formation of a senior-level risk management committee and greater involvement of the board's finance and investment committee.

Meanwhile, the question persists: In light of these disclosures, can Ms. Fiorina really be considered a worse chief executive than Mr. Apotheker? I posed the question this week to Professor Sonnenfeld, whose criticism Ms. Fiorina has dismissed as coming from a longtime friend and adviser to Bill Clinton.

"Apotheker's reign was terrible, but still not as destructive as Fiorina's reign of terror," Professor Sonnenfeld maintained. "The magnitude of the damage from the Compaq deal was greater, both culturally and financially, than Autonomy. And at least they got rid of Apotheker and wrote off Autonomy right away. Compaq lingered for a tortured decade."

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Deal That Still Haunts Hewlett-Packard. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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Léo Apotheker May Have Been Worse H.P. Chief Than Carly Fiorina

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Common Sense Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management, has memorably called the rising Republican presidential star Carly Fiorina " one of the worst technology C.E.O.s in history." But he didn't call her the worst technology chief executive in history.

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Home | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

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If you're like a lot of managers and leaders out there looking to motivate staff members, the following scenario should sound eerily familiar:

You finally have your dream team in place. You've hired selectively, waiting for just the right fit for each role. These are people with stellar backgrounds and proven track records of success. On paper, these individuals are poised to contribute to your culture and help take your department - and your business - to the next level.

To their credit, your team started strong. They came out the gate with fresh ideas and energy.

But lately... not so much.

These days your team seems to be fine going through the motions. That star performer who put up those crazy numbers in her first three months? She's hit a plateau, and lately her work product has the telltales signs of complacency - sloppiness, surface-level analysis, and an overall lack of creativity.

The frustrating thing is you know how great they can be. You've seen them at their best, but for the moment, the spark seems to have gone out

What's going on here?

Well, it's good news / bad news time.

First, the bad news: your team lacks motivation.

The good news? This is an entirely fixable problem.

Before you decide to clean house (a terrible idea!), remember that there are proven ways you can reignite that spark you once saw in your team.

We've talked to employee motivation and engagement experts to narrow down the 18 best tips to motivate your people and elevate their performance to optimal levels once again.

We've also tried to focus on the how as well as the why, so you can turn these ideas into action at your company ASAP.

Let's dive in and start motivating employees!

1. Recognize a Job Well Done

Why should I recognize people for doing their jobs? Isn't that why they get paid?

This, unfortunately, is the response that a lot of managers and HR pros get when they propose recognition programs at their companies.

But recognition is hugely important. It helps create an emotional connection between employer and employee - a critical piece of employee engagement - and fulfills our basic needs of esteem and belonging within a group.

While it might seem like Millennials crave recognition more than most, it's not just the so-called "participation trophy generation" who benefits.

As Charleston, South Carolina-based performance coach and employee engagement expert Liz Guthridge explains, recognition satisfies a fundamental need for all of us in the workplace:

"People crave recognition. Recognition serves a worthwhile purpose. Recognition confirms you're doing the right thing and encourages you to keep doing it. Plus the act of giving and receiving recognition makes both the giver and receiver feel good, thanks to the hit of dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter."

Failing to recognize people for their work is one of the biggest mistakes Guthridge sees in her work as a trainer and consultant.

Sarah Payne, Managing Editor at Globoforce, offers her take:

"One of the best ways to motivate your people is through appreciation and recognition - the more frequent, the better. In our 2016 WorkHuman Research Institute Report, 79% of respondents told us recognition and rewards makes them work harder."

The best part is - recognition is essentially free! It can in the form of a formalized program, or can be as simple as sending a thoughtful email (or better yet, a handwritten note) to your team members calling out their amazing work.

So the question shouldn't be "why should I recognize my people?" but "why wouldn't I recognize my people?"

Tony Aldridge, a top-performing sales manager and expert motivator here at SnackNation, dives deeper. He explains recognition needs to be personalized to the individual, "Some people like to have their name up in lights while others like a simple email. Remember that everyone likes their recognition in their own way and it is our job as leaders to understand that."

Motivation is something that each of us experiences differently not all staff motivation ideas work for everyone. It's important for managers to listen to their team and tailor techniques to fit each person.

Try this: Launch a monthly award program

Have your company vote for the team member who displayed the best work ethic, grit, or attitude for the previous month. (Google Forms or SurveyMonkey make this incredibly easy.)

Use this as an opportunity to reinforce your company's core values by tying the award to the team member who embodies one more of them that month.
Reward the winner with a gift card, lunch with the boss, or creative trophy.

2. Gamify Your Most Important Tasks

Want a proven motivator for everyone, no matter who it is? Looking for team motivation ideas that work? Try turning work into a game.

One way to inject some competition into the workplace is through gamification - i.e., introducing elements of gameplay to your team's most important tasks.

One of the coolest examples we've ever seen is actually here at SnackNation.

Recently, SnackNation Member Success Team (MST) leads Chelsie Lee, Brendan Hannigan, and Clay Telfer unveiled a game-based Achievement and Rewards program that has the whole office buzzing.

Think of a real-life video game, where team members unlock badges for hitting milestones. Except, instead of digital badges for your gaming profile, these badges are actual buttons that Chelsie designed herself and that Clay punched using an actual button maker.

As Clay describes it, the program has three facets:

1. Medals for participating in monthly team-wide campaigns.

2. Badges that individual MST reps unlock for hitting certain milestones - like lifetime upsell, number of member issues resolved or total number of calls fielded.

3. Monthly trophies awarded for outstanding performances, like delivering the best "wow" moment to SnackNation members.

Part of the reason the program is so successful is that Chelsie, Brendan, and Clay put their own personal touches on it, designing and making their own custom buttons and awarding them in an elaborate ceremony.

Chelsie, who happens to be an amazing woodworker, actually built wooden poles that display each MST rep's name and their area of expertise (as voted on by the team).

Try this: Launch your own achievement program

This real-life gamification definitely has the "wow" factor, but we understand if you don't quite have the bandwidth. Luckily, you can launch a virtual awards program via gamification platforms like Bunchball.

3. Focus on Intrinsic (NOT Extrinsic) Rewards

Sure money is important - we've all got to eat and pay the rent. But as a motivator, money definitely has its limits. Here is

A study conducted by Princeton economist Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman backs this up. They demonstrated that money doesn't contribute to our overall happiness above $75,000. Income beyond this threshold doesn't really impact our day-to-day contentment and therefore isn't a great motivator. Here is where intrinsic motivation comes in to play.

Author and Menlo Innovations CEO Richard Sheridan has seen this play out throughout his career. Sheridan is the architect of one of the most inspiring company cultures we've run across, which he chronicles in his book Joy Inc. Here's what he has to say about money as a motivator:

"The biggest mistake I see is when companies go right to extrinsic rewards to motivate ... title, pay, stock options, incentives, office. We need look no further than Wells Fargo to see how badly this can turn out."

Ok - so if extrinsic rewards don't matter, what do?

Jenn Lim, the CEO and co-founder of Delivering Happiness offers an alternative:

"Intrinsic motivation that supports who that person is and what they believe in (e.g. purpose, values, autonomy, progress, relationships) is what matters not only most, but what makes the motivation last (i.e. sustainable happiness)."

For Sheridan, Lim, and others, it's things like purpose and values that really move the needle over the long-term.

Try this: Rally around core values

Create core values that express the essence of why your company exists - who does your business serve? What problems are you solving? What are the norms and behaviors that drive your team's approach?

Make these values highly visible, and ingrain them in your culture through quizzes, awards, and by practicing them.

4. Give Your Team Autonomy

How many times have you heard someone utter the phrase, "I really appreciate how my boss micromanages every aspect of my job."

Unless you're lying, I'm going to assume it's ... never.

Human beings value autonomy. We all want to feel in control of our time and energy, and a lack of agency is a surefire way to torpedo your team's motivation.

Granting autonomy also demonstrates that you trust your team, which will go a long way towards forming the emotional bond between employer and employee that you see at highly engaged companies.

SnackNation's winning leader, Tony, chimes in, "Autonomy is by far the most important motivator. Trust is the foundation of relationships, especially in business.

I let people own their work and ask for help rather than hold their hand the entire way. In my experience, this builds our relationship and allows them to feel like I am here to help instead of constantly pushing my own agenda.

In the long run, this builds more self-sufficient teams because they create their own process and I learn how to work with them and for them."

But despite these benefits, autonomy is not the norm for most businesses. Managers fear that giving their direct reports too much leeway will create a lax environment and employees will take advantage. Cracking the proverbial whip is seen as a way to prevent slacking off.

Even when employers acknowledge the importance of autonomy, it's still might difficult to get the balance right. Officevibe's Director of Content Jacob Shriar, explains:

"The biggest mistake I see managers make when it comes to motivation is not giving employees enough autonomy. Employees often have what I call 'quasi-autonomy' where they don't get to see a project completely through from end-to-end. This is a huge mistake.

When managers let their employees be their best selves and challenge themselves, they're motivated, engaged, and excited."

The key is giving your team a true sense of ownership - not just over their most important projects, but on things like schedule and time off. The ability to exert control over their time can be as motivating as the satisfaction that comes with seeing a project through to completion. An excellent tip on how to keep employees motivated and take complete ownership of their work.

Try this: Let employees set their own hours

This is a simple way to show that you trust your employees to get their work done without a higher up constantly looking over their shoulder.

If you focus on outcomes rather than rules, you'll be surprised how motivated your employees will be to rise to the challenge.

5. Figure Out What Makes Your Employees Tick

One thing we can virtually guarantee: your employees are all very different.

Some are introverts, some are extroverts. Some are adventurous and are energized by the unknown, others prefer the security of the familiar. Some might require extra guidance, others are much more independent workers.

Some are probably fresh out of college. Others might be putting their kids through college.

The point is, your employees have different backgrounds, are at different stages in their lives, and are motivated by very different things. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is trying to force a one-size fits all solution on your diverse workforce.

TaskUs president and co-founder Jaspar Weir concurs.

"The biggest mistake we see is that one size does not fit all when it comes to management. Some people need more supervision and instruction, others need more independence and trust. A manager's job is to assess and adapt to each individual."

So how do you assess and adapt? Simple. By listening. Zoomshift co-founder Jon Hainstock advocates frequent check-ins.

"The best way to motivate your employees is to figure out what makes them tick and align their personal and professional goals with their role in your company as best you can. To do this, you need to check in with each employee frequently and ask them questions about how things are going.

The goal of these check-ins is to understand what they are feeling, and more importantly, why they are feeling that way. Taking time to listen to your employees will increase trust and give you insight into how you can make things better at your organization."

Try this: Make time to get to know your employees on a personal level

Set aside 30 minutes to get to know each person on your team on a personal level.

Don't just ask about career goals, but find out what motivates them outside of work.

Questions you can ask:

What's the greatest lesson you've learned from your parents?

Who was your childhood hero? Best friend?

Who is someone from your past that you haven't spoken to in over six months? What's stopping you from reaching out to them?

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

6. Focus on the WHY

Let's imagine the following situation:

A manager needs to get his team members to share an important company announcement on social media. Which approach do you think is most effective?

Approach #1: "Please share this blog post on your Facebook page. It's really important."

Approach #2: "Please share this blog post on your Facebook page. This announcement is a game changer for our business, and the more shares we get in the first few hours after the initial launch will have a significant impact on how many people we reach overall."

I'm guessing you picked #2. But do you know why?

Because when you take the time to explain the reason behind your directions, you'll get much higher buy-in from your employees.

Ingrid Catlin, Marketing Director at WorkStride, sees this all the time with the companies who use their employee engagement software.

"The number one challenge we see facing managers when they're trying to motivate their employees is the fact that the managers have not adequately educated their employees on why they're doing what they're doing, only what needs to be done.

To be motivated, an employee needs to realize the impact of his/her day-to-day work and fully understand how it affects the business as a whole."

This idea also connects beyond simple directives. It extends all the way to your company's primary purpose. Having a strong Why behind your company's mission will help motivate every action your team takes.

As Simon Sinek so famously pointed out, the what and the how are easy for most companies to identify. It's the why that's hard - and that makes all the difference.

For SnackNation, our Why is to help people become better versions of themselves. We do this by giving people a convenient way to make healthier snacking choices at work and at home. This Why underlies every decision we make, every action we take, and every extra second we put in. It's what motivates employees here at the snack castle.

Try this: Challenge your employees to identify the Why behind their most important tasks

This exercise helps clarify the reasoning behind their day-to-day activities and helps separate essential tasks from non-essential ones.

Make sure that they connect all of their tasks with the Big Why that underlies your company's mission. This understanding will serve as a major motivator in the long run.

7. Create an Awe-Inspiring Work Environment

Motivation and mood go hand in hand. That's because your mood affects your energy, ability to concentrate, and overall sense of wellbeing.

If your looking for employee motivation ideas that work, then you might want to invest in your work environment.

According to a 2011 study from Ohio State University and the National Institute of Mental Health, your work environment seriously impacts your mood.

In the study, workers in older buildings with low ceilings and loud air conditioners were more stressed than those in newer buildings with things like more natural light and open layouts.

So it makes sense to invest in a work environment where people actually want to spend their time. (Crazy, we know.) That's why so many offices are starting to resemble homes, and why the kitchen is becoming the center of office life.

Creating a homey atmosphere will motivate your company - and have them looking forward to coming to work each day.

Try this: Make your own furniture

This is a great way to bond with your team while making one-of-a-kind pieces for your office and injecting a sense of whimsy into your office space. (Plus you'll save a ton of money.)

Enplug CEO Nanxi Liu built custom desks out of reclaimed doors and basic hardware. She details the experience here.

8. Champion Friendly Competition

Emphasis is on the friendly here. Competition can be a great motivator but if you let it get out of hand, conflict will rise as you see morale and teamwork deteriorate.

If you decide to engage your team in some competition make sure it stays in the realm of fun and not cutthroat.

The challenge is not to get your top performers to perform better, it is also to train them to pull up everyone around them and build a well-oiled machine.

Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind:

1. Plan your competition around a specific business goal

2. Reward teams, not individuals

3. Have a system of checks and balances

Stepha Cook, one of our star sales managers and respected leaders here at SnackNation, explains:

"The trick to keeping work competition friendly is to promote fair play. Although individual successes can be hugely rewarding, often team wins can have an even bigger impact. It's important to find the right balance when incentivizing your team - a mix of individual and group goals along with clear rules that promote collaboration over sabotage are essential to long-term success."

Try this: Host a case competition for a business challenge

This is a great way to encourage innovation and support new ideas and will help teams bond over growth opportunities.

Harvard Business Review outlines 4 rules to maximize results.

9. Don't Pit Employees Against One Another

As we've already seen, friendly competition can be a good motivator for your team. Things start to go awry when that competitive spirit morphs into a cutthroat culture of self-interest.

To prevent employees from merely "looking out for number one," make sure that you're not incentivizing moral hazard.

Here's MenloInnovation's Richard Sheridan again with an example:

"The second biggest mistake [I see] is forced ranking systems and then cutting the bottom 10%. Any system that pits the performance of the individual against the rest of the team is bound to fail, and sometimes spectacularly."

Try this: Celebrate successes as a team

10. Lead with Vision

Employees need to know that all their efforts are driving towards something. They need to know that there's a destination in sight. That's where vision comes in.

Shane Metcalf, VP of Customer Success at 15Five, reminds us why it's important not skimp on vision.

"Without a compelling vision that inspires everyone to rise up and make it happen, you can try every engagement trick in the book and you will only have short term boosts followed by crashes in morale. With vision at the helm though, you create an intrinsic aspiration that taps into the human desire to realize individual and collective greatness. "

Sara Pollock, Director of Marketing at Clear Company, helps breaks this down further.

"Employee motivation and engagement is driven by a clearly communicated mission and vision. Without transparent goals that demonstrate to your people how their work contributes to company objectives, you will find it difficult to truly engage your workforce.

In fact, when companies engage top talent around company mission, their employees are 400% more effective."

Try this: Create a company vision board.

Make a visual reminder of your company's roadmap. Cut out words, phrases, and images that express the destination you have in sight for the business. What's your BHAG? Where do you see the company in five years?

Encourage team members to add to it. Their participation in this process will give them a sense of ownership and help ingrain the vision into their daily activities.

11. Remember the Golden Rule

Employers sometimes forget that we don't operate by a completely new set of rules just because we're at the office. In fact, the lessons we learned as kids are just as relevant now as when we first learned them on the playground. Shawn Murphy - CEO of Switch+Shift and author of The Optimistic Workplace - explains:

"Too often I hear managers say they shouldn't have to focus on motivating their people. It's their job to do their best. Really?! Since when did kindness, thoughtfulness, and being human stop having relevance in the workplace?"

Likewise, Rieva Lesonsky, the CEO, President, and Founder at GrowBiz Media, reminds us that we'd all do well to remember that most of us were once employees too.

"If you want motivated employees-remember the Golden Rule," she says. "Most managers/bosses were once employees. Remember all the things your boss did that drove you crazy/enraged you/made you quit? Don't do them."

Try this: Think about the best and worst bosses you've ever had

Identify your least favorite manager throughout your career. Now make a list of everything that rubbed you the wrong way about him.

Now think of your favorite boss. What was it that made her so inspiring? Write it down.

Now go over those lists and look for traits or behaviors that you recognize in yourself. Develop a strategy to avoid the negative behaviors and do more of the positive ones.

Note - this exercise takes some serious self-awareness. We recommend working on it with a peer - someone who knows your managing style but isn't a direct report (so they can be honest with you).

12. Give Your Employees Ownership in the Company

We're not just talking about autonomy this time... we mean a real stake in the company. Make employees shareholders.

When employees feel like they are just trading their time for a wage or salary, the relationship starts to feel transactional. They'll feel much less obliged to spend their discretionary time at work - they might think, "why should I kill myself working late just to make some shareholder's stock go up a quarter of a point?"

On the flipside, when employees feel a tangible sense of ownership of the business, they'll care that much more about its success, and be much more willing to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Try this: Propose an Employee Stock Option Programs (ESOP)

Yes, this won't happen overnight. You'll need significant buy-in from your company's leadership to make this happen, but there are real benefits to letting your employees share in the success of the business.

Here's a guide to help you understand what's involved.

13. Offer a Clear Path for Advancement

Nothing saps an employee's motivation like the feeling that she's stuck in a dead-end job.

Solve this by delineating a path forward in your employee's career with a learning and development program... even if it's not at your company!

Some employers have a tough time committing to a growth plan that sees employees leaving their ranks. But in today's economy, it's essential to value "graduation" over retention.

That's because the growth of your business depends on the growth of the individuals at your company, so it's inevitable that people will grow out of their roles.

Sometimes this means they move on to different companies. If that happens, don't get sad... it just means everything is working as it should.

Try this: Implement Individual Development Plans (IDPs)

Have team members identify three personal and three professional goals. Make sure they include both short and long term targets.

Next identify their current skill sets and compare them with the skills that these goals might require.

Meet on a monthly basis to hold them accountable.

Here's a template of the IDP that we use at SnackNation

14. Create Stretch Goals

Stretch goals are ones that are set just beyond your team's (or team member's) current capability.

Dangling these goals will motivate them to push beyond their perceived limitations and make major breakthroughs that will help your business.

One thing we all have in common - we want to be successful! Achieving small and major goals keeps us going and feeds our desire to contribute and have an impact. However, setting goals that are too big will put your team into overdrive which may lead them to feel overworked or burnt out.

Instead, focus on keeping constant and consistent stretch goals that motivate everyone but doesn't culminate in a definite "end" that could be interpreted as a recovery or designated "slack-off" period.

We all have phases of intense work followed by maintenance. After all, we can't perform at 110% 110% of the time. But giving your team permission to take their foot off the petal will create an even bigger problem when you want to ramp back up to a new initiative.

Try this: Shoot for 4% growth above your team's limit

Growth within this range is generally considered the sweet spot - big enough to inspire real progress, but attainable enough to avoid undue stress.

15. Break big goals into more manageable chunks

Even if everyone on your team can't wait to tackle a massive new project, when the time comes to get to work, motivation can falter. This doesn't mean employees don't care about the project; it might just seem too aspirational-so big that employees can't imagine completing it.

In his extensive research on productivity, Charles Duhigg, author of Smarter Faster Bette r and The Power of Habit, found that one of the most effective ways to successfully push progress is to divide work into a combination of big goals and S.M.A.R.T. goals. Remembering the big goals keeps your eyes on the finish line, and the S.M.A.R.T. goals light your way.

Consider S.M.A.R.T. goals the individual rungs on the ladder leading to your loftier goals. While S.M.A.R.T. goals are in fact smart, the name is first and foremost an acronym that tells you all the features your incremental goals should incorporate to get results.
Try this: Have your team record and report on a list of S.M.A.R.T. goals
Come up with a list of tasks that will help you achieve your major goals. Then make the tasks into S.M.A.R.T. goals by running them through the checklist above. You've done the exercise correctly when you know exactly what you need to do to start working toward your big goals.

For example, let's say your company makes workout gear from recycled materials. Your big goal is breaking into an untapped Australian fitness market. One of your smart goals could be completing a SWOT analysis for your target market.

Specific: You'll identify your company's specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in terms of your target market.

Measurable: Easy; you'll measure success by whether or not you complete the analysis.

Achievable: Absolutely; you have a five-person marketing team and an enterprise Nielsen license for market research.

Realistic: Yes; just last year, your team completed a SWOT for a Canadian market.

Timeline: You'll allocate at least 2 hours per employee, per day for the project and set a deadline for one month from now. You'll create a sense of urgency by letting employees know you would like to present the SWOT at the next board meeting.

16. Introduce novelty

When your team can't find the motivation to complete even basic, familiar tasks, adding more work to employees' plates by taking on a new project is probably the last strategy you would consider. However, switching gears could be the solution to your team's motivational rut thanks to neuroplasticity, your brain's ability to change.
Try this: Give your team something fresh and exciting to work on
Your brain is pretty good at changing, and it actually likes change. When you give it a novel task or problem, it gleefully rises to the challenge. If fact, research suggests that to your brain, change feels like a welcomed break. When you switch gears, your brain becomes invigorated by all the new information it gets to take in and challenges it gets to tackle.

Present your team with a new project that is challenging and also completely different from the work that has gone stale. See what happens. By the time the new project is finished, the old project might have returned to a "novelty" state. Pull the switch again, and your employees might dive right into the old project with new gusto.

17. Change locations

As we learned in the tip above, our brains get excited by new things, including new locations and surroundings. One psychologist, Marvin Zuckerman, Ph.D., connected the love and desire for exploration to humanity's earliest history:
Try this: Plan a retreat to reset your team's creativity
"Homo sapiens were the only group of early hominids to emigrate over the entire world, which entailed great risk, so I think humans as a species are characterized by novelty, and intensity-seeking."

When we go to new places, everything about our lives seems new, including our creativity and passion for work. On a company retreat, your employees might be able to rekindle the motivation they thought they'd lost forever.

Plan a retreat that takes employees far from the office and far from real life. If you work in an urban environment, then take the team out to the country to see green hills and blue skies. If your office is off the beaten path, then book a conference room in a swanky urbanite high-rise.

Plan an itinerary that mixes creative brainstorming with practical strategies. When your team gets excited about ideas generated during a free-form brainstorm, up the ante by challenging everyone to come up with ways to apply their innovative ideas to an existing company project.

18. Express Gratitude

First thing's first - though similar, gratitude is different than recognition.

While recognition is about acknowledging specific individuals and their work product, gratitude extends much further. It involves being thankful for what we have in life - things like health, family, even challenges - rather than bemoaning the things we don't.

Gratitude has been proven to elevate mood by releasing dopamine and serotonin, two of the brain's feel-good chemicals.

Gratitude also improves brain function. When we're stressed, we activate our brain's "fight or flight" response in the limbic system. This stunts activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for cognition, decision making, and creativity.

Expressing gratitude has the effect of creating a calm, safe environment in the brain, which enables your prefrontal cortex to operate at a much higher capacity.

Better mood and better functioning brains = a more motivated team.

Try this: Make gratitude a company-wide practice

At SnackNation we meet as a team every Friday to recognize one person who "Crushed-it" and to express gratitude for one thing in our lives.
It's an incredibly simple practice but it's a cornerstone of our culture and sets a positive tone for the weekend.

Handwritten notes are another great way to express gratitude. Our CEO often writes a hand-written note to team members on their birthday, expressing why he is grateful for them being part of the SnackNation team.

19. Practice Transparency

A lack of transparency can erode the trust and credibility that you've worked so hard to maintain at your company. Get ahead of this by enacting a policy of radical transparency.

The last thing you want is for your employees to misinterpret your fear of leaking critical info with a lack of trust. Plus, leaving your employees in the dark creates a space for them to think the worst.

At SnackNation, we share all important business metrics with the entire team on a monthly basis. This helps remind everyone of our goals, where we are in relation to them, and what we need to do to get there.

Is there risk involved in this strategy? Absolutely. But the trust and engagement benefits far outweigh the potential risk of leaking numbers that you don't want to get out there.

And a funny thing happens when you expect the best out of people - more often than not, they rise to meet that expectation!

Try this: Share your numbers internally - even the ones that scare you.

We know that certain figures - like revenue or losses - should stay within the walls of your company, but that's no reason to keep them from your own team.

Resist the urge to sugarcoat or spin bad numbers. Your team will benefit more from a realistic appraisal than a fictional one. Plus, they'll likely see right through it.

20. Get in the Habit of Self-praise

There is a lot of talk about self-love right now but it's all for good reason. People who hold themselves in high esteem tend to be more optimistic about the future.

We all know those people who radiate positivity and good vibes. They are great to be around because they share their happiness and reinforce feelings of purpose and fulfillment. The opposite is also true, negative people can make us feel pessimistic and negative.

As a team motivator, you can have a lot of influence on your colleagues. Make sure that you give off feel-good vibes by practicing self-praise.

Don't forget to apply your motivation tricks to yourself too. It's important to make sure that you are recognizing your achievements.

Try this: Start your day by recognizing a personal accomplishment.

Reflect on your work from the previous day and recall a small success. You will start your day on a positive note and your team will share your sense of achievement and confidence.

21. Celebrate Wins

The "play hard" of "work hard, play hard" doesn't have to stop at your office door. Gratitude and appreciation can go far, but don't forget to take the moment to celebrate your success. Nothing gets people amped up like a party. You don't have to go all out with a venue, DJ and catering. Celebrations as small as a team lunch, Friday happy hour or even a coffee pow wow can mark a job well done.

Not only will it motivate your team to reach goals and engage in challenging initiatives, it will help keep the positive vibes rolling into the next project. Gathering with friends and colleagues is deeply fulfilling and is sure to keep your team's motivation buzzing.

Try this: Celebrate monthly wins with a breakfast social

At the end of each month, encourage your team to think of all of their collective wins. Invite them to share at a breakfast social.

Conclusion

While there's no one-size-fits-all way on how to motivate your employees, take some of the ideas mentioned here and see how they can benefit your organization.

How do you keep your team motivated? What have you seen work? What's failed?

Let us know in the comments below.

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21 Freakishly Effective Ways to Motivate Employees [Updated for 2019]

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21 Freakishly Effective Ways to Motivate Employees If you're like a lot of managers and leaders out there looking to motivate staff members, the following scenario should sound eerily familiar: You finally have your dream team in place. You've hired selectively,

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Work vs. personal relationships

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Definition: The Delegation of Authority is an organizational process wherein, the manager divides his work among the subordinates and give them the responsibility to accomplish the respective tasks. Along with the responsibility, he also shares the authority, i.e. the power to take decisions with the subordinates, such that responsibilities can be completed efficiently.

In other words, a delegation of authority involves the sharing of authority downwards to the subordinates and checking their efficiency by making them accountable for their doings. In an organization, the manager has several responsibilities and work to do. So, in order to reduce his burden, certain responsibility and authority are delegated to the lower level, i.e. to the subordinates, to get the work done on the manager's behalf.

Under the delegation of authority, the manager does not surrender his authority completely, but only shares certain responsibility with the subordinate and delegates that much authority which is necessary to complete that responsibility.

Features of Delegation of Authority

1. Delegation means giving power to the subordinate to act independently but within the limits prescribed by the superior. Also, he must comply with the provisions of the organizational policy, rules, and regulations.

2. Delegation does not mean that manager give up his authority, but certainly he shares some authority with the subordinate essential to complete the responsibility entrusted to him.

3. Authority once delegated can be further expanded, or withdrawn by the superior depending on the situation.

4. The manager cannot delegate the authority which he himself does not possess. Also, he can not delegate his full authority to a subordinate.

5. The delegation of authority may be oral or written, and may be specific or general.

6. The delegation is an art and must comply with all the fundamental rules of an organization.

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What is Delegation of Authority? definition, meaning and features - Business Jargons

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The Delegation of Authority is an organizational process wherein, the manager divides his work among the subordinates and give them the responsibility to accomplish the respective tasks. Along with the responsibility, he also shares the authority, i.e. the power to take decisions with the subordinates, such that responsibilities can be completed efficiently.

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Management planning process is a step by step guide to creating a realistic organizational plan to meet set goals after assessment of available resources. It takes into consideration both long-term and short-term corporate strategies and spells out the vision and the direction to which the company is headed. Organizational planning ensures;

Proper Resource Utilization; since resources are scarce, planning provides invaluable information to top decision-makers on how the available ones will be utilized. Whatever the project is, maximum productivity should be ensured from minimum resource utilization.

Establishment of goals; planning sets up challenging but realistic goals to every team member in the organization. Setting individual goals ensures employees are not complacent in service delivery.

Uncertainty and risk management; Risk management is very important for any organization to succeed. Sometimes things happen the unexpected way. Planning, therefore, helps put in place the 'what if' scenario thus cushioning on the adverse effects that might result due to severe unforeseen consequences.

Management planning process, therefore, involves the following nine steps;

Nine Steps for Management planning process :

The awareness of the business venture and taking action towards the attainment of set objectives is the first step in the management planning process. Awareness enables the decision-making authority to identify available and future opportunities and plan on their effective utilization

Venture awareness also entails the understanding of organizational goals. A detailed overview of each goal should be looked at and anticipated outcomes analyzed. At this stage, objectives should be described in quantitative terms. E.g. in 12 months period, the anticipated profit margin should rise by approximately 30 per cent. Again it is important to note that the set goals should be allocated adequate human and financial resources for effective completion

Before initiating the actual plan, always have all the relevant information that regards the business operation. All the facts and figures should be detailed, target customers identified and their tastes and preferences noted. The guidelines under which goods and services are provided should also be set and the current market value of products measured against expected returns projected costs and expenses.

When gathering information, management should be well aware of goal related tasks so as to align them with objectives and the required resources i.e. in terms of staff and financing.

These are setting goals that the organization strives to achieve by utilizing its available resources. They are the end products that should be attained through proper planning.

Understanding objectives enable each employee to muster his/her role in attaining general goals. They should, therefore, be properly formulated and well communicated to all employees.

Objectives and tasks should be set in their order of importance. The most important tasks should be assigned first priority and completed first.

No one knows what will happen in future a reason why management planning process is essential. When formulating a management plan, forecasting is essential. Forecasting is the assumption of future events by keenly observing present variables and constituting a plan that is likely to meet the desired expectations.

The following should be taken into consideration (if in production industry) when anticipating for the future;

Likely production volume and the expected demand for general production

Likely costs and product pricing

Government's economic policies and varying patterns in consumer preferences

Source of funding

Availability of raw materials and labor

Importance of technology in meeting the set objectives

The successful implementation of the whole management planning process will entirely hinge on forecasting and some of the factors that have been listed above. Accurate anticipation and forecasting will lead to a reliable set out management plan.

The next step is to choose the absolute course of action. Different organizations may use different alternative to achieve similar results but a good manager should analyze all available options and make a final selection that will be appropriate in terms of resource utilization and convenience. According to O'Donnell, there is always a plan against which there are no reasonable alternatives. This, therefore, means that all positives and negatives of a particular course of action should be analyzed and weighed before the final verdict on selection is taken

After determining the absolute course of action, the next important step is to do an evaluation. Evaluation involves analysis of the performance of different actions. Different factors are measured against each other and the most convenient course of action in terms of resources and timeline preferred. E.g. one course of action may require large investments and it's profitable in the long run while the other might require very little resources but low-profit margins in the long run. Therefore, appropriate analysis is vital in identifying the best course of action.

The management planning process does not end after establishing the appropriate course of action. Contingency plans should also be put in place in case the main course of action does not materialize. This should just act as secondary plans in support of the principal plan.

This is the second-last step in the process of Management planning. At this stage, the plan is put into action so that the business objectives are realized. For successful implementation of the already set out plan, policies and procedures should be put in place. Plan execution should be for all operational staff, managers, partners and other relevant collaborative partners.

The effectiveness of management planning and the execution process must be assessed if possible regularly. Depending on evaluation results, managerial guidelines or principles may need adjustments or modifications before final plan execution. Also, the management plan may need to be tailored to meet societal, political or economic changes that affect the organization as a whole.

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Management Planning Process - All You Should Know about management planning

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Management planning process is a step by step guide to creating a realistic organizational plan to meet set goals after assessment of available resources. No one knows what will happen in future a reason why management planning process is essential. When formulating a management plan, forecasting is essential

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My names Kamal Carson. I am currently pursuing a management job at Publix.

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Post written by

Meir Shemla

Meir Shemla is an Associate Professor in the Department of Organisation and Personnel Management at RSM More about Meir Shemla

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Is there still anyone out there who doesn't think that workplace diversity is a good thing?

Diversity gives you access to a greater range of talent, not just the talent that belongs to a particular world-view or ethnicity or some other restricting definition. It helps provide insight into the needs and motivations of all of your client or customer base, rather than just a small part of it. And, potentially, as McKinsey & Co and a host of other highly credible researchers have shown, it makes your organization more effective, more successful, more profitable.

However, actually achieving it in practice has turned out to be far more difficult than anticipated.

Our research at RSM suggests that, despite a genuine will on the part of most major organizations to implement productive diversity strategies, few, if any, have to date come up with something that really works.

So what is going wrong and how can it be put right?

Firstly, it seems that too many organizations make the fundamental error of failing to align their diversity practices with their organizational goals. And in such situations, no matter how much good will there is towards the concept of diversity, the harsh realities of running the business on a day-to-day basis, of keeping customers satisfied, of selling and delivering the product or service will keep undermining it. And secondly, there is often a mismatch between how organizations design diversity policies and how they implement them. Or to put it another way, what looks good on paper too often falls apart in practice.

However, while our investigations produced these rather dispiriting findings, they also helped us to identify four clear steps towards making workplace diversity a reality:

Clearly identify what you are trying to achieve. - And simply saying 'workplace diversity' isn't good enough because the devil is, of course, in the detail. Too many diversity initiatives simply miss their intended target. For example, many organizations aim to realize the performance potential of diverse teams, by then implement diversity policies primarily designed to impact the representation of certain social groups in leadership positions. Only by understanding what the ultimate goal is can you have a chance of reaching it.

Don't 'copy and paste.' - Every organization is unique, so every diversity initiative needs to be too. Simply borrowing one from somewhere else is unlikely to work. Which is perhaps why, for example, efforts to duplicate Norway's approach to boardroom diversity in other places have largely proven unsuccessful, mainly because those other places don't have the Norwegian history nor the Norwegian social infrastructure and gender norms behind them. Every program needs to take into account the specific culture and context of its host organization if it is going to do the required job.

Good design is important but good implementation is vital. - There is a long-standing maxim in the military that no plan survives contact with the enemy. And in the corporate few diversity initiatives survive contact with operational management. Simply handing over even the best designed program to individuals who may not have the tools, the capability or perhaps the motivation to implement it is likely to be a recipe for disaster.

Win 'hearts and minds.' - Successful initiatives answer the basic question, "Why should I do this?" If individuals within the organization cannot see the benefits of a program (or even worse if they identify disadvantages) then it will ultimately fail.

Of course it's a cliché to say that nothing worth achieving comes easily. But it's also true. And the benefits of true workplace diversity are so obviously attractive that the challenges inherent in it simply have to be addressed. And we hope that the four steps outlined above will, at least in part, help to do that.

We are one of Europe's top 10 research-based business schools, providing ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management. We ar...

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Why Workplace Diversity Is So Important, And Why It's So Hard To Achieve

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Managing diversity in organizations is one of the defining issues of our time. Most institutions try to promote the creation of a diverse, creative workforce, but unfortunately, even after several decades of work, how this is created is still very unclear. A more scientific approach is needed.

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At Marriott, we never stop searching for inventive ways to serve our customers, provide opportunities for our associates, and grow our business. The company that began as a nine-seat A&W root beer stand is recognized today as a top employer and for its superior business operations, which it conducts based on five core values: put people first, pursue excellence, embrace change, act with integrity, and serve our world.

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Like other visionary pioneers Steve Jobs also had his limitations - and how he led Apple employees - was surely one of them. His legendary impatience, relentless quest for perfection, domineering presence, and obsessive need to control (he had over 100 direct reports) fostered as much fear within the Apple culture as it did reverence and respect for his genius. Often described as smug, willful, brazen, demeaning, volatile, vindictive and manipulative, he lead the company in a manner far afield from the collaborative norm expected of CEOs running public companies. Reportedly, employees working at Cupertino, CA headquarters even avoided getting into elevators with him lest they be fired by the time the ride ended. And Apple colleagues have described his assessment of employees as the "hero or shithead roller coaster" and where anyone was on that roller coaster could shift in a nanosecond.

The binary perception of Steve Jobs's technological brilliance on the one hand, and his stark failing as a manager of people on the other persisted outside of Apple as well. While acknowledging his transformational accomplishments, a senior Google executive recently described him to me as a "complete jerk." Jobs's tantrums, maniacal pressure to realize his visions, and evangelistic oratory could embolden others' best efforts but there were people costs within the culture as well. However, the human resources dimension of leadership was never a focus for Jobs - and like his brilliant competitor, Bill Gates, he really didn't care about it. As we look back on Jobs's leadership over the years, there is much to glean from his example - points that CEOs should emulate and traits that should be avoided as all costs.

When Gates was still CEO of Microsoft, I received a call from his head of leadership development who offered me the opportunity to work with Gates's top "high potential" employees. Given other client commitments, I began to decline the engagement when she said, "We'll give you whatever you want - at least think about it over night and call me back."

Longer consideration helped me realize there was one thing I wanted - and wanted big time given that my life's work centered on the study of top business leaders' behavior. I called her back and said, "I'd have to start with Bill." After an audible gasp she said, "I'm not sure we can deliver on that condition, but I'll at least run it up the flag pole."

Gates's two word response was, "Not interested."

The juggernaut success stories of Microsoft and Apple surely confirm the fact that there are all kinds of leaders including "jerks" like Gates and Jobs. But unless your company is being lead by a jerk on a par with the potential of Gates or Jobs, it's a mistake to dismiss the serious consideration of how leaders lead and the implications of this for employee contentment and productivity.

From a behavioral "how" perspective, what did Steve Jobs get right as a leader? And, where was he the most wrong? We can consider these questions through the lens of three leadership types - Remarkable, Perilous, and Toxic. Rather than rigidly assigning one type per leader, I believe they move along a continuum from remarkable to toxic behavior.

Remarkable leaders are defined as the most fully evolved of these three types because they rate highly on four leadership criteria:

1. total brain leadership (TBL)

2. emotional intelligence (EQ)

3. productive narcissism

4. core leadership competencies (strategic thinking, driving results, managing people and executive credibility)

Perilous leaders can compare favorably to Remarkables, however, their underlying insecurity and chronic dissatisfaction with work - what I refer to as their sense of "unrequited work," produces erratic and confusing leadership behavior. Their negative and inconsistent behavior can cascade over their employees like sleet.

Toxic leaders are either so driven by getting their own needs met, or flawed given serious psychological issues - such as bipolar illness - that they are ill-equipped to lead effectively.

Based on these criteria, explained below, I would assess Steve Jobs as having moved along the behavioral continuum between Remarkable and Perilous with folklore level instances of insulting and demoralizing Toxic behavior. Given contextual factors and his restless state of mind, his leadership was compromised further by behavior that could vary significantly and change almost instantaneously. Such behavior would not be tolerated in most public companies, however, given Job's rare brilliance and the company's global success, my guess is his employees and other key stake holders - including board members - either just accepted it and/or became inured to even his worst leadership behavior.

The criterion of Total Brain Leadership-is the ability to merge left brain intellectual horsepower with right brain-based interpersonal capabilities. Jobs receives a mixed rating due to his innate strengths but significant interpersonal limitations.

The second criterion, emotional intelligence, is the awareness of both one's own and others' emotions and the ability to channel this emotional awareness to help achieve objectives. Jobs does not get high marks here. While he may have possessed some degree of self-awareness, he did not care about his negative effects on others. Attuned primarily to getting his objectives met, he had no interest in or empathy for the concerns, issues or aspirations of his employees. And finally, his relationships were primarily transactional with employees being expected to deliver exactly what he wanted and in the timeframes he set.

The third criteria is what Harvard psychiatrist, Michael Maccoby refers to as "productive narcissism," i.e., significant confidence in one's capabilities and the drive to channel them in the service of the organization versus pursuing one's selfish needs for ego gratification. If we accept that Jobs's over-arching motivation was to achieve his technological visions and in the course of doing so change the world, we can give him high marks for productive narcissism.

Jobs gets a mixed rating on the forth criteria of critical leadership competencies. He's a resounding YES on strategic thinking and driving results - even though we can raise serious questions about how he went about achieving results in Apple. Because of this, he'd have to get a failing grade on managing people. And while he could be a mesmerizing communicator, his behavioral inconsistency pulls down his rating on executive credibility.

So, from the perspective of the how dimension of leadership, to follow are the takeaways from Steve Jobs's career - and what other leaders should practice for success:

Relentlessly pursue bold ideas - Organizations must have the patience, courage, and foresight to encourage, provide resources, and remove barriers for their "wild ducks" to pursue and realize break-out ideas.

The customer rules - Organizations need to identify and accelerate the careers of high potential employees who are attuned to the marketplace in ways that drive products and/or services intended to always surprise and delight the customer.

Ego serves the organization - Leaders can have big egos, but their efforts are fundamentally channeled in the service of making organizations successful.

Don't confuse activity with results - Successful leaders leverage competitive drive to maintain traction/deliver distinctive excellence. They are not distracted from achieving the organization's strategy and primary objectives.

The 3 Rs - Strong leaders ensure that the right people are in the right jobs and that the right conditions have been created for them to succeed.

Truth-telling - Don't tolerate mediocre ideas, and be willing to take decisive action when people are not cutting it in their assigned roles.

Inspirational communication - Provide frequent and intensely motivational communication about compelling objectives, and the importance of speed to market.

Avoid the following pitfalls:

Prizing boldness to a fault - Don't push ideas at the expense of forming and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders; inducing unnecessary political problems both within and outside the organization.

Misreading the customer - Customers may or may not be ready for the next "shiny object." Objectively gauging customer readiness is key in the pacing and release of technological advances.

When ego doesn't serve the organization - Acting like the 800-pound dominant gorilla and/or always needing to be the smartest kid in the room can have intensely de-motivating and or dis-empowering effects on others.

Excessive drive for results - People will feel trampled, unnecessarily stressed, pushed beyond what is reasonable, neglected, or otherwise de-humanized in the name of achieving results.

The 1 R - Getting the people right, but failing to assimilate them well or supporting them fully, expecting them to solve organization obstacles that really require senior management intervention, and failing to mentor employees won't build talent bench strength within the organization.

Destructive truth telling - Excessive negative feedback that gets personal, and also the absence of "psychological paychecks" that recognize and affirm stellar efforts and results does nothing to drive results.

Un-inspirational communication - Messages that are diminished by a leader's hyperbole, grand-standing, and/or failure to help employees see their place in the journey leaves workers uninspired and lost.

In the final months before he died, Jobs reportedly met with his key business unit leaders and gave each one of them the innovation playbook intended to guide their efforts through the next decade. On the surface this may quell questions about Apple maintaining its innovation edge. However, the complexity and unpredictability of product execution and marketplace forces could not have been completely anticipated by Jobs.

Further, the Apple culture challenges of adjusting to his death, as well as of identifying its next set of behavioral norms cannot be underestimated. These challenges will require a Total Brain Leader who is self aware and attuned to the emotional tenor of the organization. He must also keep his own ego in check as he remains riveted on both the strategic and human resources needs of the organization.

All eyes will be on Jobs's successor, Tim Cook. Is this talented operations executive the right CEO for the current time? Impossible to assess this early. But he may surprise.

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The Real Lessons from Steve Jobs' Career

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Like other visionary pioneers Steve Jobs also had his limitations - and how he led Apple employees - was surely one of them. His legendary impatience, relentless quest for perfection, domineering presence, and obsessive need to control (he had over 100 direct reports) fostered as much fear within the Apple culture as it did reverence and respect for his genius.