If you ask ten employees how you could best ensure their loyalty, the answer from nine would no doubt be a resounding: RAISE, PLEASE! It’s true that in this day and age, employees feel that the only thing that should bind them to their employer is the promise of a higher paycheck or a job with greater responsibilities. This is in part due to what is surely a lack of inspirational managers nationwide, but is also attributable to the decline in what consultants call ‘internal marketing’ – efforts that attempt to elicit loyalty from employees.

Human relations consultants agree that two of the best ways to instill employee loyalty are through comprehensive training and through the establishment of an collegial corporate culture. Oddly enough, both of these methods of increasing employee loyalty can be far more economical than just doling out Christmas bonuses, when you consider that video has the power not only to teach but to instill values and inspire. Training videos are the most cost-effective tool for any small-to medium-sized company where employees have basic competencies in their respective positions. They require an instructor to instruct once on video as opposed to ad infinitum for each ‘training session,’ and can be watched by employees when they are off the clock. And as far as building corporate culture is concerned, videos showcasing the highlights of the company’s achievement – cheesy sports music and all – will remind employees that they are doing good work for a company so unique as yours.

Yet if you’re going to implement either or both of these two strategies to improve employee loyalty at your business, you’re going to need to hire someone familiar with corporate video production. These are often the same firms that will produce your television commercials, etc, who will generally produce training and/or ‘internal marketing’ (read: propaganda) videos for a fraction of the price of a commercial, and for less than it would cost you to produce in-house. Besides, if you really want to improve employees’ respect for your company, why do a shotty job of trying to convince them you’re worthy of their respect by producing some thrown-together piece of video garbage made in-house on an iMac? Shell out a couple thousand bucks for better-educated employees with higher morale; you’ll be glad you did, and so will your employees, when they see that you care enough about their career development to allow them to ‘train on their own time.’

Tags: corporate video production

Being a sports nut, particularly NFL football, I was reading an interview of a world class golfer, who is consistently rated in the top 10, in ESPN, The Magazine. The column itself is full of unusual and wise guy type questions and is quite humorous.

The interviewer was asking the golfer what his favorite pass time was other than golf. Well the person being interviewed(interviewee)went on to say that he loved to listen to bands with great guitar players. For a guy not even 35 years old yet, he went on to mention some guitar players names that are not from his generation. Who did he mention? Jimmy Page was the first one he mentioned, along with Eric Clapton, Wes Montgomery, Eric Johnson and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Great taste for a young guy.

I though his choices were quite intriguing and convincing. During the interview, the interviewer asked the interviewee what sport, job or activity required the highest level of skill. Shockingly, he answered guitar players. He said that as an avid listener of people who play the guitar, in his opinion, they were the most talented and skilled specialists of all. Apparently he is a guitar player with average chops at best.

To put it mildly, this golfer had the ability and is alert enough to understand what it takes to be considered the cream of the crop. He recognized that the amount of practice time and being coached well and in general, all have the same paradigms when it comes to becoming the best at anything. His personal experience tells him that it takes just as much dedication and loyalty to be a great guitar player as it does to become great at any sport, occupation or hobby.

But he felt that guitar players were the most gifted. He felt guitarists were clearly the most hard working and brilliant wonders in the world. It is a great analogy, guitarists have practice strategies and techniques, that like any sport, require intense repitetion and undivided focus with the ability to practice adnauseam to become really good at it.

Don’t sell guitar players short. Most of us will never make much of a living at it, usually without benefits. It stinks, we work just as hard and maybe longer to develop our skills, too. Shouldn’t we get payed well also? Enjoy.

Tags: guitar players