Employee Motivation Program: Success for the Long-Term!
Key Messages:
Employee motivation is not a one day event where everyone has 'group hugs'
Employee motivation is possibly a lot easier and a lot more complex than you ever thought.
There are 8 areas of focus for the leader who wants to enage his/her team members
If you are wanting a one or two day employee motivation program that you can run then this page will be of little assistance to you.
However, if you want to engage and inspire your team to high performance (over the long term) then regularly and consistently practicing the principles presented here will get your employee motivation program off to a terrific start.
Respect & Consideration For Others
Be Loyal to People Who Are Absent
Be Visible with On-going and Open Communication
Kept Promises
Agree Norms/Guidelines
Unswerving Consistency in Behaviour
Develop a Sense of Aligned Purpose
Ensure Competence
Respect & Consideration for Others:
Know about your team. What are their problems? What are they concerned about? What are their personal goals? Be there to support them when they need it. Show gratitude for their efforts. Be sensitive to the needs of others: when making decisions, whatever the circumstance, consider all parties
Be Loyal to People who are Absent:
Do not allow yourself to be party to any conversations in which other people are complained about and talked about.
Always act as if ...
as if the other person/department was standing right there with you listening to every word that is said.
Ask the person/(s) who is doing the complaining what action they are going to take to remedy the situation - generally this will either shut the conversation down in its tracks or move it to a solutions focus. If you are consistent at doing this it will reassure people that you do not embroil yourself in idle gossip or complaining sessions.
Be Visible with On-going and Open Communication:
People are inspired to give of their best when they feel involved and trust the people around them. Studies have shown that trust is built by frequent (meaningful) contact. Regularly sharing your vision and asking for ideas on how it can be achieved opens the doors of motivation.
Alexander the Great is said to have won the commitment of his soldiers by risking his own life along side them. He plunged so often into the thickest of battle that his soldiers begged him to go to the rear.
As a Leader, you too at times must be prepared to enter the 'fray'.
"Closed doors" and withholding information can only lead to suspicion and a lack of motivation from your team.
Touch base as frequently as you can - daily/weekly, so that you are aware of the issues which are uppermost in the minds of your team members - they will come to believe that you truly understand their needs.
Kept Promises:
It takes just one broken promise to lose the trust of a team member. If you have built the bank of 'reliability' through keeping your word on all small agreements e.g. "I will get back to you Tuesday at 9.00" and your team knows, come what may they will have a response. When the time comes for you to be extended trust over a larger issue you will have built your bank balance to such an extent that you will receive great rewards.
Agree Norms:
Work with your team to set down a series of norms/guidelines that you will each follow. These guidelines, when applied, will ensure the consistency of behaviour that leads to an environment of high-trust and therefore high-performance. Ensure that violation of these guidelines, by anyone, is never stepped over.
Unswerving Consistency:
Each and every one of us look for consistency in behavior from the people around us. As a Leader it is imperative that you are consistent and that you role-model the behaviors you would like see in others. All energy starts with you - you set the example.
Most people want their leader to be a positive role model ... consistently. If you are having a bad day, talk to somebody about, turn it in to a bad half-hour and get over it. Do not weigh down the people working with you - they have enough to deal with day-to-day without having to cope with inconsistent leadership. People don't care what their leaders say, they care about what they do.
Develop a sense of aligned purpose
Your team develops their purpose in response to direction from the Leadership Team. As the Leader you are responsible for broadly framing the performance requirements of your business. Bob Waterman and Tom Peters call this "solution space; i.e. defining the boundaries and scope of authority clearly enough to indicate direction, but flexibly enough to allow the modification required for commitment to develop."
Goals become shared when all members have participated in a process that clarifies the team's collective purpose. Pride and responsibility are inspired when members believe that the goals they have set are both achievable and important. As individuals personally and collectively commit to their Purpose, everyone on the team feels responsible for achieving the Unit's Goals.
Ensure competence
Utilize systems so that both you and your team have the competency required for the roles in which you currently perform and for the future.
Is this a complete employee motivation program that will ensure high performance all the time? Certainly not! There is much more to it than that - check out these pages for more information on what it takes to build a high performance organization:
You have probably noticed that in this employee motivation program there is no mention of rewards. If you are taking these actions and you are paying people fairly then the need for artificially motivating people to turn up to work probably won't be a high priority.
If as a minimum you implement each of the steps outlined above then you will probably never have a need to go and find a one or two day employee motivation program to pump your people up! Remember, anything that is pumped up eventually it's air deflates!
Do you want more on employee motivation or other leadership issues? Then please make use of the leadership and motivation training skwicki
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