Hey, Have you Heard? The Economy Stinks!

It's Friday and thank goodness it is finally sunny out. As of Wednesday, I thought I just might jump off a bridge! (The weather was that depressing here in Alexandria.) However, it looks like the weekend is going to be beautiful, so I'll be just fine.

The economy stinks and everyone is feeling it. We are entering our new Fiscal Year and budget cuts are coming down hard. Not in terms of personnel, thank goodness. But, possibly in how happy we'll be able to keep them. If you've read some of my previous posts, you might be able to tell that we're just a little bit spoiled here.

I think that the real trick, though, is going to be how to convince everyone that we are confident that we are making the right decisions to spend money on certain things. After cutting some benefits, how can we convince them that certain things (like snacks in the office) are necessary to sustain our culture, and that those things don't have a big enough impact on the bottom line to really impact the business anyway?

It has also been hard to convince certain members of the Executive ranks that HR is an area that can be "massaged" quite a bit when it comes to cost. Not everything needs to be so black or white; all or nothing. In fact, anything in HR usually is. So...don't just chop one of my programs, give me the opportunity to see what I can do to modify it to reduce the cost. I have now been allowed to do that - but it was quite the battle.

I'm certain that we're going to come out on the other side of this recession just fine. But, it's going to be a long road ahead. Wish me luck!

Let's Get Down to Business

Well, it has been a turbulent month (or quarter) hasn't it? Your employees are reeling with the recession news. They may be reeling with the things that are happening in their personal lives. You probably are too. I know that even though I truly believe that my company is in a good place, when I come home and watch the news, I get nervous all over again.

All levels of management are reeling with how to deal with the current economic crisis. My challenge to you is to focus on the things that we've always wanted - that we still want.

We still want:

• Engaged employees who are excited to come to work every day.
• Managers who are excited about the propect of where our business can go.
• To be innovative and forward thinking.
• To change people's lives for the better.
• To add value to our organizations.
• Good communication - organization wide.

Therefore, I challenge you to do some encouraging reading, even amidst this current crisis and stay positive. Think about the ways that you can still bring positive actions inside your companies.

I had a meeting with some of our most respected managers today who didn't once mention the economic crisis. We were talking about new management training and we discussed:

• Different ways of motivating employees
• Managing generational differences
• Explaining career paths in a flat organiztion
• Providing effective feedback
• Managing and communicating organizational change
• Preventing and recognizing employee burnout
• Deploying employees according to their strengths
• Coaching and mentoring

I would challenge each of you to stay focused on the things that we want, rather than the things that we don't want. We all know what we don't want, but if you show a positive attitude, I think that we can all realize the things that we do - even in these tough times.

How to Motivate Me

So, another New Year is here and most likely, you've got some new resolutions. One of mine (surprise, surprise) is to tone up and lose some weight. Not any specific number of pounds or inches - just enough so that I like what I see in the mirror. To help me along, The Motley Fool is starting a wellness contest utilizing Shape Up The Nation's contest. The program will last for 12 weeks and teams will compete on hours of exercise, pedometer steps and weight loss. Teams can compete on any of those areas, some combination of two of them or on all three. My team will be doing all three.

So, what does this have to do with the title of this post? You see, I was always one of those straight A students. If I have to perform publicly, I'll tend to do much better. I've decided to be a team Captain...so I hope I can keep my troops motivated!

We've been thinking about other ways to keep people motivated in the workplace and at least in our environment, the answer that seems to keep coming back is "public recognition." Our tech team takes one day a month to focus on innovation. They give small monetary cash prizes for the best results of innovation day, but top management says that some of those prizes have gone unclaimed. Those Fools are much more motivated by the opportunity to present their work in front of the team than by the prizes that they get for doing it.

Has anyone else tried the Shape Up The Nation program? How were your results?

Is anyone else doing a form of "Innovation Day"? If so, how often? Is it company-wide or only certain groups?

Tag I'm it!

I'm pretty sure that this is akin to those chain emails, but okay, I'll play along. This seems kind of fun.

I was tagged by Breanne Potter at MBTI and found out that she and I have A LOT in common! Like owning more pajama pants than work clothes and becoming completely addicted to Sims. Breanne, I might even be able to one-up you there! I used to play Sims on the PS2 and online AT THE SAME TIME getting about 2 hours of sleep a night. It lasted about a month until my husband said that for the sake of our marriage, he was intervening. And, I love uncommongoods.com.

So anyway, here are the "tagging rules."

Here it goes...I must:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
  
• Share 7 facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
  
• Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

Facts about me:

1. I've eaten turkey sandwiches twice a day since Thanksgiving. I stayed home by myself (don't feel bad, I wanted it that way) but cooked a turkey anyway just so I could eat turkey sandwiches for a week.
2. I'm 38 years old and can still do a perfect Cartwheel.
3. I can pick out a good wine about 98% of the time.
4. I was a Structural Aircraft Mechanic in the Navy from 1993 - 1997.
5. My new favorite song is "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock.
   
6. I've rather recently become a really good cook (not sure how that happened).
7. Facebook is my new addiction.

I'm tagging:

Dan Schwabel at Personal Branding Blog
Lisa Rosendahl at HR Thoughts
Sharlyn Lauby at HR Bartender
Maren Hogan at Marenated
Alexandra Levit at her Water Cooler Wisdom
Laurie Ruettimann at Punk Rock HR
Ryan at Concrete HR

Helping Employees through Difficult Financial Times

I've been thinking about different ways that we might be able to help our employees through these difficult financial times. Even if your employees' jobs are secure, it could be that their spouse has been laid off or is worried about being laid off.

I found out about Angel Food Ministries this weekend which has become a Godsend to my sister and her family. They buy food in bulk so they can get it at incredible prices and pass that savings onto you. The food is distributed at churches nationwide. There is no low-income requirement to use it; anyone can.

So, if you know anyone who wants to save some money on groceries, I highly encourage them to check this out. What are some of the ways that you are helping ease your employees' financial worries?