EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION
There are two main ways how you can inspire your employees: by changing your own behavior
to be more inspirational, and by creating conditions for your employees that increase their
motivation. Below are some ideas for both techniques.
Become an inspiring person yourself by doing the following:
Be passionate about the goals of the organization, show emotion, and generate
enthusiasm for these in your employees.
Connect with your employees by showing real interest in them and finding out
what motivates and inspires them, and actively looking for their ideas and opinions.
Be somewhat unconventional and take personal risks, by doing things differently
and operating outside normal organizational boundaries and outside your comfort
zone, and letting your employees do the same.
Make sure inspirational moments are succeeded by follow on actions, so your
employees see that you act upon your inspiration.
Be engaging and a team person, and regularly express to your employees it is all
about we and not about I
Become a storyteller who is able to package messages in an appealing form that
captivates employees.
How to motivate employees, too
Create motivational conditions for your employees, by doing the following:
Paint your employees an attractive picture of the future of the organization and
their place in it and provide the rationale why certain goals have to be pursued.
Give your employees interesting and meaningful work that challenges and
vitalizes them. This work should require them to do things differently, with more risk
and uncertainty, which gets them out of their comfort zone.
Set stretch goals for your employees and give them more responsibilities and
freedom to schedule their own work, while including the possibility of setbacks that
they will have to overcome.
Provide your employees with the possibility to get into contact with the
beneficiaries of their work, i.e. the customers, so they can see the results of their
work.
Employee Motivation - The 5 Master Keys for Success
Employee motivation is a mystery for many managers. But, it doesn't have to be. Instead,
understanding how motivation impacts employee performance, and understanding how to use
motivation to improve performance can be reduced to five master keys. Organizations desiring to
improve employee motivation need a system in place that consistently rewards employee
achievements. I'm always surprised how few organizations have such a system.
However, not all employees respond to the same motivations. Each person has his or her own
likes and dislikes, passions, interests and desires. The role of the successful manager is to learn
how to identify what motivates each employee, and learn how to leverage those motives to
simultaneously fulfill the goals of the organization, as well as the goals of each employee.
The five key employee motivation factors include: satisfaction, appreciation, recognition,
inspiration and compensation.
1. Employee Motivation By Building Satisfaction
In their book "The Service Profit Chain," James Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, and Leonard
Schlesinger make a compelling case that regardless your business, the only way to generate
sustained profits is to build a work environment that attracts, focuses, and keeps talented
employees. In other words, they have to be motivated to show up, get committed and perform at
a level of excellence.
Employee motivation as it relates to employees satisfaction is vitally important. And, it goes
way beyond just a "happier workforce." Why?
Because there is an undeniable link between satisfied, motivated employees, and satisfied
customers. In other words, focus on creating satisfied employees, focus on employee motivation,
and those motivated, satisfied employees will take care of your customers.
2. Employee Motivation Through Genuine Appreciation
At times, managers unknowingly sabotage employee motivation by failing to recognize the
positive behaviors and achievements of their employees. As a result, employees don't know
whether or not they are doing a good job.
I recently had an employee of an organization tell me, "The only time we ever hear anything
from management is when we do something wrong!"
Fortunately, savvy managers can improve employee motivation by rewarding employees with
personal attention. This can include a pat on the back, a hand-written note, or a quick comment
in the hall.
When showing appreciation, be specific. Instead of just saying, "We really are grateful for the
good job you do around here," the approach might be, "I really appreciate how you handled the
Franklin Industries account last week when we had to get their rush order out late Friday
afternoon. Your effort really made a difference."
By being specific, the employer comes across as much more sincere, and the employee realizes
their actions are truly being watched. And, a highly level of employee motivation is the natural
result.
3. Employee Motivation Through Recognition
Many people will do for recognition what they will not do for money. And, this is the
manager's secret weapon for employee motivation. Some people are motivated by the
opportunity to get their name on the wall, receive a trophy at an annual banquet, or see their
name in the company newsletter. It gives them an "emotional payoff" for their actions.
Look for ways to increase employee motivation by recognizing excellence in the workplace.
Ring a bell every time an individual or team hits the production target. Put up posters with the
photographs of team members who have had the most days without accidents. Give out awards
for attendance records. Just do something. It is so inexpensive, yet highly effective in your
efforts of employee motivation.
4. Employee Motivation Through Inspiration
Inspiration comes from leadership. This form of employee motivation includes the company's
mission, purpose and goals. People want to be part of an organization that is going somewhere,
that stands for something, and that provides a meaningful service to the marketplace.
If you want to lead an inspired, mission-guided organization, follow these steps and watch
employee motivation improve dramatically.
1. Have a clear mission - in other words, know where you are going.
2. Be excited and passionate about your mission. After all, if you don't get excited, they
won't either.
3. Be able to communicate the mission, it's value to the marketplace. In other words, why
it's worthwhile.
4. Make sure everyone in the organization understands and can communicate the mission.
5. Be sure employees understand how they fit into the process of fulfilling the organization's
mission.
6. Make the connection between the mission and the individual values and goals of your
employees.
7. Keep your mission in front of everyone in the organization.
5. Employee Motivation Through Compensation
Some employees are motivated by money. In fact, most are motivated by money; at least for
their basic needs. Employee motivation through compensation can come in the form of raises,
performance bonuses, commissions, profit sharing, or any number of "extra benefits" like,
automobiles, vacations, or other tangible items purchased and used as rewards.
I noticed an interesting program in a hotel where I recently stayed. They have a sophisticated
system for rewarding employees based on customer feedback. Throughout the hotel, they have
placed customer feedback forms and boxes for depositing the forms. When customers comment
on the performance of a hotel employee, the employee accumulates points that can be used to
purchase rewards like trips, gifts, and other incentives.
Taking Action On Employee Motivation
Whatever the chosen method, it is important to have a system in place that builds employee
motivation. Not every person is motivated by the same factor, or combination of factors.
Offering all five - satisfaction, appreciation, recognition, inspiration and compensation insures
that the organization has something to contribute to the motivation of each employee.
INTERPERSONAL VS. INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICT
when you find yourself the repeated focus of confusing, and perhaps unpleasant, interactions
with a member of the congregation, rather than having a straightforward interpersonal conflict,
you may be a stand-in in the persons intrapersonal conflict.
Through the process of projective identification, a person who has a rejected part of the self may
project that onto another person and then continue their relationship with that part of the self
through their interactions with the person. The most complicated aspect of this is when the
recipient of the projection actually resonates in some way with this role and unconsciously plays
out the drama with the person.
The role of pastor is often evocative of projections because the role itself holds strong meaning
for people. One of the common projections is of parent where the intra-psychic struggle is about
being loveable, acceptable or dependent. You may sense a person's need for approval and
unconditional care-giving on one end of the spectrum or the need to put you down with constant
criticism in an effort to win the parent-child style of power struggle on the other end of the
spectrum. Other common projections are of pastor as judge or gatekeeper, standing between a
person and God.
The main thing to keep in mind is to respond to these projections with consciousness about your
response. Sometimes it is appropriate to respond from within the role, if you choose to, such as
being "the face of love" as a person shows you just how unlovable they feel with their negative
behavior. Other times, it is more appropriate to let the projection fall flat and not pick it up as
much as the person wants you to. For example, when a person tosses you the "hot potato" of
being judgmental, and in fact you may even feel judgmental, you could choose to focus on
communicating clearly about your boundaries with expectations about how you are treated so
that you can continue in a healthy relationship with them. Here you have recognized the
projection, chosen not to play out the drama of judgment and rejection, but rather offered a clear
and healthier expectation. Recognizing when you are dealing with some ones intra-psychic
conflict can help you to choose your best response.
ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
Organisational politics is a working scenario whereby an individual uses the power they have
been given or the power that is associated with the authority they hold, to get advantages from
co-workers. Majorly this is aimed at achieving personal agendas and not an organisation's
agenda.
ll organisations are subject to conflict and competition between the desires and interests of
different departments, teams and individuals. Organisational politics refers to the processes
through which these rival interests are played out and eventually reconciled. While in an ideal
organisation it may be hoped that decisions are made on a rational basis, politics is inherently
non-rational and subject to power interactions between diverse interests. Members of an
organisation are at the same time cooperating to achieve a common goal and competing for
rewards, and at times their personal interests may be at odds with the organisation's objectives.
It is through the political system of an organisation that rival interests are resolved. This system
represents how power is applied and distributed in the organisation. Understanding the political
system of an organisation is necessary for a leader to operate effectively and reach their goals. A
leader, exercising power, is able to have a strong influence on the political climate of an
organisation through their decisions, their way of handling conflict and providi
ng recognition, support and inspiration to their teams.
Negative organisational politics may be very destructive for an organisation. This has been
identified as one of the major sources of stress within modern businesses. Negative politics
includes the use of subversive methods to promote a personal agenda which may undermine
organisational objectives, distract energy away from organisational goals and compromise the
interests, cooperation and fulfilment of other employees. Such tactics may include filtering or
distortion of information, non-cooperation, allocating blame, reprisals, dishonesty,
obstructionism and threats.
Impression management is another aspect of organisational politics that it is important to
maintain an awareness of. The term refers to techniques of self-presentation where a person may
purposefully control the information they put forward about themselves or their ideas to create a
favourable impression. For the leader this implies that everything may not always be as it
appears. Studies have indicated that people using impression management may be more
favourably rated by their supervisors than others. On the other hand, being aware of the
impression you are creating should be considered in building support for your own goals. The
extent to which impression management is applied is an ethical question that relates to a leaders
credibility and integrity.
Often, political behaviour and manoeuvring within an organisation is caused by uncertainty
[1]
,
such as unclear objectives, poorly defined decisions, competition and change. A leader's
influence may be used to smother a political climate that promotes such negative politics.
By promoting a positive culture that values integrity, respect and fairness within their team, the
leader is able to channel people's interests and energy away from negative political interplay and
towards an alignment with organisation objectives. Allowing team members to express their
interests and demonstrating a commitment to support individual needs integrates their fulfilment
into the work organisation and promotes the positive resolution of political conflicts.
