The Clifton Review 

The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.

While the 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story, his incredible business success over these past fifty years and an inside look at how he did it, The Clifton Review will also continue to address current affairs as they relate to the good of The Bahamas.

Why All Of These Key Factors Matter

By P.J. Malone

There is a reason that employee engagement is such a challenge for many companies. A part of the challenge is that companies seek to address low employee engagement issues with isolated solutions, which then fail to motivate employees.

Key factors that we previously shared for motivating employees to help business leaders reach their business goals cannot be implemented superficially or they will fail to have the desired effect. As a reminder, they are as follows:

• Treat employees like ‘employee-partners’
• Make employees feel valued
• Keep in mind WIIFM (What’s in it for me?)
• Empower your employees
• Involve employees in a significant way
• Give employees the tools to succeed

If you reviewed these key factors for motivating employees to work toward specific business goals, and had the thought ‘I already do some of these things in my company’, here’s the question: Has it worked for you? If the answer is ‘no,’ here’s what you need to know.

These factors work in combination with each other. In this case, the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. So unless you do all of the things on the list, and do them in a meaningful way, none of the things on the list will have the needed impact and here’s why.

It’s all of these things together that create the right impression in the minds of employees. Remember, employees judge everything you do as business leaders. They think about it as either good for them or not good for them because each of those things reinforces the others.

And unfortunately, the reality doesn’t matter. Perception is reality and that is the reason that not doing even one can negate the positive impact of doing any of the others.

For example, when you treat employees like ‘employee-partners’ by continuously sharing your vision, telling them the company’s direction, and updating them on changes, they feel in the loop and not lost. However, if they don’t feel valued, sharing the company’s vision means nothing to them.

Also, if you involve employees in company activities and even decision making, if you don’t empower them, then it doesn’t matter that they are involved.

Something as simple as giving them the tools to succeed, if not handled effectively, can give the impression that you don’t care enough to help them succeed.

And that’s the bottom line. Employees want to feel as equals, as important, as valued and feel like you care about them. If business leaders don’t do all of these things together, employees won’t feel like you genuinely care about them. Doing one or two things, and not the others, does not convince employees that you are ‘for real’.

The reason fashion mogul Peter Nygard has inspired such loyalty over 50 years and can so easily motivate his employees to help him achieve his business goals is because he does all of these things in concert and he demonstrates his caring.

We will explain each of these key factors in more detail and show how Peter Nygard does each of these things to motivate his associates. We will also show you how to use these key factors to improve employee engagement within your organizations.