AxTenk Blog

 Balanced funds aim for three things: income, growth of capital, and stability of principal. They do this by buying a mixture of stocks, bonds, and money market instruments. They differ from asset allocation and target funds in that the manager doesn’t ask you whether you’re conservative or trying to retire in 2045. Consequently, these portfolios are not going to become more conservative as you age, nor more aggressive because you’re a thrill seeker. The fund manager will decide on the mix of assets based on what he or she believes to be most prudent at the time. This can make these funds more profitable than target-date funds.
Risk: Moderate
Potential for capital appreciation: Moderate
Potential for current income: Mixed

 Target-date funds are somewhat like asset allocation funds; however, the mix of their assets will vary based on the date the fund is set to “mature.” These are frequently designed for retirement portfolios. Investors would thus pick the maturity date that most closely corresponds to the year they plan to retire, whether that’s 2010 or 2040. The mix of assets in the 2010 fund, which is obviously for an older investor, will be far more conservative than the mix of assets in the 2040 fund. However, the mix will change as the target date nears. These are quickly becoming a favorite in company 401(k) plans because tax laws encourage companies to offer these funds and make them the default options for people who fail to choose an investment mix.
Risk: Mixed
Potential for capital appreciation: Varies
Potential for current income: Varies

    Aggressive growth funds usually consist of stocks in small, fast-growing companies. Most of these companies do not pay dividends, and their stock prices are highly volatile.
Risk: Very high
Potential for capital appreciation: Very high
Potential for current income: Low
    Asset allocation funds are often called “funds of funds” because they purchase shares in an array of different types of mutual funds—stock, bond, money market, and international, for example—in order to completely diversify an investor’s holdings. The concept behind asset allocation funds is that one fund can be enough for your entire portfolio. Often, you’re given the ability to choose between “aggressive”, “conservative” or “moderate” allocations, depending on your age and ability to tolerate risks.
Risk: Mixed
Potential for capital appreciation: Moderate
Potential for current income: Mixed

The Power of Positive Feedback
The key to motivating employees is to remember how natural it is to want and need recognition. If we don’t receive recognition for what we do at work, we will put our energy into seeking it elsewhere—often to the detriment of our job responsibilities.
Fortunately, there are many ways to recognize employees and improve their performance. Here are three:
1.    Remember that an employee’s performance is never absolutely consistent. Like everyone, he or she has good and not-so-good days. Be alert to those times when an employee is performing at an above-average level, and provide rapid recognition for such performance.
2.    Offer positive feedback on the things the employee does well. An employee’s job is normally made up of a series of small tasks and some of these tasks will be done better than others.
3.    Recognize a person’s talents or strengths that are not directly related to the job. An employee who is only an average performer might consistently arrive early, be good at orienting new employees, or keep his or her workspace clean and orderly. Your job is to reinforce the habit of excellence with positive recognition wherever you see it.

A manager’s direct actions toward his or her employees often have the strongest effect on their motivation. Here are some recommendations:
1) Share your expectations.
2) Be fair.
3) Involve employees in goal-setting.
4) Keep employees informed.
5) Listen to employees.
By listening actively, you not only communicate to the employee the fact that you care about him or her, but you also obtain new information. You discover what works or doesn’t work—and why. You locate problems and solicit suggestions for solving them. When you help spread helpful information to other levels of management, you improve the organization as a whole. Also, The listener can steer the conversation by interjecting, posing questions, stopping the speaker, ending the conversation, or allowing it to continue. Listeners have the power.
6) Consult employees about decisions that affect them.
7) Delegate appropriately.
Avoid over-supervising employees.
9) Conduct career-development sessions with the employees.
10) Provide honest ongoing recognition for tasks well done.

Providing Positive Recognition
The way that you recognize employees is also very important. General compliments such as, “You did a good job” or “I’m proud of your improvement” are not in fact the best motivators. Here are some suggestions that really work:
1) Describe the importance of genuine, specific, and positive feedback.
You can add meaning to a compliment by emphasizing why what was done is important. The opportunity for high-impact recognition is lost if you say only, “You did a good job,” because you aren’t being specific and you haven’t said why positive performance is important. You need to explain:
 Why the performance is important to the employee
 Why it is important to the section, department, or organization
 Why it is important to you as the leader
2) Build employee confidence.
3) Track progress and head off problems.
4) Express appreciation.

The organization’s policies and procedures significantly affect employee motivation. The suggestions below can prevent many problems that hinder morale:
1) Make the value of organizational benefits clear.
2) Enhance opportunities for salary increases for deserving employees.
3) Encourage technological growth.
4) Help your employees make a difference in the organization.
The basic question that must be answered and communicated to your employees is this: “How does each person’s contribution affect the organization’s success?”
Do your people clearly know how their jobs help make the organization prosperous? It makes no difference if the end result is a product or a service; your employees must feel that what they do or don’t do makes a real difference. Your job as a leader is to determine the relationship between employees’ jobs and the organization’s final output— and then to share this information with each employee.
5) Make sure that co-workers are friendly and supportive.
6) Arrange acceptable working hours.
7) Provide good physical working conditions.
Help employees obtain deserved promotions.

How To Be fair to Employees.
Keep in mind these basic principles:
    A leader simply cannot treat everybody the same. People are different and they have different needs. As manager, you should give each employee what he or she seems to need at the time, without playing favorites. Playing favorites to meet your needs is, in fact, discrimination.
    It’s usually good practice to communicate the rationale to the group when you are giving particular individuals what looks like preferential treatment. Don’t get trapped by the employee’s argument “Well, you did it for Mary. Why can’t you do it for me?” Mary has different needs, and different needs require different treatment.
    When resources are limited, rotate or use the laws of probability to determine who gets a desired resource. Flip a coin, draw straws, or pull slips of paper out of a box to find out who will receive a desired assignment, who must work overtime, or who has to cover the phones on Christmas or Hanukkah.
    Rules and policies are created to help make jobs easier, but sometimes you will have to change them in order to be truly fair in specific circumstances.