Recharge Employees .........................................................................................................

When asked what they look for in their people, most managers will stress qualities like self-sufficiency, resourcefulness, creativity and a sense of responsibility. They want employees who take initiative, solve problems, communicate well, listen carefully and learn fast. But knowing what they want from their employees—and actually getting it—are often two entirely different things.

In Motivational Management: Inspiring Your People for Maximum Performance, author Alexander Hiam shows readers how to communicate with their employees in ways that stimulate effort, turn around negative attitudes, accommodate individual differences and activate every employee's intrinsic desire to excel.

Outlining an entire methodology for measuring and tracking motivation levels among employees, the book includes special learning goals for each chapter and shows readers how to:

* create a positive performance environment by treating problems as opportunities;

* understand and respond to the feelings that drive performance (i.e., the emotional component of how employees think about their work);

* eliminate "contaminants" such as micromanagement, unfairness, secrets and anger that get in the way of employment motivation;

* give proper feedback in difficult work situations including performance reviews; and

* use recognition and rewards, and inspire by appealing to individual motives.

For example, Hiam says a manager who is dealing with a negative employee—who focuses on the problem instead of seeking a solution—needs to create the expectation that employees will think and talk positively about problems.

He writes: "As a manager you need to model a different kind of attitude in your talk so that it will come to mind when employees are in a [problem] situation. You want the employee's default reaction to be to say to himself or to others, 'Hey I've got a problem getting this report out. I wonder how many ways I can think of to overcome this problem and accomplish my goal?'

"To make sure the employee will respond in that manner with a positive effort to overcome the barrier, you need to put in place positive talk about barriers and limits in general. Whenever you hear people talking about limits in a negative, can't do way, you need to politely, even humorously, rephrase their talk into a positive can do form."ne data set, Hiam says.