Utilizing the power of acknowledgment to motivate and inspire the workforce

I’m convinced we have a real leadership crisis in corporate America today. Business schools have done a great job of teaching people how to manage, but we need leaders. We need to stop managing people the same way we manage process or equipment. We need people who can motivate and inspire the workforce to step up and perform at their best. What we have today is a culture where 65 percent of American workers — executives and manual laborers — say they would rather work with a better boss than get a raise. To be honest, that statistic blows my mind, which is one of the reasons it was a topic of discussion in a recent Forbes column.

I think it’s time that more business leaders, in small and large organizations, step up to the plate and quit talking about how culture is important and start putting their money where their mouth is. Business is personal. We should embrace that rather than fight it. It might be uncomfortable at first, but it’s well worth the effort.

What are you doing to acknowledge your employees?