The Truth About Getting the Best From People

In the Second Edition of the successful book, The Truth About Getting the Best From People, Martha Finney shares over 60 proven principles for achieving employee engagement one-hundred percent of the time. This new edition features more than 15 new truths and updates nearly all of the examples used throughout the book. New principles include: managing virtual teams, building persuasive skills, tuning into your own unconscious biases, managing multiple generations, and identifying and cultivating individual high performers

Martha I. Finney (Santa Fe, NM) is an employee engagement expert, helping companies attract, inspire and retain top talent and create a culture of employee engagement in their organizations. She has written or coauthored 10 books and has appeared on CNN, NPR's Morning Edition, and in major newspapers around the country. Her clients and interviewees include executives from Intuit, the Central Intelligence Agency, Knight Ridder, Hewlett-Packard, AOL, Newell Rubbermaid, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Caterpillar, Inc. and Kenexa. She also speaks and gives workshops on creating and leading passion-driven workplaces.

Introduction xi

PART I The Truth About Employee Engagement

Truth 1 You don’t need the carrot or the stick 1

Truth 2 You have direct infl uence over your employees’ passion quotient 4

Truth 3 You get the best by giving the best 8

Truth 4 It’s not money that motivates 11

Truth 5 Employment engagement isn’t for sissies 15

Truth 6 Real engagement gains happen after survey scores come in 19

PART II The Truth About Yourself

Truth 7 Your behaviors are your brand 23

Truth 8 You can’t give what you don’t have 26

Truth 9 “Best” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone 30

Truth 10 Think you’re a great leader? Think again 34

Truth 11 You could be your own worst employee 38

Truth 12 Visionary or beat cop? Your choice 41

Truth 13 Your health may be compromising your leadership eff ectiveness 44

Truth 14 You don’t have to be perfect 48

Truth 15 Your career can recover from an engagement hit 52

PART III The Truth About Engaged Cultures

Truth 16 Employee happiness is serious business 55

Truth 17 Great leaders make their people cry 58

Truth 18 Better questions lead to better answers 61

Truth 19 Individual passion builds a passion-fueled customer service culture 65

Truth 20 Authentic is better than clever 69

Truth 21 Retention begins with hello 72

Truth 22 The bad will do you good 75

Truth 23 Your biggest complainer may be your best supporter 78

Truth 24 You can sell an unpopular decision 82

Truth 25 Flex is best 85

Truth 26 Nobody cares if you don’t mean to be mean 89

Truth 27 Controlling your temper is a labor-saving device 93

Truth 28 There is no “but” in “I’m sorry” 97

PART IV The Truth About Motivation

Truth 29 Engagement happens one person at a time 101

Truth 30 If you’re a manager, you’re a career coach 104

Truth 31 The candidates you’re seeking may not be the ones you need 107

Truth 32 Ask for cheese—you might get the moon 111

Truth 33 You lead better when you get off your pedestal 114

Truth 34 Trust is your strongest persuasion tool 118

Truth 35 If they aren’t buying it, they aren’t doing it 121

Truth 36 Overselling an opportunity can cost you precious talent 124

Truth 37 Focusing on what’s right can help solve what’s wrong 128

Truth 38 High performers are motivated by a piece of the action 131

Truth 39 All the generations want the same thing 135

PART V The Truth About Performance

Truth 40 Compassion promotes performance 139

Truth 41 A hot star can brighten your whole team 142

Truth 42 B players are your A team 146

Truth 43 High performers have enough coff ee mugs 149

Truth 44 Discipline deepens engagement 152

Truth 45 You don’t have to inherit the problem employees 155

Truth 46 Performance appraisals are really about you 159

Truth 47 New hires can inspire current employees 162

Truth 48 Terminations are an engagement tool 165

PART VI The Truth About Creativity

Truth 49 Innovation begins with y-e-s 169

Truth 50 Everyone can be creative 172

Truth 51 You stand between inspiration and implementation 176

Truth 52 Failures promote progress 179

Truth 53 People don’t quit their bosses, they quit their colleagues 182

Truth 54 Extreme pressure kills inspired performance 186

Truth 55 Creativity is a balancing act 189

PART VII The Truth About Communication

Truth 56 Open questions ignite inspiring answers 193

Truth 57 Serving your employees means managing your boss 196

Truth 58 Bad news is good news 200

Truth 59 Trivial conversations are essential 203

Truth 60 The way you listen speaks volumes 206

Truth 61 Crap happens 210

Truth 62 Engaged employees need to know more 213

PART VIII The Truth About Teams

Truth 63 Absence makes the employee happier 217

Truth 64 Your team has untapped talent 221

Truth 65 People need to fi ght their own battles 224

Truth 66 Games don’t build teams 228

Truth 67 Answers build teams 231

Truth 68 Your team can lead you to greatness 234

Truth 69 You’re still the boss 237

References 240

About the Author 242

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

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The Truth About Getting the Best From People

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials