Motivational States: Understand and Shape Employee Motivation

By Sheryl McAtee   October 25, 2018
Categories: Management, Supervision & Leadership Tags: motivational strategies

It’s hard to measure employee motivation in the workplace. Different people are motivated by different things at different times.  Given this changeability, how do we create a motivational strategy that will benefit the entire organization? A psychological tool called Reversal Theory can help. This theory provides a list of eight motivational states that managers can…
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Seven Simple Actions that Build Employee Motivation

By Sheryl McAtee   October 25, 2018
Categories: Management, Supervision & Leadership Tags: motivational strategies and tools

Thoughtfully motivating employees requires focused energy and a diverse set of motivational strategies and tools.  There are also simple activities that can support employee motivation. Here’s a list of opportunities to motivate others. Commit to them, and you will see positive outcomes in both the short and long term. Say “thank you.” Everyone is motivated…
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Building a Customer Centric Organization

By Sheryl McAtee   September 25, 2018
Categories: Customer Service Tags: customer centric

What does it mean to be a customer-centric organization?  A great first step is defining who the customers are, and what their goals are.  For staff members with direct contact with customers, such as those providing retail customer service or responding to inbound customer inquiries, defining the customer is often easy: the customer is the…
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Six Steps to Pumping Up Your Customer Service Team

By Sheryl McAtee   September 25, 2018
Categories: Customer Service Tags: customer service team motivation

Customers. Depending on the kind of day you’re having, that word can either bring a smile to your face and a song to your lips, or send you scuttling under your desk to whimper and rock back and forth muttering incoherently about someone named “Angry Edith” and her profane cockatoo, Roosevelt, who shrieks Samuel L….
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Seven Questions to Ask to Restore Work-Life Balance

By Sheryl McAtee   August 23, 2018
Categories: Professional Development Tags: employee work-life balance

Maintaining consistent employee work-life balance can be a daily challenge for many.  Here are seven questions to ask if your work-life balance is getting out of order: Who really needs this and when? When considering which tasks to tackle, objectively evaluate the audience and the timing. Take on the high priority tasks that will have…
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Embracing Life Enhances Work: The Benefits of Work-Life Balance

By Sheryl McAtee   August 23, 2018
Categories: Professional Development Tags: benefits of work-life balance

Let’s look at a real-life example addressing the importance of work-life balance. Recently, a high-performing employee — Nina — came to my office for a coaching session. Nina had recently been given a high-visibility project to manage. She was doing well, so our sessions were usually future-focused and optimistic. That day, though, Nina was in…
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The ABC’s of Active Listening

By Sheryl McAtee   July 26, 2018
Categories: Communication Tags: active listening

Let’s face it, listening is hard.  We have ideas we want to share.  We’ve thought this through and we know what to do.  New ideas will slow us down. We need to end this meeting! And yet, most communication and leadership classes include active listening as an essential skill for team members, managers and leaders. …
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Become a Stronger Active Listener

By Laura Croston   July 26, 2018
Categories: Communication Tags: active listening, active listening skills test

Active listening is among the most sought-after skills in today’s business marketplace. Active listeners forge stronger relationships, inspire more trust and formulate better solutions than their less-engaged counterparts. Unfortunately, active listening is a skill that many claim, but few possess. The problem is that we spend so much time listening that we assume we must…
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Advancing Leadership for Women

By Laura Croston   June 26, 2018
Categories: Management, Supervision & Leadership Tags: leadership for women, leadership models

2018 has seen a lot of women’s movements with women rising up in media, politics and business. While there have been positive changes there are still few women in today’s top leadership roles. According to the Pew Report [1] women occupy less than 22% in the US Senate, US House or US Cabinet-level positions. As…
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Building New Leaders

By Sheryl McAtee   June 26, 2018
Categories: Management, Supervision & Leadership Tags: leadership assessments, leadership ethics, leadership games, leadership models

In Pryor seminars, we often meet professionals who are eager to lead, but are not yet supervisors or managers.  Many say, “I’m not a leader yet;” or ask, “How do I lead when I have no control?” Our seminars and online learning focus on developing leadership competencies in emerging leaders, who do not yet have…
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