Page 22 - How to Motivate Every Employee

Help employees to compete in the marketplace: Show your employ-
ees how to compete more effectively in the marketplace by encour-
aging them to learn more about your industry and staying current
with industry changes. Budget for employee membership in your
industry’s professional associations and then give people an oppor-
tunity to read their trade publications. Encourage employees to copy
and distribute industry news, overviews, and relevant case studies (in
some cases you may need permission from the publisher to do so).
Suggest employees join Internet discussion groups on subjects deal-
ing with your industry and its management in general.
Start competitor files: Put someone in charge of obtaining the
competitor’s promotional literature; then have someone investigate
their Web site and obtain a copy of their annual report, if possible.
In addition, a competitor file should include copies of advertise-
ments, profiles of top executives, and the organization’s awards and
recognition. Assign a team to take it all a step further and determine
the competition’s strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace, mar-
ket share, and global reach.
Know your competitors and how you measure up against them: A
quick and easy way to do this is to have your employees simply ask
your customers to evaluate how your organization measures up to
the competition. Tell them to be specific. Find out what your cus-
tomers have to say about your competitor’s pricing, customer care
programs, product quality, etc. Have employees document the feed-
back and use this as a basis for internal improvements within your
department.

“Next to knowing all about your own busi-
ness” the best thing is to know all about the
other fellow’s business

—John D. Rockefeller, Founder, Standard Oil

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