The top 10 ways to keep your best employees motivated in today's taxing times.

10. Recognize good work and do it every day. (Napoleon said, “I cannot get people to die for money, but I can get them to die for a ribbon.”)
9. Communicate, communicate, communicate. (Good news or bad, it doesn't matter, but, if you don’t keep them in the loop, they will make up their own stories/reasons.)
8. Find out what activities your people like to do and give them more of it.
7. Find ways to make work fun. (Yes, hard work can be fun too.)
6. Give them more to do. (Keep things interesting and stretch them to grow.)
5. Make sure you do not have dumb rules.
4. Hire great people and let them do their jobs.
3. Whatever is scarce has value and the scarcest thing today is time. (Use this to your advantage.)
2. Ask them what they need to do their jobs better, easier, faster and figure out how to give it to them.
1. Get rid of marginal or underperforming employees who are not carrying their weight. (The ones who, once terminated, will cause everyone to ask: “What took you so long?”)