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.That idea has alot of merit.I ll bring it up at the manager s conference in two weeksand will also check with IT about what that would require from atechnical standpoint.Please call on me if you have questions about following this policy orany others in the future.Regards,Buck MuellerCommunicating with Employees: MoraleWhen times are tough, employee morale can droop.Your job as aleader is to communicate with employees in a clear, direct way sothey feel motivated to continue working hard.Using a metaphor ora story can be effective in engaging the audience s emotions.Greatcoaches, teachers, and military commanders understand the powerof a vivid story to raise spirits and motivate top performance.As we already discussed, motivating others also requires deliv-ering a message that is in alignment with their values.That mightmean making an appeal linked to their belief in God, to their concernor commitment to their family, to their patriotism, or to their fears.However, in most business settings, these are not appropriate waysto generate motivation.Instead, your message might appeal to thereaders logic, reason, or sense of fairness.You might appeal to sat-isfying their ego needs to be a winner, gain recognition, get more re-sponsibility, or be seen as a leader.Or you could play upon theirdesire to achieve or display excellence in their work life.Sometimesa motivational message aimed at improving morale can be based onthe shared desire among all employees to remove an unpleasant ordangerous situation. 6749ch04.qxp_lb 11/9/07 3:07 PM Page 167Chapter 4 The Practice 167Some managers realize that at times you can motivate employ-ees by tapping into dysfunctional behaviors and attitudes.Most peo-ple have some emotional baggage, and many of us hear tapesplaying in our head where mommy or daddy is telling us we needto be better, we need to try harder, we need to hurry up, or we needto stop sniveling and be tough.Tapping into these dysfunctionalmotivations is extremely risky.You may get what you want in theshort term, but you may also trigger behaviors in the co-dependentemployee that have profoundly negative consequences.Here s an example of a message sent by an HR manager, tryingto address disappointment and anger among employees overchanges to the company s healthcare benefits.It combines an appealto logic with an appeal to removing a dangerous situation in an ef-fort to improve employees attitudes toward the new benefit offering.Subject: Your concerns about the new healthcare planFellow employees,Last month we announced a change in our healthcare provider anda restructuring of the healthcare benefits.I have received many ques-tions and comments about the change, and many of you have ex-pressed concern that the new plan has a higher co-pay and a slightlyhigher monthly premium than our old plan.Both facts are true, but we are very optimistic that in the long run thenew plan will save us a lot of money so that employee contributionscan go down and the co-pay can be adjusted downward as well.Letme explain why and what you can do to make it happen.The old planThe difference in our new plan compared to our old one is that the oldone was traditional healthcare insurance provided by an outside com-pany, while our new plan is a self-insured model.Under the old plan,our insurance carrier took a snapshot of our employees and their stateof health, then used its experience to set our premiums.At the end ofthe year, if all of us did a good job of staying healthy and staying outof the medical system, it didn t do us any good.The premiums stayedcontinued 6749ch04.qxp_lb 11/9/07 3:07 PM Page 168168 The Language of Successin the insurance company s pocket.Over the past few years, premiumshave escalated much faster than the rate of inflation in fact, fasterthan the rate of almost anything else in the economy.To stay competi-tive against overseas manufacturers, we have to keep total operatingcosts down.But we are committed to doing it in a responsible, fair way.The new planUnder our new plan, we are paying doctors, hospitals, and other caregivers directly.Our insurance provider only starts to pay if our costsare much higher than expected.Then they kick in to prevent us fromincurring a major financial loss.What this means is that the premiumswe are putting toward healthcare coverage stay with us if we don tuse them.The healthier we are, the less we pay, both as individualsand as a company.Wellness as a way of lifeOne important difference between our old plan and the new one, besidesthe self-insurance aspect, is the new focus on wellness.Staying healthywill have a bottom-line impact on us and our company.As a result, weare investing heavily in promoting healthy lifestyles.We will sponsorsmoking cessation workshops; stress reduction programs; and activemanagement of chronic conditions, including diabetes, obesity, asthma,and many more.The result will be fewer health-related problems, lowertotal costs, and a much higher quality of life for most of us.I know that providing quality healthcare coverage for your familymatters to you.But I want you to know that it matters to all of us, be-cause we are all members of the Atkinson Wire family.Please givethe new program a chance to work.Please participate in any and allactivities that will promote wellness.And please share with me anyideas you may have about improving our healthcare benefit whilekeeping a lid on costs.Please call on me if you have questions about following this policy orany others in the future.Best wishes for healthy living (so we can all enjoy reduced costs),Sarah FeinsteinDirector of Employee Benefits 6749ch04.qxp_lb 11/9/07 3:07 PM Page 169Chapter 4 The Practice 169Communicating with Suppliers: ResponsivenessEvery business depends on vendors and suppliers to provide goodsand services.Motivating those outsiders to give us their best qual-ity materials and effort can be a tough challenge.If you represent amajor account, they re likely to be responsive.But if you re not ahuge account or if they ve had your business for many years, theymay take the relationship for granted
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