Battling for the Hearts and Minds of Our Employees
January 25 , 2010 by Mark Allen
A sawmill in the Sacramento area struggles with its employee issues. After years of safety problems, challenges with work performance, and negative attitudes, a recent decision at their corporate office sends a senior plant manager to Northern California, to turn things around. His name is Donnie Macdonald.
I met with Donnie just last week, to discuss ways to change employee attitudes and work habits. He told me these exact words, “We are battling for the hearts and minds of our employees, for the culture of our organization.” He went on to say how he had used the Marlin Employee Communications Service down South at his previous plant in Tempe, Arizona. And, he had watched first hand, as it become part of the pattern of positive change, especially when using actual photographs of his own employees. He asked me, ” Don’t you think all through history posters have played an important part in shifting culture?”
Popularity: 7% [?]
January 26, 2010
Tags: culture of the plant, employee attitudes and work habits, employee communications service, employee issues, minds of our employees, Northern California, sacramento, the marlin company, workplace digital signage, workplace posters Posted in: Communication, Leadership 
No Comments
Employees Rally around American Heart Month
January 22 , 2009 by Mark Allen
Here are ideas for the upcoming month’s Custom Employee Posters. Login to your Marlin account and upload your own staff photos, adding your own words, or borrow from text ideas below.
February is American Heart Month
Cardiovascular diseases are our nation’s No. 1 killer. To urge Americans to join the battle against these diseases, Congress has required the President, since 1963 to proclaim February “American Heart Month.” Read the rest of this post »
Popularity: 11% [?]
January 23, 2010
Tags: american heart month, brand creative, custom poster, employee posters, employees, mark allen, the marlin company Posted in: Communication No Comments
Create a Saint Patrick’s Day Celebration…
January 15, 2010
…as a reward for your employees or your clients. Saint Patrick’s day is the first major holiday of the spring season and instantly lends itself to a fun theme party that everyone can enjoy.
Popularity: 10% [?]
January 15, 2010
Posted in: Leadership No Comments
The Secret to Workplace Motivation: Autonomy + Mastery + Purpose
January 13 , 2009 by Mark Allen
In this short video, social scientist Dan Pink blows away conventional wisdom about workplace rewards. Bonuses, commissions, and incentives are all intended to sharpen employee thinking and accelerate creativity. However, we find for many tasks so called incentives create quite the opposite effect.
“As long as the task involved only MECHANICAL skill, bonuses work as they would be expected, Read the rest of this post »
Popularity: 13% [?]
January 13, 2010
Tags: mark allen, rewarding employees, the marlin company, workplace communication expert, workplace motivation, workplace rewards Posted in: Leadership No Comments
Engaging Gen Y employees with Better Workplace Communication
January 11 , 2009 by Mark Allen
Common symptoms of poor communication in the workplace may include lack of teamwork,
reduced productivity, lower sales and performance, lower customer satisfaction, increased accidents and much more. With thousands of companies going out of business and millions of people recently laid off, now is a good time for every company to evaluate their centerpiece of business success… workplace communication.
Studies show workers today need more communication, expect more validation, and rely on collaboration more than ever. According to Wikipedia, “Generation Y is marked by an increased use and familiarity with communications, media and digital technologies …expression and acceptance is highly important to this generation.”
Considering all of the communications technologies in the workplace, possibly the most under-utilized is workplace digital signage. It is also the most misunderstood. According to an earlier post on this blogsite, 45% of digital signage today consists simply of a Read the rest of this post »
Popularity: 11% [?]
January 12, 2010
Tags: content management, employee communication, mark allen, minimum screen size, the marlin company, training webinar, workplace communication, workplace communications expert, workplace digital signage Posted in: Communication No Comments
Mobile Marketing
January 8, 2010 by Shannon Pedder
Mobile and Promotional Marketing are joining forces to help you build an even more powerful marketing campaign. Communication has turned more and more towards text messaging and you are going to see a tremendous amount of forward movement in Mobile Marketing in 2010.
Popularity: 12% [?]
January 9, 2010
Tags: cell phone, messaging, mobile marketing, mobile message, promotional marketing, text message Posted in: Leadership 2 Comments
New Study: 55% of US workers saying “can’t stand my job”. Is Workplace Communication a cause?
January 4, 2009 by Mark Allen
JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer, in Yahoo News states today, that US job satisfaction levels are lowest on record. How much of this could be changed by the way we communicate in our workplaces?
Even Americans who are lucky enough to have work in this economy are becoming more unhappy with their jobs, according to a new survey that found only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their work. That was the lowest level ever recorded by the Conference Board research group Read the rest of this post »
Popularity: 12% [?]
January 5, 2010
Tags: Job satisfaction, mark allen, workplace communication Posted in: Communication, Leadership No Comments
Brace Yourself for Return of the Job Market
December 23, 2009 by Mark Allen
Employees read performance updates
According to an article yesterday in the Chicago Tribune, “…about half of U.S. workers are likely to try to change jobs next year.” For managers responsible for hiring, training or keeping employees engaged in the workplace this is should sound an alarm.
For most of us, the last two years have included the most dramatic budget cuts we’ve seen in our lifetime, certainly taking a toll on those line items your CFO may call “soft expenses”. So, now is the time to create a new urgency in your management meetings, to “Get employee engagement on top of the priority list!” If you have reduced employee hours or benefits, review those. If you are Read the rest of this post »
Popularity: 16% [?]
December 23, 2009
Tags: Digital Signage Association, employee engagement, job market, keeping employees engaged, management meetings, workplace Posted in: Communication, Leadership No Comments
Your Happiness ‘Wake-up Call’
Dec 8, 2009 by Ona Lage
Happiness is a state of mind. 
Happiness depends more on one’s disposition and outlook rather than the acquirement of temporary comforts, possessions or position.
In 1996, a study was done by psychologist David Lykken to determine the role our genes played in determining one’s sense of happiness. He gathered and compared data of 4,000 sets of twins (identical and fraternal) who were born in Minnesota from 1936-1955. His conclusion: about 50% of one’s Read the rest of this post »
Popularity: 19% [?]
December 9, 2009
Tags: autonomy, connected, Dan Pink, goal setting, Happiness, identifying, mastery, more engaged, Ona lage, pleasure, purpose, reward, sensory experiences, strengths Posted in: Communication, Recognition, Self Development No Comments
Survey of 5 million workers released. Any surprises?
November 30, 2009 by Mark Allen
Just this month, Watson Wyatt released their survey of 328 companies from around the world representing nearly 5 million workers. Straight from the report:
• Effective employee communication is a leading indicator of financial performance and a driver of employee engagement. Companies that are highly effective communicators had 47% total higher returns to shareholders over the last five years compared with firms that are the least effective communicators.
• Measurement is critical. Companies that are less effective communicators are three times as likely as highly effective communicators to report having no formal measure of communication effectiveness.
Get the full scoop here: 2009/10 communication ROI study.
Popularity: 17% [?]
November 30, 2009
Tags: efffective communication, employee communication, employee engagement, workers Posted in: Communication, Leadership No Comments
