www.b2billinois.
com The Weekly Business-to-Business Forum
Fire Up Your Employees and
Smoke Your Competition:
How to Invite, Incite and Ignite Performance
Jay Forte | B2B Illinois contributor
Your team’s performance is just average; they do just
enough to get by. Customers don’t excite them. Their work
doesn’t excite them. They have to be constantly watched,
even to do the basics. You are afraid to travel and leave them
on their own. You catch them playing on the computer and
hear talk of what other jobs are paying. Achieving perfor-
mance and financial targets is a constant struggle. Sound the
alarm…you are suffering from smoldering employees; they
have the embers of performance, but no fire.
Today, employees change jobs every 18 to 36 months.
As you read this, more than half of your employees are job
hunting, some actively, some passively. Statistics indicate
approximately 60 percent of your employees do just enough
at work not to be fired; only 20 percent actually come to
work committed to make a difference. By 2012, it is expect-
ed that the number of jobs will outnumber the available
employees by close to 10 million. In the next five years, 20
percent of the U.S.’s largest corporations will lose 40 percent
of their top talent to retirement. This creates a workplace
that is poised for an all-out war for talent.
When our workplace changed from the industrial age of
making things to today’s intellectual age of providing ser-
vice, it significantly changed what we want and need from
our employees. Thinking and knowledge now drive results.
We must start to align the way employees think with the
thinking needed in their jobs to activate their passion,
The Coach’s Corner: Solutions for Small Business
Reneé Perry | B2B Illinois contributor
Q: I want to hire my first employee, but I’m reluctant.
Mainly, how do I handle things if I don’t like the job
the employee is doing or if we don’t get along?
A: First of all, it’s a huge step to hire your first employee.
It’s a real good idea to have an employee handbook
outlining policies and procedures for all employees. This
keeps everything up front with your employee(s). The hand-
book could include:
n Days off, wages paid for holidays, funerals, sick days and
jury duty
n Your hiring process (Are you adding a 30-day probation
period?)
n Dress code
What’s in a Name?
The Importance of Company Branding During Economic Downturn
Alan Brew | B2B Illinois contributor
Many entrepreneurs and companies choose a name that
sounds great but lacks the strategy to support a solid brand
within the marketplace. Naming a company takes more
than just coming up with a catchy word or phrase – there
are several potential pitfalls that should be considered when
developing a marketable name. Choosing the wrong name can
negatively affect not only current business but future growth
as well. On the flip side, selecting the right name can trans-
form a business and establish its brand within any industry.
Who Are You?
Take a look at the name and identity of your company.
Whether starting up, spinning off, merging or just coming
to the realization that the business has changed, identifying
the culture is imperative to develop a name that is relevant
to the distinct personality and stage in the business cycle.
Also, in today’s economy, it is important to review external
influences. For example if a company name has a connota-
tion of expense and overindulgence, it may keep customers
away. Think about your name from a customer’s perspective
in order to remain successful.
What Do You Do?
The approach to naming or renaming a company is highly
strategic, built upon a fundamental understanding of the
industry. It’s imperative to know which names will work
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interest, emotion and performance. When we do, employees
become more engaged and passionate about what they do
and perform at exceptional levels.
Consider these five steps to fire up your employees and
smoke your competition:
Create an employee-focused (workplace) culture. This
workplace culture openly appreciates, values and develops
employees, and attracts and retains the best candidates.
A workplace culture that is employee-focused includes:
sharing a powerful mission, vision and goals, implement-
ing a competent, talent-based hiring process, compensating
employees fairly, offering achievable incentive plans, provid-
ing recurring skill and career development and creating a
culture of open participation and contribution.
Hire and promote based on talents. Talents manifest
themselves differently in each employee; any employee is
not a good fit for any job. Employees are fired up about jobs
whose thinking and performance requirements match their
talents and passions. The closer they are matched, the more
passionate performance happens. Match talents needed with
the talents of the employees for the best performance Only
those that are excited about their work (because it matches
their talents and passions) will be fired up to perform.
With the right employees in the right roles, now define
performance expectations. Studies show employees are
more excited about performance when they know what is
expected and can create the plan to achieve those expecta-
tions. This personalizes each role, takes advantage of their
n Handling complaints
n Wages
n Warnings
n Safety procedures
n What the work days and hours are
n Employee responsibilities
n Employer responsibilities
I suggest having a lawyer look over the handbook to be
sure all laws are being followed.
Second, be sure to have some sort of training process for
the employee. This is only fair to the employee to get a han-
dle on how and what you want done. There needs to be some
balance between the employee doing their work in a way
that works for them, with the employer feeling confident the
job will be done correctly and efficiently. Be sure to handle
issues or problems as quickly as possible, not allowing them
and, perhaps equally important, which names will not. Com-
panies must avoid the pitfalls of “generica” – names that
leave little or no room for brand recognition within a given
industry. In addition, companies need to avoid translation
and pronunciation errors that can occur in international
marketplaces.
How Do You Do It?
A name is more than just a word – it is the embodiment
of an entire organization. Use the name of your company to
create a brand identity. Think about the things that set the
company a part from the rest of the industry. Is it eco-friend-
ly, do you use high-quality materials, or is the hand crafts-
manship above and beyond the competition? If the company
is unique – express that in the name and branding.
Where Do You Want to Go?
Branding companies can provide knowledgeable and well
researched insights into naming or renaming businesses. It
can be of great benefit to seek their input and skill when
creating a brand identity and name. The industry expertise
helps speed the process for companies while effectively
providing a platform for designers, copywriters, namers
and other specialists to be in on the process from the very
beginning. Partnering with an outside source will help in the
creation of brand names that strike a chord with employees
and consumers alike.
Send us your articles, news, press releases, event photos,
questions and comments:
E-mail Andrew Wheeler at awheeler@b2billinois.com
Editor: Andrew Wheeler
815-929-5416 awheeler@b2billinois.com
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talents and encourages employees to own their performance.
Employees are fired up when they have a voice, are made to
feel competent, and can control their performance.
Build a strong personal manager connection though
recurring performance feedback. Act as a coach and educa-
tor; encourage employees to continually improve their skills
to achieve their performance expectations. The more con-
tact you have with employees in a positive and supportive
way, the stronger the personal connection. This connection
is the core of millennial management; employees are loyal to
managers who know them, care about them and spend time
helping them improve.
Host recurring “Career Conversations.” Employees
respond to a compelling personal vision of the future. To
keep employees excited about performance, host “Career
Conversations” or development discussions several times
a year. Discuss the employee’s talents and interests in con-
junction with the needs and direction of the organization.
This insures a viable plan as it blends the needs of the orga-
nization with the talents, interests and goals of the employ-
ees. Allowing employees a voice in the development process
is one of the most significant ways to fire up an employee.
Jay Forte is a powerful performance speaker,
consultant and founder of Humanetrics, LLC.
For information on keynotes, speaking, con-
sulting or to see the daily BLOGucation visit:
www.humanetricsllc.com, www.FireUpYourEm-
ployees.com or call: 401-338-3505.
to get worse. If you are having a thirty-day probation period,
talk to the employee in two weeks to discuss how they’re
doing and what your expectations are.
Last, do not make promises you are not planning on
keeping. If you promise a raise after a period of time, give
it. Employees should not be put in a position of reminding
the employer about promises made and not kept. This will
create a distrustful relationship. Trust is a key component to
an employee and employer relationship.
Reneé Perry is a small business coach and con-
sultant. Submit your business and operations
questions to renee.perry@earthlink.net, or for
more information visit www.reneeperrycoach-
ing.com.
The most important thing to remember during a down
turn is that things will eventually get better. Reviewing your
company name and brand identity can assist in weathering
the storm and ultimately help you to come out on top.
Alan Brew has more than 20 years of senior executive experi-
ence with some of the world’s leading branding companies,
including Landor Associates, Siegel & Gale and Enterprise
IG. At RiechesBaird, a brand creation and development firm
that specializes in building the value of B2B companies, Brew
is primarily responsible for leading the firm’s brand strategy
development. Prior to joining RiechesBaird, Brew served as
managing director of Siegel & Gale in Los Angeles where
he worked with such clients as Adobe, Yahoo!, Intelsat, and
PG&E Corp. For more information about RiechesBaird, visit
www.riechesbaird.com or call 949.586.1200.
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