Personnelity counts

It seems like in every magazine I read, and every blog, there's a lot of talk about how companies can make it in the long run .. how to keep that spark and enthusiasm that a new employee has, all through their time at the company.

It's great to be motivated- after all, it's your business, your division, your (pardon my language)- your ass on the line. How do you spread that enthusiasm to every person in the company? There are several ways to approach this; many of which are widely used, and fewer, and the more effective ones, that aren't so prevalent.

One way that seems so obvious is one that I'm not sure is being used too much. Hire great people. I interviewed a bunch of people in my last job, and it was hard to tell when someone was genuinely interested in a position, or whether they were just interviewing because they needed a job and a paycheck. One question that I always asked was "what motivates you?" I think that's a really important and insightful piece of information to know about someone. I've been interviewing a lot for jobs recently and haven't once been asked that question. I think it's important to get to know someone before they join your company- and it's the interviewer that should be asking those questions.

I read an article that stated that most employees only spend 30-40 percent of their time actually doing work. That's a ridiculously low percentage and companies need to do more to increase it. One way is to offer incentives, but if you hire the right people in the first place, you can ensure that they are more likely to work well above 40% of their time, and that they see the company as being just as important as you do.

Oh- this has nothing to do with marketing or innovation, as is the scope of this blog- I've been reading about it so much and felt strongly about it, so thought that justified a post.