Mike Seidle ...notes from the road

Recently I was asked on LinkedIn how upper management demotivates employees and why companies do things that appear to demotivate employees.  Every business owner or CEO I know doesn't like doing things that suck to their employees.  Problem is that it's easy to be a good guy when you are small and growing.  Reality gets in the way the bigger you get because it's hard to get lots of great people.  Turns out though, the real problem isn't that managers are mean, nasty and want your life to suck, the problem is there is a complete misunderstanding by most workers about their relationship with their employer:

• Employees often don't understand how little the company really profits from their work.  This leads to the misunderstanding that because I'm good at what I do I should be paid more. Reality is you should be paid more if profit expands because of the work you do. If a company makes three times your pay in income from your work, that's normal and healthy.  Healthy companies will make at least two times your salary in gross profit (that's the difference between the selling price and the cost of goods/services sold without all the overhead for marketing, bonuses, and administration, taxes, and facilities included).

• Many employees will simply say anything to get a job and then do just about anything to keep it.  Most of the time, when we get someone who isn't competent who makes it through screening, it's because they are desperate for a job.  This leads to management figuring our all they have to do is scare people and they will work 10-15 extra hours per week for free.  This is also a toxic culture and it takes constant work behind the scenes with managers to make them understand the balance between short term getting what you want and long term success (fear is a bad long term strategy).  Here's what happens when you get it wrong.

• Many employees have a "you owe me" attitude instead of a "we're in business together" attitude.  This leads to a culture of rules and loopholes, lack of initiative, and eventually to disputes and lawsuits.  It's also the source of at least two thirds of personal disputes between managers and workers. The solution: constantly talk about being in business together and if an employee doesn't get it... then let them ruin someone else's team.  If a manager doesn't get it, then let the competition have them.