Helpful Hints For Motivating Employees

Use the FOCUS acronym in this worksheet to help you help your employees align their priorities to fit the
organization's needs.

F - - - - Factor the organization's needs

The organization's needs are stated in the vision, so you should use the vision statement as a guide when you
factor the organization's needs into your priorities.
The organization's vision statement communicates it's reason for existence. If the vision is ''to guarantee the
highest quality products for our customers,'' then one of your priorities might be to strive always to keep the
customers in mind as you perform your work.

O - - - - Offer support to the organization

As a leader in an organization, you are expected to commit to its ideals and purpose. You offer support to the
organization by doing the following:

 Modeling the organization's standards for your employees

 Accepting responsibility for your leadership role
 Conducting yourself in a professional manner

C - - - - Choose to influence others positively

It is important to make your best efforts to influence others positively when helping them to align their priorities to
fit the organization's needs. You influence others positively when you are an enthusiastic participant in the
organization and when you show employees trust, respect, and appreciation of them. As a leader, you must
remember that your employees will observe how you conduct yourself and you must choose to make a positive
influence on your employees.

U - - - - Unify through excellence in ethics

Leaders who exemplify excellence in ethics unify their employees because employees want to be a part of an
ethical organization. Members of an organization believe that if the organization is ethical, it will respect the
individuals in the organization. Your organization has placed you in a position of leadership, which means they
trust your ability to handle your responsibilities with integrity and ethical behavior.

S - - - - Sharpen time management skills

Another way to help your employees align their priorities to fit the organization's needs is to sharpen your time-
management skills and train them to do the same. As you help your employees sharpen time-management skills,
you may want to consider the following guidelines for time-management:

 Analyze how you and your employees currently use time

 Determine whether any tasks are nonessential or inappropriate
 Decide which tasks you can delegate to others, then delegate them
 Analyze how to improve how you perform your essential tasks