Employee Motivation
Employee motivation is one of the most important aspects of successfully managing a business. Positive employee motivation equals positive employee morale.
There’s a television series in the U.S. entitled “Undercover Boss.” The premise is simple; CEO’s of major companies spend a week working in the trenches of the company. Their initial charge is to learn ways to increase company efficiency. In every episode, it turns out that the most valuable lesson learned is just how important the individual employee’s contribution is. What they bring back to the boardroom is newfound insight into the importance of employee motivation.
Whether a company is successful or still working towards success, it’s the employee’s contribution that has the most direct impact on the result. Positive employee motivation equals success. For the already successful company, employee motivation needs to take precedent over the profits, efficiency, or organizational structure. For other firms still moving toward their vision, integrating employee motivation into that vision can only hasten success.
What contributes to employee motivation? Many executives are surprised at the importance of the little things. Employee motivation isn’t just about the money; it’s more complicated than that. Each person works for a different reason. How does this translate into improved employee motivation? It’s through the willingness of the company to openly and honestly look at needs and then act on them that improves morale.
Countless employee surveys, exit interviews, and meetings have identified areas of importance for the employee.
- Recognition, something as simple as a pat on the back.
- Ongoing opportunities for job related education.
- A sense of caring, that they matter.
- Security.
- Compensation.
- Being acknowledged as an individual.
- Participation in decision making that affects their job.
Employee motivation boils down to creating a top to bottom organizational attitude that clearly demonstrates to employees their importance to the firm. Simple, yes! Easy, no! Here are some suggestions for implementing an employee motivation plan.
Among the many available tools a company can use to measure employee motivation are employee satisfaction surveys. A well designed and interpreted survey will help employers measure and understand their employee’s attitude, opinions, motivation, and satisfaction. The important thing to remember is that the company needs to take action where it can on the results of the survey.
It is important to recognize that the employer/employee relationship is not one of equality. Employees perceive that the boss is just that, the boss. It’s the supervisor’s responsibility to understand and respond positively in their interactions with an employee. Be sure that supervisors receive the training and support needed to do this (you can check our “Effective Communication Skills” E-book program here).
Much has been said about the success of the Japanese management model in maintaining employee motivation. The biggest difference between the Japanese approach and the model used in much of the western industrial world is that in Japan the focus is on the long-term while many western management models, especially the U.S. model, chase short-term goals.
Don’t hesitate to bring in an outside resource. There are many firms that do evaluations and then recommend a model for employee motivation. Ask others outside the company about the experience of their company in establishing a successful employee motivation plan.
There is more information available at this site about this and other approaches to make your company more successful. You can also check out our coaching E-book programs here.
