Motivate Staff

The ability to Motivate Staff is critical in retaining talent and is often not done well.

To motivate staff, a manager needs to be flexible, adaptable and educated in their approach.

Great Managers are not lazy or stuck in old management paradigms saying things like “they should think themselves lucky to have a job” or “do it because I said so”.

They are open to new information, curious and astute and know that a ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work.

The world has moved on – what used to motivate staff for previous generations no longer works or results in compliance, at best, rather than commitment.

Great Managers know how to get the best out of people.

Often to motivate staff they encourage them to focus on strengths.

People work at their best when they get to use their strengths – they are energised and usually achieve good results.

They also develop more in an area of strength than they ever will in an area of weakness.

Conventional wisdom encourages us to identify and help someone overcome their weaknesses, which can take a lot of time and money and result in very little difference, little satisfaction and frustration for both parties.

How to Motivate Staff

What motivates one person does not necessarily motivate another.

Knowing your people is the key to motivating them.

We often confuse being ‘motivated’ with being energised.

Being motivated means that you are working towards something.

Motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic, meaning internal or external in origin.

Examples of intrinsic motivators are a sense of achievement, satisfaction in a job well done, feeling valued, meaningful work, extending or challenging oneself to learn, and personal values.

Extrinsic motivators can be things like a promotion, bonuses and incentives, a pay increase, a day off, flexible hours and recognition.

Fear-based motivation such as the fear of punishment used by old-style authoritarian managers may get results short-term but they are usually temporary, and this approach will do more harm than good long-term.

It will destroy trust and talented employees won’t stay in a fear-based environment for long.

Motivate Staff by Developing Them

Developing your employees is not just about addressing underperformance eg. “Let’s send them off to a course – that’ll fix ‘em”.

It’s a way to motivate staff through developing new skills which they can learn both on and off the job, and bring out their potential which they apply to their role and the business.

Talented people love being developed and are much more likely to stay if there are development opportunities.

The 70:20:10 Model is a development model based on research by Michael M Lombardo and Robert W Eichinger.

Their model suggests that development typically should be a blend of different learning approaches “in concert” which can provide powerful learning and acquisition of skills.

Most development tends to occur as follows:

• about 70% from on-the-job experiences, including tasks, projects and problem-solving
• about 20% from feedback and from working around good or bad examples of the development need
• about 10% from courses, seminars and reading.

This is why skills-based learning over time is so important.

This type of learning combines the 10% development achieved through courses, seminars and reading with the 70% development that comes from APPLYING that development in the workplace.

Programs completed over time, in smaller “bite-size” modules, such as those found in the Great Managers Academy, have proven, successful outcomes because they take this formula into account.

Developing people requires a balance of:

• Direction
• Support
• Challenge

Develop and Motivate Staff by Providing Direction – useful for building ability

Providing Direction means telling the person what needs to be achieved and how to achieve it.

This is useful for new starters or when someone is stepping into a new role or unknown territory.

Develop and Motivate Staff by Providing Support – to build motivation and confidence

Providing support means listening, encouraging, helping and ensuring the resources required are available.

It requires good interpersonal skills and a depth of understanding.

Support is required most of the time however it is especially important to provide support to increase someone’s motivation and confidence.

Develop and Motivate Staff by Providing Challenge – useful for extending someone

Providing challenge means stretching a person and encouraging them to push their boundaries and to continue developing.

It is most suitable for people who have the ability to do the job and who are capable of achieving more.

Motivate Staff by Engaging Them

Great managers build their teams in a way that develops a co-operative spirit.

They know that an engaged employee is a productive employee.

Engagement starts with the induction process and it is a great way to motivate staff. We know that a poor induction can result in low engagement and an early departure from an organisation.

Research from the Gallup Organisation has shown that engaged employees are more productive, profitable, safer, create stronger customer relationships, and stay longer with their company than less engaged employees.

In a US study, Gallup found that only about one-third of employees are engaged.

The others are not engaged or actively disengaged, which they estimate is costing the U.S economy $Billions.

This is why what a manager does matters.

Managers are the critical variable in employee engagement.