by Gregg Gregory

Created on: July 12, 2010   Last Updated: July 13, 2010

Motivating With More Than Money The old adage still holds true - people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Sheryl was good mortgage processor - mind you good, not great. Her performance evaluations showed just this. She got the job done with minimum error rates and in a timely manner. She was good.

In the mortgage banking industry it is not uncommon for the end of the month to become hectic especially when the market is good. November can prove to be particularly difficult. With Thanksgiving and Sheryl’s company closing both Thursday and Friday it was a four day weekend. Unfortunately the following Monday was only the 29th of the month and there was a lot to do by the end of the month. Most of the staff arrived in by 8:30 AM and were ready for a long day. After all, the majority were not new to the industry.

About 2:30 PM in the afternoon the office manager Patty went to the Vice President, Elliott, and said, “What should we do about Sheryl?” He looked perplexed and said, “It’s not her birthday, or company anniversary.” Patty then went on to tell him that Sheryl’s daughter was in her elementary school play that night. Elliott immediately said lets find a solution. In a matter of minutes they went out to the bull pen thanked everyone for their hard work and dedication. He then made the announcement, "We are in the midst of greatness. Among us today is a Stage Mother, Sheryl’s daughter Danielle is in her school play tonight and Mom needs to get home early so she can get ready and be front row in the audience."

Sheryl looked up and said, “I have discussed this with Danielle and she knows I have a lot of work to do today and will likely not be there tonight. It is not a big deal she has been in school plays in the past and this is not a big deal.” Everyone looked at Sheryl and said to go home that Elliott never gives anyone time off at the end of the month. She smiled and said she was staying.

After a very long day, Sheryl and Elliott were the last to leave and walked out together that evening at 10:45 PM. On the way home Elliott stopped by a 24 hour pharmacy and bought a thank you card. He went home and wrote out the card and mailed it early the next morning on his way into the office. This was another long day but not nearly as hectic.

As tough as Elliott is on employees at the end of the month, he's a little pussycat at the beginning of the month. Wednesday the workload

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>