Seven Reasons Employees Are Not Into You

Are you frustrated with employees who seem to be more "It's all about me" than "How can I help my employer?" Join the club.

In his article, "Here's Why Your Employees Are Just Not That Into You," organizational practices expert David Lee outlines the seven reasons employees may seem this way and what YOU -- as their leader -- can do about it.

Here is my outline of the seven things you can do based on his list:

1. Make sure ALL your employees know the purpose of the business and its GOALS. Are you sure they all know this? Ask five employees randomly as they walk in tomorrow.
2. Make sure ALL your employees know their own ROLES in meeting those goals.
3. Set an example for CARING about the company because if they instead see that you tolerate mediocrity, why shouldn’t they?
4. Reward passion, courage and EXCELLENCE. Smart people naturally do more of what is rewarded.
5. Make sure all your employees have the training, time and TOOLS to get their job done; you cannot expect someone to bake a cake on the sidewalk!
6. RESPOND quickly to issues like bad behavior or poor performance; nothing drags down a team like the lone prima donna who's allowed to run amok!
7. Show APPRECIATION for all the employees who are doing their job well, not just the superstars. Almost everyone has a choice to go elsewhere, so just let folks know you appreciate their contributions.

To these I would add action number eight:

8. Foster RELATIONSHIPS among your team members in meetings and company activities. When employees are allowed to become isolated and disconnected from each other there is little opportunity for them to communicate with each other, learn from each other, and support each other. All seven of the steps above can be driven peer to peer and across departments just as well as from top to bottom!