The principles of a ‘bank’ can be applied to most aspects of interaction with poeple.
Let me explain:

• A bank is a place to keep valuable things
• You have an account just for you
• You can ‘pay’ into a bank
• You can ‘withdraw’ from a bank
• Your account can go overdrawn
• Your account can also be closed
• If you don’t manage your account well you can end up with bad credit

 
So how does this apply to your staff?
 
Your staff has what I call a ‘loyalty bank’. They start working for you with little or no credit. As they progress in their career, this changes due to some factors. Some you can influence, others you can’t.
 
You ‘pay’ into their loyalty bank when you

• Make them feel part of the team
• Value their opinion
• At the end of the day say ‘thank you for your hard work today’
• Even little things like – make them a coffee out of the blue
• Showing that you care about their wellbeing

 
You ‘withdraw’ from their loyalty bank when you,
 

• Run over in surgery at lunchtime and they only have 20min to eat their lunch
• You have a bad day and take it out on them
• Due to the current climate you can only give them a small pay rise or no pay rise at all.
• Ask them to do something that their colleagues should have done

 
The act of withdrawing from the bank is perfectly normal and is part of day to day life, the problem arises when the account has reached zero and you go overdrawn. You run the risk of the account being closed and getting ‘bad credit’.
 
Staff get demotivated and start talking between themselves…
“Why should we be doing all of this?”
“It’s not in my job description”
“I only get paid until 5pm”
 
How you ‘pay’ into their account is up to you and will suit your own management style and personality. It’s a powerful way of thinking.
 
Remember to start ‘saving’ for the times you will need to make a big withdrawal, because the day will come!