Suzanne Bates investigates five of the most common myths surrounding the motivation of employees, and turns up a few surprises.
In a typical workplace, only 29% of employees are actively motivated and engaged in their jobs, while 71% are unmotivated and disengaged - either not engaged at all (54%) or are actively disengaged (17%), according to the Gallup Management Journal’s Employee Engagement Index.
You may have noticed a slight uptake in employee engagement since the global economic downturn led to layoffs and reorganisation. People are grateful to have a job. However, as a human resources professional, you know that employee engagement will fall back to former levels, or even worsen. The 'new normal' economy is bound to mean workloads remain high, as companies do more with less. The HR team can help leaders recognize the risk to employee motivation, and start thinking about low-cost ways to engage and inspire their teams.
HR should take an active role by talking with leaders and debunking the top five myths about motivating employees:
Myth #1: Money is the number one way to motivate employees.
Salaries and bonuses were the staple of motivation in good times. Companies relied primarily, even completely, on monetary rewards - a lazy approach. Money is only one factor in motivation, typically ranking below work environment, flexibility, opportunity, and job satisfaction. Leaders must give employees what they crave- recognition, praise, and the opportunity to learn and grow.
Strategy for HR: Brainstorm with your leaders for new approaches to praise, recognize, and reward. Make it systematic - through weekly, monthly, and annual activities. Sit down with your leaders and help them develop non-monetary reward systems.
Myth #2: If you want to motivate people, don’t let them in on the bad news.
Bad news always gets out to employees. They hate it when you hide bad news; they consider themselves to be partners in the company. They long for a chance to contribute and make a difference in tough times. Empower people by letting them in on the news so they can help.
Strategy for HR: Encourage leaders to set up lunches, breakfasts, and forums where they can help you brainstorm through tough challenges and contribute to solutions going forward. Encourage leaders to set up a robust feedback loop of communication through electronic and in person meetings.
Myth #3: Most employees know what motivates them.
People long for a purpose and often find it in their work. However, they need encouragement and guidance from leaders to help them focus on the right things. Leaders must take an active role with each individual to help them develop their interests and talents. Routine conversations about what is important to them will keep the employee engaged and help the manager know how to get the most from the individual. Young talent especially needs to know what leaders see as their future, and are influenced by a leader’s observations and mentoring.
Strategy for HR: Ask leaders to spend time more time during performance reviews asking questions about what aspects of work are important to each employee.
Myth #4: You simply cannot motivate everyone.
This was true in boom times, when organisations were bloated, and some people you hired were marginal. Those days are over. If you have downsized and are leader, you should have excellent talent on board. Assume that everyone can be engaged.
Strategy for HR: Create an engagement worksheet where employees can rank what’s important to them, and how satisfied they are in each area on a sliding scale. Help managers and leaders come up with low-cost resources to meet these needs, increase employee satisfaction and engagement.
Myth #5: People are just grateful to have a job, and this attitude will survive the downturn.
Top talent will always have a place to go, and while they may have had less mobility during the recession, your competitors are already looking around to see who is unhappy and ready to leave. Employers who continue to believe their people are just grateful to have a job will be blindsided when their top talent walks out the door.
Strategy for HR: Even if it appears to be low priority, spend time to identify top talent and put more energy into succession planning. If you cannot offer promotions or additional compensation, give high-potential leaders benefits such as executive coaching and professional development. These perks go a long way when opportunity to move up is limited.
About 'Motivate Like a CEO'
Suzanne Bates is an executive coach, speaker, and author of "Motivate Like a CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act!," published by McGraw-Hill in January 2009, which recently became #1 best-seller in books on communication skills on amazon.com. She is also the author of the business best-seller "Speak Like a CEO, Secrets to Commanding Attention and Getting Results" (McGraw Hill 2005). She is President and CEO of Bates Communications Inc. and blogs at www.thepowerspeakerblog.com