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 Bill Sims |
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Why a Paycheck Isn't Enough....pdf versionmotivation/mo-te-va-shen/ n 1 a: the act or process or motivating b. an external influence (as in an expected reward or bonus) i.e. today's employees are recognized for outstanding work 2. a power driving employees to act; a positive incentive or desire operating on the will and emotion causing action; see: incentive, recognition
What is Motivation?Why do people do what they do is a question that has baffled mankind since the dawn of time. In general, it is thought that people's actions are driven by their unmet needs. That is, if we are hungry, we eat: thirsty, we drink; tired, we sleep: and so forth. Once our physical needs are met, our attention turns to meeting higher level needs, such as a sense of belonging and achievement.Many of these needs are achieved in the workplace in the course of our careers. Although we all have the same basic needs, we are each motivated differently over time and at any given time. One person might be motivated to spend more time with his family, another might want a raise, while a third might want more responsibility. For this reason, when it comes to motivation, it is safest to say that whatever motivates people, motivates people. Motivation is also thought to come from within, that is, to be intrinsic in nature. Its believed that you can't motivate others; you can only motivate yourself. True, you at times can force others to do what you want, but such coercion is apt to be shortlived and last only as long as the direct force or threat exists. As the joke goes, if you tell someone what you'll give him for doing something, that called an incentive; if you tell someone to do something or else hell get fired, that's called motivation. The use of coercion, fear and the threat of punishment doesn't work very well in most organizations today. This is in part due to a change in societal norms under which it is considered politically incorrect to force anyone to do anything. But, more importantly, such a style of management does not get the best results. Today's employees are increasingly expected to use their own best judgment -- not just to rely upon what they are specifically ordered to do. The most effective role of managing has thus shifted from an authoritative command and control, my way or the highway style -- which has served as the predominant style of management since the Industrial Revolution -- to a style in which the most successful managers today are coaches, colleagues, counselors and even cheerleaders for employees. You can create an environment in which individuals can be motivated. In fact, doing so is perhaps the most important role of managing today. The key element in shaping a motivating work environment is the management of consequences, the most important of which are positive consequences. Every employee wants to be magnificent. Every employee starts a new job excited about doing their best. Yet somehow, for many employees the excitement of the job quickly wears off. I believe this is due more than anything else to how they are treated by their managers on a daily basis. An unmotivated employee in most instances reflects more on that persons manager than on his or her own potential in the workplace. Today's managers need to establish a supportive environment in which people can be their best. Managers need to create a new partnership with employees, to help them reach their full potential in achieving their own personal goals as well as the goals of the organization. The use of recognition and rewards is the primary way to create a supportive work environment in which employees can be -- and are -- highly motivated. Although the notion of rewarding desired behavior is common sense, it is far from common practice in business today. Yet it needs to become common practice if your organization is to thrive, let alone survive. Everyone likes to be recognized and appreciated. How many managers, however, consider appreciating others to be a major function of their job today? It should be. At a time in which employees are being asked to do more than ever before, to make suggestions for continuous improvement, to handle complex problems quickly, and to act independently in the best interests of the company, the resources and support for helping them is at an all-time low. Budgets are tight; salaries are frozen. Layoffs are rampant; promotional opportunities are on the decline. In today's business environment, what used to be common courtesies have been overcome by speed and technology. Managers tend to be too busy and too removed from their employees to notice when they have done exceptional work -- and to thank them for it. Technology has replaced personal interaction with constant interfacing with a computer terminal. John Naisbitt predicted this would happen over a decade ago in his book Megatrends. He said the more our work environments become highly technical, the greater the employee need would become to be more personal and human. He called the phenomenon high-tech/high-touch. And all this is happening at a time in which employees are looking to have greater meaning in their lives -- and especially in their jobs. The irony of the situation is that what motivated people the most takes relatively little effort to do -- just a little time and thoughtfulness for starters.
Benefits of Recognition
In addition, good treatment of employees results in similar treatment of customers. In fact, you'll never get employees to treat customers better than they are being treated themselves. "There are two things people want more than sex and money... recognition and praise", says Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics. What do workers want from their jobs? A series of studies done by Lawrence Lindahl in the late 1940s, and repeated with similar findings by Ken Kovach in 1980 and Bob Nelson in 1991, found that what managers perceived as being most important to employees was in sharp contrast to what the employees themselves reported as being most desirable.
Why Employees Take Jobs...
Note that most of the items listed in the above study relate to the intangible part of work that can be most influenced by managers-employees needs, aspirations and goals -- not just the tasks that need to be done. Even an incentive such as job security has new meaning today; not the traditional idea of guaranteed employment, but rather knowing where the employee fits into the overall organization and in the opportunities to learn new skills that result in future employability.
And Why They Go...
Is Money The Top Motivator? And the strength of that motivation will vary over one's life. If you are buying a new home, have some unexpected medical bills or have children in college, you're going to be more keenly aware of your monetary needs. But for most of us, for most of the time, once we are able to make our monthly bill payments, our attention turns to other factors that have much greater significance in our lives: Feeling we are making a contribution, for example. Having a manager that tells us when we do a good job. Having the respect of our peers and colleagues. Being involved and informed about what is going on in the company. Having meaningful, interesting work. "Economic incentives are becoming rights rather than rewards. Merit raises are always introduced as rewards for exceptional performance. In no time at all, they become a right. To deny a merit raise or to grant only a small one becomes punishment. The increasing demand for material rewards is rapidly destroying their usefulness as incentives and managerial tools"----- Peter Drucker The point is, the money employees are paid for the job they are hired to do is compensation, which should be a function of your company's compensation philosophy and its market and geographic considerations. Recognition is what you do above and beyond compensation to get the best effort from employees. As management expert Rosaveth Moss Kanter says, "Compensation is a right. Recognition is a gift." You might ask, Why isn't what I pay people good enough to get them to do their jobs? Why do I have to do more? People will do their jobs for what they are paid, but it will do little to get them to do their best job or to go above and beyond what you expect of them. That extra effort is more a function of how they are treated -- the softer side of management --not what they are paid. In the work of management theorist Frederick Herzberg, a fair salary is considered a hygiene factor -- something everyone needs in order to do the job they are hired to do. Such factors include adequate work space, light and heat, a telephone -- if you do not have any of these items, you will be demotivated and unable to do the job you are hired to do. If you have all of these items, you will be able to do your job, but having them will do nothing to help you to do the best job possible. Getting people to do their best job is more a function of what Hertzberg calls motivators including praise and recognition, challenging work, and growth and development opportunities. Another question I am asked is, If money isn't a top motivator, then why is it all I seem to hear about from my employees? I've had a chance to examine this question firsthand in several companies and have found several explanations:
81% of workers say they would not receive any reward for productivity increases 60% of managers feel their salary would not increase if their performance improved Another manager might ask: Since money is a basic need, don't you have to pay people well first before the other factors you're discussing are motivating? That question came up at a conference keynote I was giving, and I was delighted to have another member of the audience interject: Not necessarily! I found that by using positive reinforcement I was able to increase the level of performance of my employees, which led to increases sales revenues which ultimately made it possible to pay people better. In other words, non-monetary incentives allowed the boat to rise financially for everyone. Another way to look at the relation between money and motivation is that most of us cannot influence what we earn on a daily basis, but a lot of things can influence how excited and motivated we are about our jobs on a daily basis. How employees are treated by their managers is paramount to having them come to work energized and committed, bringing their best thinking and initiative to the job. The daily interactions management has with employees either serve to build and develop the trust and respect of employees or to hinder and erode those factors. Every company today needs to obtain extraordinary results from ordinary people in order to thrive, let alone survive. It used to be that the focus of work was on renting employee behavior. In fact, in some work environments, people were even referred to as hired hands. Today, its not good enough to simply rent the behavior you want from employees -- you've got to find a way to elicit their best effort. You have to make employees feel valued so that they want to do their best work on a daily basis, to consistently act in the best interests of the organization. You can get such results from your employees by focusing more on how you treat them. Following are the top five workplace incentives reported by employees during a recent study conducted by Dr. Gerald Graham, management professor at Wichita State University.
How Often Are Workplace Incentives Used?
58% seldom if ever received personal thanks from their manager.Dr. Graham found two common characteristics among the top motivating incentives in his study. The most motivating incentives to employees today are ones which are:,p> Manager InitiatedMotivation is very personal and is influenced most by those we work with closely--starting with our immediate manager. We feel most valued when we are recognized for doing the job we signed up to do or for going above and beyond what is expected of us to act in the organizations best interests. Dr. Grahams conclusion was: It appears that the techniques that have the greatest motivational impact are practiced the least even though they are easier and less expensive to use. In a recent survey of American workers, 63% of the respondents ranked a pat on the back as a meaningful incentive.
The Golden Banana Award. Now, you wouldn't think that a banana could be a significant incentive. But given the right context, anything could be a symbolic reward. Daniel Boyle, vice president and treasurer of Diamond Fiber Products, Inc., in Thorndike, MA, describes the impact when she was presented a nylon and cotton jacket as a special employee recognition reward called The 100 Club in his company: "You might think this a trivial thing, but is means a lot to the people who earn a jacket. A teller at a local bank told me that a woman came in and proudly modeled her baby blue 100 Club jacket for bank customers and employees. She said My employer gave me this for doing a good job. Its the first time in the 18 years I've been there they've recognized the things I do every day. During those years she had earned $230,000 in wages, which paid for cars, a home mortgage, food, other essentials, vacations, and college educations. In her mind, she had provided a service for her earnings. They money wasn't recognition for her work, but the 100 Club jacket was." The Star Perk Program has been endorsed as an ideal employee recognition tool by Bob Nelson!
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