Employee Motivation

In today’s economy, biggest task in front of the managers is to motivate and retain their team members. In initial days, motivation was considered to be an HR function, however over a period of time the concept of motivation has undergone lot of changes and today, it is not just HR function but it is more of a responsibility of a manager, and some believes it’s an individual’s responsibility to keep himself/herself motivated and I am sure you would have seen “Self Motivated People” as one of the skills required for the job. Keeping people motivated is a big challenge, more so in knowledge based industries like IT, BPO etc. How do you motivate the people is one of the difficult questions every manager faces, especially during the annual appraisal. All the attempts made in the direction of employee motivation, I would say are a big failure. Every organization attempts to implement lot of strategies around employee motivation, but most of them are either unsuccessful or do not make much difference. I would say, a right way to motivate an employee is to win his heart. So, what is the route to an employee’s heart? I will make an attempt to answer this question and make an attempt to list some of the ways organizations are trying to motivate an employee. I will also try and list some innovative ways to motivate an employee. Please keep in mind that applying or implementing the ideas is not an assurance that an employee will get highly motivated or stick to the organization for long. Having said that, it doesn’t mean it will not benefit, in the long run if done in proper way these will surely be of benefit for the organization.

How do you determine if the motivation of an employee is decreasing? Well, there are certain indicators which will help you understand this and with right intervention and at the right time, can for sure improve the motivation. So, what are these indicators and what is the motivation lifecycle? Learn more on Motivation Lifecycle by reading my earlier blog “The Motivation Lifecycle”.

So, why do we need motivated employees and team members? Simple reason is motivated employees are more productive and if they are motivated, attrition’s will be less. One of the most challenging task or function for the managers is to understand what motivates their team members. Each employee has different motivation factors and it keeps changing with the time, and this makes it even more difficult for the managers to understand what really motivates his team members. There are numerous theories written on motivation (Maslow’s need-hierarchy and Herzberg’s two-factor theory are two major theories). But we will not discuss the theories here, but rather we will discuss various ways you can motivate your employees (and maybe motivate yourself as an individual). So, what impacts motivation and how you can improve your team members motivation? Let’s analyze some of the ways organizations implement to impact motivation.

 Monitory Rewards: Money is the primary motivator, though it may vary based on your current economic conditions. Time and again, organizations have been introducing and implementing special achievement rewards, e-awards points, spot awards etc. Many companies now a days have introduced stock-based incentive plans as well, sometimes it is limited to higher management only. As mentioned earlier, it is one of the primary motivators; companies keep exploring new ways to award in this category and motivate people. Is this really the primary motivator? Many studies in the recent past has revealed that money is one of the top motivators, but it is definitely not the top motivators. Imagine this, an executive earning a salary of five lakh per month, a spot award of Rs.20,000/- will motivate him? I don’t think so, but probably a more challenging job might motivate him as for him money is not a constraint.

 Growth and Promotions: An opportunity to improve self is one of the most important sources of motivation, at all levels. Organizations that offer opportunities to employees for learning and development (which in-turn leads to growth) are in a better position to motivate and retain employees. It not only improves the skills and competitive edge of the employees, but also gives provides talented workforce which organization can use as a competitive weapon. Growth and promotions are two sides of the same coin and go hand in hand. Promotions not only have economic value as it provides higher salary (in reality sometimes a promotion does not guarantee a salary change), but I guess psychological reason outweighs the monitory aspect. A promotion means recognition f good work, recognition in society and a sense of accomplishment. For many, it outweighs all other reasons and factors.

 The Nature of Work: The nature of work as a source of motivation varies with individual personality types. For many, work involving detailed technical tasks can be a big motivator, for others, changing and challenging goals and roles is what they would like to work on and it motivates them. The work itself works as a motivator. Have you heard of job rotation? It is nothing but one of the ways to motivate a person. Some people like to work independently and for them, free hand in taking decisions or to work independently is the biggest motivator. Goals can also be big motivator. Goals give a clear understanding and sense of what is expected from an individual. It also offers challenges and opportunities which can inspire people to put in extra efforts. In the corporate world, we always compare goals versus achievement at the end of the year during our annual performance appraisals. Imagine having ambiguous and non-measurable goals at the beginning of the year, do you think the manager will be able to do justice while comparing your performance at the end of the year? On the contrary, if the goals are clear, the employee feels motivated and knows what defines his performance at the end of the year.

 Rewards: Rewards cans be formal as well as informal. Both are equally important and can really boost the motivation of employees. Formal rewards are usually given in front of big group. Most of the organizations today, have quarterly reward and recognition programs where they award people for their outstanding performances. These kinds of rewards have a long lasting impression as the spotlight is on the individual or the team for their achievement. Its gives people high visibility and recognition which will be remembered years after the reward. Informal rewards are more of positive gestures rather than material or monitory rewards. It could be positive feedback from peers, or managers or subordinates or others with whom you are working directly or indirectly. I would not like to include office friends in this list, as more of less they will always be encouraging and be on the positive side (even if the situation demands them to be on negative side). Every employee needs a pat on the back time and again to boost the morale and increase the motivation. It shows them that his/her manager cares for them and is watching their performance and their contributions are being valued. Also, make the place livelier and have fun while working. This not only increases motivation but also eases the work pressure and brightens the day.

So far we have discussed ways and factors currently prevalent in the industries. For sure these are some of the known and good ways to motivate people. However, let’s not confine ourselves to the tried and tested methods of motivating employees. So, what can we do differently to improve employee motivation? Well, I would say think differently. No doubt money, promotion, growth etc are amongst the top ten motivators; however these are not the only thing that motivates an employee. I was reading a article on internet some days back. The most interesting part of that article was the survey they conducted. I don’t exactly remember which site it was, but they did a survey to identify the top ten motivation factors for employees. The results were eye opener and I am sure the results would have shocked most of the managers today. Let me give you an insight into the survey results. I will not include all the reasons but will include some of the important ones According to the site, the top factors were:

• Appreciation or recognition for a job well done. Did you ever imagine it could be one of the top ten, forget about being the top reason? I am sure not, but it is true and as an individual to me as well it is one of the most important factor. I need money for sure and so does everyone else, but more than that I need to be appreciated by my manager and the management for job well done and it should be done on time, every time.
• An understanding attitude from the management.
• Job security, more so after the last recession I guess. In such turbulent times, I am sure this would be the top most reason.
• Interesting and challenging work. For me personally speaking it carries a lot of value and I also get excited and motivated by working on challenging work. Something which challenges my skills and knowledge keeps me going.
• Good working conditions. Work life balance is one of the biggest motivators for some. Best example would be working mothers.

These are some of the factors in today’s world which are gaining more importance and are defiantly good reasons to give it a thought. In addition to the above mentioned points from the survey, let’s look at some more points which are not so common but I think they are very important.

Know every member of your team. One of the things I used to do as part of my people manager role was to understand and make a list of likes/dislikes, interests, motivators and their aspirations. All put together, it would help me understand my team member better and it will help me decide if something that I am doing for him, will he be happy with that and motivate him or will it not? Believe me, 99% of the times it worked, the rest 1% I used to ask the team member directly what is it that he wants.

• Show respect and involve them in decision making. I am sure we cannot involve all the people in decision making all the time, but there would be situations where we can definitely involve them. In rest of the situations, get their feedback. This gesture shows respect and concern and in a way tells that “We care what you think about how we treat you and what we do for you”. In such an atmosphere, people are more likely to feel committed to their managers and the management. Too often, as a manager we assume we know, when in reality we are not even close. In one study conducted by Kepner Tregoe, less than 1/3 of employee’s surveys felt their managers knew what motivated them. Over ½ of the managers surveyed agreed. Today, most of the companies solicit customer feedback to find out how well they are meeting their needs. Similarly, some companies solicit feedback from employees, actively and continuously.
• Make them accountable. The more control and autonomy employees have over their work; they will be more accountable and would be able to use their minds, more. When employees have a say in their work, they feel in control and become more energized and enthusiastic and more productive. Another related aspect is, give employees authority to make decisions related to their work. This not only increases the confidence of the employees, but also creates a sense of pride and well being.
• Provide feedback at the right time, every time. Notice when your employees do things right. Focus on the good things done by the employees rather than the mistakes. Unfortunately, it’s a human nature and we notice what’s wrong easier than what’s right. This does not mean that you ignore the improvement areas or completely ignore the mistakes done by the employees; rather what it means is highlight the positives in front of all and discuss the negatives individually. Let me share one of my best practices as a people manager. Depending upon the situation (one a month or once a quarter) I used to have a meeting called “Your Feedback, Post it”. We used to discuss certain situations and would ask them to give feedback on what’s working and what’s not and I used to use post it sticks. I would mark one wall of the meeting room as “What’s working” and on the other “What’s not working”. Our focus was what’s not working, but do not forget to appreciate what’s working. Second part of the meeting would focus on how we can improve what’s not working and similar feedback process we would use. We got excellent results and ours was the top performing teams, consistently. Many teams tried to apply this in their teams, but I think most of the times they forgot that it’s not a onetime process rather it’s a cycle, which needs to be continuous and consistent. Be prepared to take some criticism and you should be ready to acknowledge (sometimes) that you made a wrong decision.

A very critical and crucial part of this whole subject or topic is the implementation of the great ideas generated by the employees. Without follow-through, the organization simply ends up with a long list of unused suggestions and a lot of frustrated employees. Ideally speaking, it would be wonderful to put the person who suggested the idea in charge of ownership and actual implementation. It will not only motivate the employee, but will also give them a terrific developmental opportunity.

These are just a few methods and not an exhaustive list of ideas to improve motivation. Each of these practices would have limited impact, if, implemented on their won. The key is to use a multifaceted approach. Each employee has a different need and hence one fit for all formula will not work for all employees. The managers need to work with each of his team members individually to understand what motivates and to understand the triggers to know when the employee is not motivated and take immediate action to improve and keep employees motivated.