五大妙招保持员工激情

1、赋予员工发言权

    加利福尼亚酒店连锁企业Joie de Vivre处于失败边缘的危急时刻，公司创始人奇普.康利举办了一系列反思活动，询问公司上上下下包括经理人和酒店服务员在内的员工，他们将如何行动以扭转公司颓势。员工们感觉到自己对公司的参与度更高了，于是更加努力地拉生意。康利说：“越是赋予员工表达声音的机会，他们就会越努力。”公司最终度过了危机，年度销售额也增长至2.5亿美元。

2、清理打压员工积极性的路障

    正如吉姆.科林斯所言，如果你的问题是：“我应该如何激励员工？”那说明你已经走上了歧途。正确的问题应该是：“我应该如何停止那些会打消员工积极性的行为？”现在就可以问问员工，哪些愚蠢的流程和障碍正在拖累他们的工作效率，是冗长的会议、无休无尽的文书工作，抑或是能力欠缺的同事。然后为员工扫清障碍吧。我预测他们的生产力将会翻番。

3、培养更好的管理层

    员工走人并不是要炒公司的鱿鱼，而是要逃离糟糕的上司。最近一项调查显示，相比涨薪而言，65%的工作者宁愿能有一位更好的老板。如果你的团队业绩不佳，一定要仔细观察一下公司经理们是如何管理直接下属的。他们是否懂得如何引导员工追求卓越，还是让周围的员工觉得自己愚不可及、备受冷落？如果是后者，要尽快让这些经理参加管理层培训。

4、紧张工作之余的度假

    Inspira行销集团（Inspira Marketing Group）采用的方法是：如果公司达到了销售目标，公司的27名员工就能够享受一年一度的旅行，赴牙买加或者圣克罗伊岛这样的海岛度假三天。结果是：这家位于康涅狄格州诺瓦克、刚刚成立四年的企业2012年的销售额预计将达到350万美元。一项外部调查结果显示，这家公司89%的团队成员每天上班都情绪高昂。公司副总裁金.罗顿表示，度假“是我们公司文化中很重要的组成部分”。

5、帮助员工实现梦想

    2008年末，约翰﹒拉特利夫发现，在自己创立的位于德拉华州威明顿市的呼叫中心苹果树答复服务公司（Appletree Answers），小时工年度流动率高达110%。于是他启动了一项叫做“持续梦想”的举措，旨在帮助每位员工实现一个愿望。这个举措备受员工欢迎。让他感到意外的是，员工们提出的要求都很适度，比如付房租押金等等，因此这个项目至今仅仅花费了大约25万美元。与此同时，自发性质的流动率却降低到了25%。

    ——维尔纳-哈尼什是高层管理者培训企业Gazelles的首席执行官。

    译者：李柰/汪皓

1. Give them a voice

    Joie de Vivre Hotels was on the verge of failing when founder Chip Conley held a series of retreats to ask employees, from managers to bellhops, how they would turn things around for the California chain. Feeling more invested afterward, workers went into overdrive to attract business. "The more you give people a voice, the more they step up," he says. The company survived -- and Conley grew it to $250 million in sales.

2. Clear the roadblocks

    As Jim Collins has pointed out, if you're asking, "How do I motivate employees?" you're going down the wrong path. The right question to ask is, "How do I stop demotivating them?" Ask staffers today what stupid processes and obstacles are slowing their work -- whether it's long meetings, endless paperwork, or incompetent colleagues -- and then free them from those hassles. My prediction: Their productivity will double.

3. Grow better bosses

    People don't quit companies; they escape lousy managers. One recent survey showed that 65% of workers would prefer a new boss over a raise. If your team is underperforming, take a close look at how your lieutenants manage their direct reports. Do they know how to coach your employees so that they can excel -- or make the people around them feel alienated and stupid? If it's the latter, get them into management training ASAP.

4. Take a break from austerity

    Inspira Marketing Group invests in taking its 27 employees on an annual three-day trip to an island like Jamaica or St. Croix if the company hits its sales goals. Result: The four-year-old firm, based in Norwalk, Conn., expects $3.5 million in sales for 2012 -- and an outside survey found that 89% of its team is excited to come to work each day. The trip, says VP Kim Lawton, "is a huge part of our culture."

5. Make their dreams real

    In late 2008, John Ratliff faced 110% annual turnover among hourly workers at his Wilmington, Del., call-center firm, Appletree Answers. Then he started a wildly popular initiative called Dream On, where the company fulfills one wish for each employee. To his surprise workers tend to request modest items, like the deposit for an apartment, so the program has cost only about $250,000 so far. Meanwhile, voluntary turnover has fallen to 25%.

    --Verne Harnish is the CEO of Gazelles Inc., an executive education firm.