Skip to main content

Non-Monetary Treasures to Give to Your Staff

Everyone say they work for money, but if you ask them will they work for money if their boss is a jerk, most will say no.  Obviously there are many things worth more than money.  A smart boss will give these to them, simply because they are costless but are perceived as priceless to the receiver. These 7 Invaluable Non-Monetary Treasures include:
  1. Recognition for not just achievements but hard work done.  Many bosses only recognize people when they hit the targets, but given the tough business environment that we are in, people will feel de-motivated if they work hard and fail to hit the targets.  That's why a smart boss always recognize people with simple words like, "Thanks for the hard work" coupled with a smile
  2. Sense of Belonging.  People want to feel that they belong to something more than just colleagues, their organization must stand for something and they must feel that they belong there and are not just work for money. The most effective way to make people belong is to involve them in your decision-making
  3. Concern for their Personal Lives.  People are not just employees, they too have their life outside of work.  If you only care about their work and nothing else, how can you get them to give you their life to you?  The easiest way to care for them is to show concern on Monday morning
  4. Exclusive Privileges.  Like the use of the boss's Mercedes on special occasions and discounts on merchants and of course, free gifts
  5. Promotion.  People want to grow, and they can grow vertically up or horizontally wide.  Upgrade their skills, send them for courses, and then give them more responsibilities.  Promote them once they show they can handle their expanded roles
  6. Stress Reduction.  Yes, people are so afraid of talking to their bosses because the stress is always there. Be the first boss in the world whereby people will actually feel de-stressed when they talk to you.  One way to do it is to reduce their workload
  7. Catch them Doing Right, not just doing wrong. Few bosses do this, and you will be a different boss if you can do this, at least once a week if not everyday
By Andy Ng, whose oldest course: How to Be a Better Manager is starting on Monday 6 October 2014 2 pm to 5.30 pm. It is on 4 Mondays on 6/10, 13/10, 20/10 and 27/10.  Details are at here.  Related articles:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What an Executive Coach and Business Coach Does

The Secret Under the Mattress: Why would a 79-year Man Bet So Big on 4D?

It was 2007 when we discovered his secret. While moving my father’s mattress, we found them: heaps and heaps of Singapore Pools 4D tickets. They were stacked in layers, a paper trail of lost hopes. What shocked us most wasn’t just the volume, but the stakes. He wasn’t betting a few dollars for fun. He was punting hundreds of dollars per draw—nearly ten times a month. At the time, my siblings and I were furious. Our father was a 79-year-old retiree. We wondered, with a mix of anger and confusion, why a man at his stage of life would need to win such "big money." What was he going to do with the money? We saw it as a reckless habit, a sign of poor judgment in his final years.  Some of us would say, "If I were to give him money to buy 4D, why don't I use the money and buy 4D myself?  At least I have better discipline".  It has taken me two decades, and the experience of raising my own three grown-up children, to finally see the truth that was hidden under that matt...

Head Bleeding when the Chair Falls

The Weight of Silence: What Were We Really Arguing About? My earliest memories are punctuated by the sound of shouting. In 1970, when I was barely 6 years old, I stood as a small witness to the fierce quarrels between my father and my late eldest brother Kah Yang (he passed away in 1971 at the age of 17). As I grew up, these contradictions became the soundtrack of our lives, usually centered around our family's shoe shop and clothing stalls in Chinatown. In the court of family opinion, the verdict was almost always the same: my father was "wrong." He was judged as a man who didn't fulfill his role, who wasn't "burdening" enough for the family’s success. But as I look back from the vantage point of 2026, I have to ask: Was that actually true? Let me finally put to rest what my father did right: the truths that were buried under decades of criticism: Unseen Labor: He worked grueling, long hours. I remember him hauling boxes of goods and equipment to set u...