lements. Like the muscles in our bodies, employees must exercise their abilities regularly to keep atrophy from setting in. The employee activities you must reward are risk taking, cooperation, mentoring, innovation, value-adding, and challenging.

Acceptance

Acceptance of your employees as fully functioning, rather than apprentice human beings is the

In a perfect world, employees would take responsibility as if they were an owner or at the least, had a vested interest in the success of the company for which they worked. But it's not a perfect world, is it? It is possible though, to create an employment environment where employees will take on responsibility. This is the activity all successful employers desire of their staff.

Motivating your employees to become proactive rather than reactive is what you want, isn't it? Getting them to do more than react like a snail on Valium when things need to get done, or offer creative new solutions are necessary elements for business survival.

Past Labor Secretary Robert Reich commented on findings from a report the Labor Department commissioned which was conducted by researchers at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and Ernst & Young. The study cited companies like Motorola, which estimates that it earns $30 for every $1 invested in employee training. And Edy's Grand Ice Cream, which credits its employee management system with reducing inventories 66%, improving productivity 57%, and lifting unit sales volume 830%.

If you are willing to begin your journey (never a destination) to Partner to Empower, the above becomes possible. Let's spell out the word PARTNER to discover the necessary partnering elements for you to achieve success:

Participation

Participation and involvement is the first of the Partner to Empower elements. Like the muscles in our bodies, employees must exercise their abilities regularly to keep atrophy from setting in. The employee activities you must reward are risk taking, cooperation, mentoring, innovation, value-adding, and challenging.

Acceptance

Acceptance of your employees as fully functioning, rather than apprentice human beings is the s

staff.

Motivating your employees to become proactive rather than reactive is what you want, isn't it? Getting them to do more than react like a snail on Valium when things need to get done, or offer creative new solutions are necessary elements for business survival.

Past Labor Secretary Robert Reich commented on findings from a report the Labor Department commissioned which was conducted by researchers at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and Ernst & Young. The study cited companies like Motorola, which estimates that it earns $30 for every $1 invested in employee training. And Edy's Grand Ice Cream, which credits its employee management system with reducing inventories 66%, improving productivity 57%, and lifting unit sales volume 830%.

If you are willing to begin your journey (never a destination) to Partner to Empower, the above becomes possible. Let's spell out the word PARTNER to discover the necessary partnering elements for you to achieve success:

Participation

Participation and involvement is the first of the Partner to Empower elements. Like the muscles in our bodies, employees must exercise their abilities regularly to keep atrophy from setting in. The employee activities you must reward are risk taking, cooperation, mentoring, innovation, value-adding, and challenging.

Acceptance

Acceptance of your employees as fully functioning, rather than apprentice human beings is the

sioned which was conducted by researchers at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and Ernst & Young. The study cited companies like Motorola, which estimates that it earns $30 for every $1 invested in employee training. And Edy's Grand Ice Cream, which credits its employee management system with reducing inventories 66%, improving productivity 57%, and lifting unit sales volume 830%.

If you are willing to begin your journey (never a destination) to Partner to Empower, the above becomes possible. Let's spell out the word PARTNER to discover the necessary partnering elements for you to achieve success:

Participation

Participation and involvement is the first of the Partner to Empower elements. Like the muscles in our bodies, employees must exercise their abilities regularly to keep atrophy from setting in. The employee activities you must reward are risk taking, cooperation, mentoring, innovation, value-adding, and challenging.

Acceptance

Acceptance of your employees as fully functioning, rather than apprentice human beings is the

57%, and lifting unit sales volume 830%.

If you are willing to begin your journey (never a destination) to Partner to Empower, the above becomes possible. Let's spell out the word PARTNER to discover the necessary partnering elements for you to achieve success:

Participation

Participation and involvement is the first of the Partner to Empower elements. Like the muscles in our bodies, employees must exercise their abilities regularly to keep atrophy from setting in. The employee activities you must reward are risk taking, cooperation, mentoring, innovation, value-adding, and challenging.

Acceptance

Acceptance of your employees as fully functioning, rather than apprentice human beings is the

lements. Like the muscles in our bodies, employees must exercise their abilities regularly to keep atrophy from setting in. The employee activities you must reward are risk taking, cooperation, mentoring, innovation, value-adding, and challenging.

Acceptance

Acceptance of your employees as fully functioning, rather than apprentice human beings is the second partnering element necessary to Partner to Empower. This was brought to the attention of American management in the late 1920s and early 1930s by Harvard's study of Western Electric's Hawthorne Works, unfortunately though, few listened.

Recognition

Recognition is the third element for your Partner to Empower model. It's crucial that you embody that which you choose to praise and reward. The activities that you recognize, reward, and praise are the activities that will most likely be repeated.

During the first six months of 1995, as I traveled the country giving seminars, I asked all the attendees (entry level to executive) to write on an index card the one most important thing that their company or boss could do to improve their loyalty to their company. You might be amazed to know that praise and recognition was offered more than any other answer--much more than money.

Tell the Truth

Tell the Truth about what's really going on in your company is the fourth key aspect for your Partner to Empower endeavor. In my survey on employee loyalty, this subject was a frequent contender for top honors. Employees want to know which way the wind is blowing at their company. If you hold back information, they will simply "fill in the blanks" and usually what they fill in is far from accurate. Withholding knowledge generally will only serve the one who withholds in retaining power. Power is limitless, unfortunately many think that thei