The Fastest Way To Motivate Your Employees

I remember in one of my first jobs, the owner of the company I worked for started a weekly newsletter.

In this newsletter he made it a point to try to mention many of the employee’s names.

His theory, which was a good one, was that… people would be more likely to read the newsletter, if their name was somewhere in the copy.

The first time I noticed my name in the newsletter he merely used my last name. I didn’t particularly like this approach of using just my last name. Like the Platinum rule points out, “do unto others as they want to be done unto. “

In a private conversation with him, I suggested that he use my first and last name when mentioning me in his newsletter. He listened to me, expressed his surprise and mentioned that he really didn’t think it mattered. I assured him that it mattered to me. He thanked me for my feedback and promised to use my full name in the future. Much to his credit, from that point forward he always referred to me in the company newsletter and in his verbal discussions by my first and last name.

Do not assume that nicknames or the use of a first or last name is appropriate with the people with whom you work. One of the best ways to find out, is to have a sincere conversation with each person, and ask them how they prefer to be addressed and ask them for the correct pronunciation of their name

Using and pronouncing the preferred name of your employees and co-workers goes a long way in building the kind of mutual respect and rapport that people want and need. Using their proper names will boost their productivity. When you do this you will be taking a major step in creating the kind of environment where people love to come to work.