Here's how to get the employees you want

Have you ever tried to change somebody? Spouse, maybe? How’d that work out for you?

In the movie Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey’s character was granted god-like powers. In this scene with Jennifer Aniston, he learns the big limitation of his power: He can’t change free will. He can’t just force her character to fall in love with him again.

Don’t worry, I’m not getting all mushy on you. The point is that changing other people — although not impossible with enough love, patience, acceptance, inspiration, etc. — is difficult.

You will irritate yourself and go nuts trying to mold your employees into the people you want them to be. If you find yourself complaining about several (or many) of them, and wishing they would just work harder, take the initiative and so on, then you know exactly the kind of irritation I’m talking about.

How do you get the employees that you want? Take the following two steps, in order:

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