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Easy Read Magazine on critical management and leadership issues
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Achieve Performance Bi-Monthly Development Magazine
Issue 1 Motivation Feb-Mar 2009
78
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Motivated People Perform
We all know that motivated people perform.
Then why do we have loads of de-motivated
people in the UK workplace.
HR consultancy firm
Right Management,
surveyed workers from
six different countries,
found the UK
workforce to be the
most lacking in
motivation. Less than a
third of the UK
workforce claims to be
fully engaged at work.
A third of our employees are underperforming.
How motivated are your employees? You know
they are fully motivated because your Team
Leaders have told you so. Two questions: One
would they know a motivated employee if they
saw one? Two are they giving you only the
information they think you want to hear?
Here are the 8 key scary questions to ask, if you
really want to know if your staff are motivated.
• Do my employees know our primary aim
• What stops my employees performing
• What really motivates my staff
• Do employees feel empowered
• Have recent changes effected motivation
• How do employees feel about the company
• Are employees involved in decisions
• Is the internal image of the company
consistent with the external image
Honest answers are needed, sometimes it can be
empowering to get someone independent to ask
the questions, be brave and accept candid
feedback as a golden opportunity to put things
right.
Recognising Motivation
We would all like to think we are great leaders,
our staff are motivated and we know this
because we asked the 8 scary questions 4 months
ago. Your staff’s motivation changes, just like
yours, sometimes because of events at work,
sometimes because of events outside work. Yes
employees do have lives away from work.
So what do motivated staff Look like? We and our
Team Leaders must know what a motivated employee
looks like. It would be easy if everyone came into
work all giving big Hi-5’s, but life’s not like that. As a
young army NCO I always remember being told “it’s a
soldier’s prerogative to complain, worry when they
stop.” With this in mind some simple pointers for
recognising motivation remains high.
• Staff/Team members freely volunteer effort and
ideas
• Always react well to requests and assignments
• Work beyond expectations
• They appear happy at work
• Respond frankly to questions
• Feel able to ask questions
Maintaining Happy, Motivated and
Performing Employees
So now we have happy motivated employees, job
done. Not quite, we must now maintain motivation.
“That’s easy give them more money”, I hear you say,
but is that what really motivates our staff? Fredrick
Hertzberg found that the main workplace motivators
are a sense of achievement, recognition, the work
itself, responsibility, advancement and personal
growth, in that order.
To achieve motivation we
must celebrate and
recognise the successes of
our employees. Have an
effective incentive
programme that is not just
money based, also it should
be open, transparent,
reflects the Organisations
values and recognises that
different people value
things differently. Also
hand out lots of praise and
don’t forget to say thank
you.
A primary way we can motivate our staff in today’s
climate is by developing them. A good development
programme can achieve all of Fredrick Hertzberg’s
Motivators. There is a lot of funding out there to help.
But it is important to spend a little bit of your budget
on their development. This shows a commitment, also
it will help alleviate concerns about job security, after
all who spends money on staff they are going to make
redundant.
Maintaining Happy, Motivated,
performing Employees Cont….
Create a Development Budget, alongside the
Marketing, Wage and IT budgets, and make it
meaningful, between 3-7% of wage costs.
Why is it worth investing so much on staff?
You can have the best marketing, systems and
products on the market, but if the first person
that meets the customer or the person
processing the order, or the quality assurance
manager is not motivated, well trained and
has the correct attitude you’ve got the type of
problems that can kill your business.
Some enlightened employers have started
offering development opportunities in lieu of
wage rises. Companies that invest in their
talent, find retention increases, so does
performance, motivation and they have better
succession planning. Can you afford not to
help your staff develop?
Motivation is not my problem,
that’s my Team Leaders job,
isn’t it?
Yes and no, maintaining motivation is every
ones job. If we look at what causes
dissatisfaction amongst employees, Fredrick
Hertzberg again has the answer, it is; company
policy and administration, supervision and the
relationship with the supervisor. Simply put
it’s a breach of the psychological contract. This
can be defined as, what I can reasonably
expect from the organisation and what can I
reasonably be expected in return to
contribute?
Your recruitment activity is the key and has
only one aim, get the correct person, with the
right attitude, in the right job.
When you recruit someone, initial
expectations from both the individual and
organisation may differ, it is important that
expectations are clear from the outset. That’s
why effective induction is important. Unless
people are told what the expectations are they
will rarely exceed them.
Ensure that your policies and relationship with
your staff are not the problem and free your
people up to perform. They really do want to
do a good job, but you must create an
environment that lets them be the best they
can be for the organisation.
Dealing with De-Motivation
So what do we do about the problem, the de-motivated
or underperforming staff member? This is one of the
real tricks of a good leader, and one of the hardest.
Sometimes we are tempted to put off the dealing with a
problem in hope that it will go away. What we should be
doing is addressing problems early, especially
de-motivation, as we could
well be part of the problem
and the solution. So how do
we do this magic trick?
Following the steps below will
help you get the result
everyone wants, a happy,
motivated performing
employee. This can be done
formally or informally,
depending on the relationship
with the person, the reason
for the problem, the extent of
the problem and desired
outcome.
Identify Cause and those affected
How much of a problem is it? What is the root cause?
Who does it affect?
Empathise
To quote Steven Covey “Seek first to understand then
be understood”. It’s vital to understand why this has
happened and what they are feeling. A good dose of
Emotional Intelligence is vital.
Interview
It is important to make the person know you are aware
of the problem and that you care about finding a
solution. Face to face communication is arguably the
most effective communication tool we have. It can be
informal. All that may be needed is just asking “Is
everything is OK?”
Be constructive
Care about finding the solution, they are your staff, take
responsibility for their motivation; you have to help
them get back on track.
Identify the improvement expected
This is important to set out what you expect so people
are clear about what they have to deliver.
Provide assistance if appropriate
Ask what help they need and then give it to them or
make sure they get it.
Monitor
Keep a watch on what’s happening
and how they are getting on; make
sure they know you are taking an
interest and care about them and
their job.
Review
Make a date and review how they
have done. If they are now
performing as you wish, let them
know and don’t forget to say well
done.
About the
Author
Keith Comley
Keith is a Member and
Founder Member of
the Institute of
Leadership and
Management and a
Fellow of the Institute
of Training and
Occupational Learning.
He has decades of
experience in
Management,
Leadership and
Learning and
Development.
Keith is the Managing
Director and one of the
owners of IDEA
Services Limited who
specialise in providing
Training Management
Services and Solutions.
Next Edition
April-May
2009
Leadership
Anita Roddick said “The workplace should primarily be an incubator for the human spirit.” I think that sums up the essence of
workplace motivation. ©IDEA Services Ltd 2009
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