The Latest from Kristy-Lee

Hello and welcome to Episode 127 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

In today’s episode of the podcast we’re discussing the 2 key types of motivation, and why you can’t have one without the other.

Many employers focus on what we call extrinsic motivators, in that they try and motivate their staff using a source external from the person. Could be a reward, an incentive, a bonus, a gift, lunch – those kinds of things. These thigs usually cost money, and when they don’t have the effect the employer was hoping for – in that the employee is not more motivated across the board, or more committed to their role, the employer becomes resentful of the motivation process.

The truth is, these extrinsic motivation techniques can work effectively, but only when the employee is already intrinsically motivated in the role, and as a result engaged. Without this foundation piece of intrinsic motivation, the extrinsic tactics are a short term win at best.

In todays’ episode we discuss the differe...

Understanding how to motivate your team can be one of the biggest challenges business owners, managers and leaders face. Finding the right people for your business is just the first step, once you have the players in place, getting the most out of them, motivating them and pushing for greater productivity and motivation is an ongoing pain point which can often feel like some sort of secret witchcraft.

For many managers, when thinking of ways to motivate staff, our automatic default is to entice them with some form of incentive, or show them recognition with some sort of gift, reward or show of gratitude. Some people even think that the bigger the gesture, the more expensive the gift or reward, the higher the motivation should be. Then, after outlaying the money, expecting a huge return on their investment by achieving high motivation across the team, they are disappointed, frustrated and resentful that their efforts have had no direct impact, and in fact can sometimes appear to hav...

Hello and welcome to Episode 126 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

In today’s episode of the podcast we’re discussing a recruitment strategy or tactic that we are seeing more and more often in 2022 – the sign on bonus…

Put simply, a sign on bonus is a one off cash incentive paid to a new employee when they accept and start a new role with you. In a market where the competition for talent is tough, employers are literally trying anything, including throwing money around, to try and secure their new team members.

In todays’ episode we discuss when and why they may be useful, but more specifically why it’s a short sighted solution and there are other ways to use the same investment to get a better result.

If you’d like to ask questions or start a discussion about sign up bonuses and other recruitment strategies, I have an invitation for you. 

An Invitation

Would you like to connect with other like-minded business owners, leaders and managers experiencing similar situations wit...

If you’ve tried to recruit new staff in the last 6 months or so, you have probably noticed that applicant numbers re definitely not what they used to be. A role that once you may have received 50 applications for, now you’re lucky to get 5, and the chances of them being high quality options, to be fair, are slim.

You may have found yourself in a situation where you thought you had struck gold and found ‘the one’ only to have them accept another role right under your nose. You’re confused, you had a great connection with them, they showed all the signs of being really interested in your position, so why would they accept another role without at least checking in with you first?

Generally, it comes down to a few possible scenarios. Either the role they were offered was just too amazing to turn down, they were willing to take on almost any job offered, or, and more and more commonly these days they have been offered a cash bonus to accept that job- and that nice little cash bonus ...

Hello and welcome to Episode 125 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

In today’s episode of the podcast, I’m unpacking 3 key reasons motivation might be missing in action with your team right now. Before doing that though, I thought it was important to look at what motivation is, how it correlates with employee engagement and how engagement impacts our business generally.

I shared with you a really great distinction between motivation and engagement, which was beautifully articulated by Effectory in this article:

https://www.effectory.com/knowledge/why-you-should-be-thinking-about-engagement-and-motivation/

“Engagement is a sense of purpose, belonging, and commitment to an organization, whereas motivation is the willpower and drive to act on those feelings. Employee engagement serves as a foundation for your employees to do their best work, while motivation is the fuel or energy required to actually do it.”

Then we dive into 3 key reasons I am witnessing employee motivati...

It can be so frustrating can’t it? When you have an employee on your hands who you know is capable of more, who you have seen perform at a far higher level, they used to be proactive, and motivated, but now getting them to do even the simplest tasks from their position description is excruciating, it’s like you’ve just asked them to walk through quicksand with an elephant on their shoulders….

Are you noticing this more than usual right now? With team members who you thought you would never need to worry about possibly, and you’re noticing the tone and vibe of the team is changing at the same time. You might be wondering what on earth has happened – your once happy, proactive and productive team seem to have taken a wrong turn – their motivation is completely missing in action!

If this is you right now, know that you’re not alone, it’s one of the most common challenges companies are facing right now – how to motivate disengaged employees? How to amp up the motivation, how to get...

With the shortages in the labour market and the difficulty companies everywhere are having in attracting top talent, it’s no wonder many businesses are looking at alternatives to going it alone and considering engaging a professional recruiter to assist with their search.

Like anything in business, getting support to attract, find and secure the right person for any role in your business may from time to time require professional support. Sometimes to save you time, sometimes because it isn’t in your wheelhouse and getting an expert is simply a smarter option, and sometimes out of pure desperation because you think the recruiter has a magic wand and can make a candidate appear out of thin air (or because they promise they can do just that…).

Whatever the reason, if you’re considering engaging a recruitment firm to assist with your current or future campaigns, I’d like to pull back the curtain and share with you some things you may not know, and some questions to consider before...

Hello and welcome to Episode 124 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

In today’s episode of the podcast, I’m pulling back the curtain on the inner workings of a recruitment agency. I know many businesses are looking to recruiters in the current market to help them find great staff. But, like all industries not all recruiters are created equally and there is certainly the good, bad and the ugly in the industry.

So today we look at the different model’s recruitment agencies use, what to look out for when determining what’s best for you, as well as the things to ask and consider before signing anything!

If you’re considering using a recruiter, or would like to contribute to the discussion on this topic, I have a special invitation for you.

An Invitation

Would you like to connect with other like-minded business owners, leaders and managers experiencing similar situations with their team? Join the discussion inside our free Facebook Group – HR Support for Australian Businesses - www...

Hello and welcome to Episode 123 of the People Powered Business Podcast!

In today’s episode of the podcast, we’re discussing workplace flexibility, and the fact that no longer is it a ‘perk’ but a baseline expectation of employees. Whether it’s location flexibility, hours flexibility or other aspects of a role that employees are looking for flexibility with, there is no denying the fact that the need to offer flexibility is critical to being able to attract and retain top talent, and to a productive and engaged workforce.

So how are you baking in flexibility to your workplace? I’d love to hear, and I have a special invitation for where you can join us to share your experiences:

An Invitation

Would you like to connect with other like-minded business owners, leaders and managers experiencing similar situations with their team? Join the discussion inside our free Facebook Group – HR Support for Australian Businesses.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsupportaustralia

It wasn’t all that long ago that businesses who could offer some sort of ‘workplace flexibility’ to their staff were at a distinct competitive advantage when it came to attracting and retaining top talent. We weren’t talking about total location independence, or complete control of hours either, we were talking things like maybe starting and finishing an hour later than others, or maybe working from home one day per fortnight.

This sort of flexibility driven competitive advantage to win the war on talent was largely played out in the large organisations, corporate world, heavily but not exclusively in the tech sectors. Small businesses were simply not able to envisage how they could possibly offer this kind of flexibility without losing complete control, without having some of their small teams feeling disadvantaged and whilst being able to maintain their consistency, productivity and control over outputs.

And not that long ago you can remember why the technology just didn’t le...