GreatWork Blog

Building better workplaces through compliance, culture, connection

At Cascade, we believe deliberate recognition is a sign of a great employer. And when a great employer gets recognized for being outstanding, we’d like to take a moment to congratulate them!

In his program “Happiness is a Serious Problem,” Dennis Prager shares three keys to happiness.

Even very smart people assume that employees are either motivated or not, that no one can change the way they were born and bred. But that’s not true. Leaders listen carefully and probe. They are open to suggestions and build the confidence of others. They keep us informed and challenge us with goals and feedback. They praise our efforts and celebrate our meaningful achievements. They focus on our strengths and let us do what we do best every day.

Decade after decade when supervisors were polled and asked to rank ten dimensions of work in terms of their importance to employees, they guessed wrong. It wasn’t “Good wages,” “Promotion and growth” and “Good working conditions” that employees put at the top. Instead the number one ranked dimension was “Full appreciation for work done,” followed by “Feeling like I’m making a difference.”

According to a recent report from Aon Hewitt, there are three current drivers of employee engagement in the United States. How would your employees rate your organization in these areas? 

The Association’s Board and Staff invite you to an open house honoring Patrice Altenhofen for her years of unsurpassed leadership at Cascade as she hands over the presidential baton to Gayle Klampe.

What makes employees want to do their best? Right at the top of motivators is positive reinforcement, i.e., people who thoughtfully listen to our ideas, recognize our strengths and reward our efforts with appreciation. There are plenty of managers and executives with weak people skills who think beautiful buildings, snazzy perks and fat paychecks will bring out the best in people. They don’t.

Document, document, document. The importance of documentation is typically associated with employee coaching, counseling, and discipline. In theory, employees are judged by their overall work record, but documenting only when employees are not at their best can create a distorted perception.