Motivating Employees

Motivating a team is not an exact science.  What we will discuss in this post  is what motivates and what demotivates employees.  From that we will talk about what a manager should do to motivate their team and what they should avoid.

Today's questions:

1. What Motivates employees and teams?
2. What de-motivates employees?
3. What can a manager do to motivate his/her group?
4. What should all managers avoid in managing a group?

What motivates employees and teams?

1. Winning -Winning is the best motivator.  Everyone wants to be on a championship team.  If a manager can get every person on the team to understand their function and how their effort contributes to the group winning, they will be motivated.  Of course, defining what is meant by winning is very important and will vary by circumstances.  Creating an environment where the team expects to win is the ultimate goal of the manager.
2. Recognition and positive reinforcement - People are motivated when they are recognized for their efforts and results.  Encouragement and positive reinforcement makes people want to do even more.  Ignoring a person's efforts or harshly criticizing a person's efforts will usually not work to motivate them.
3. Respect - This comes up in every session as the foundation of a person's identification with a group and their desire for the group to succeed.  This goes deeper than a person's effort, it shows what a manager thinks of a person as an individual and a human being. Without respect there can be no motivation.
4. Autonomy - All employees want to feel they have some control over what happens to them and can shape the effort they put into their jobs. 
5. Challenging work - Work that is mentally stimulating and stretches the capability of the employee can be very motivating if the tasks can be accomplished.
6. Sense of achievement and adding value - If a person feels they are accomplishing their goals and they are adding value to the team by their efforts, they will enjoy their job and want to do even better work.  This doesn't need to mean achieving a large goal, it could be as simple as completing the days work or participating in a productive meeting.
7. Pride in work - People are motivated by their desire to do work that reflects their values and demonstrates their professionalism and ability.  Just doing the job is not what motivates people.  Doing the job as well as it can be done, or better than others can do it creates pride in work and motivates people.
8. Clear and obtainable objectives or goals - Realistic goals that are clearly defined can be very motivating to the team.  Goals that are "pie in the sky" may sound good to the manager, but will be frustrating to the team.  If the goal is to be "the best in the industry", then how this will be measured must be clearly defined. 
9. Consistency & Predictability - It is important that employees know how a manager and/or the company will react in routine situations.  Arbitrary decision making is very detrimental to morale and motivation.
10. Incentives and Rewards - Although compensation is not usually a reliable motivator, incentives and rewards can motivate specific behavior in employees. 

What De-Motivates employees?

1. Lack of respect for individuals - People are comfortable with a boss to employee difference in responsibility and accountability, but that can not lead to the manager making their employees feel inferior.
2. Unclear or unrealistic expectations or demands - Everyone wants to win.  If an employee feels that there is just no way to be successful, they will be very frustrated and de-motivated.
3. Favoritism - Every employee wants to feel that they can rise to the level of their capability.  If a person perceives that their manager has favorites, they will lose the desire to put forward their best effort. 
4. Disorganization - A department doesn't need to be a "well oiled machine", but if the manager or the organization is disorganized, a person won't be able to see how their effort contributes to moving the organization forward towards its goals.
5. Unfairness - Perceived or actual
6. Arbitrary decisions by those in authority - Respect for the competence of one's manager is sometimes rare, but one of the biggest determinants of whether a person will be motivated to contribute will be their feeling that the organization is being competently led.  If decisions from management do not make sense to employees, they will not be motivated to participate in the goals and objectives that are set.
7. Manager jumping to conclusions without understanding - It is inherent in the job of being a manager that decisions must be made with incomplete information.  Everyone would like to know all aspects of a problem before formulating a solution, but that would be a luxury in most cases.  However, a manager must know enough to make a credible decision and if a manager has a reputation of jumping to conclusions without understanding important aspects of a situation, their employees will avoid going to them for a decision.
8. Finger pointing - An organization that feels that anything that goes wrong must be someone's fault, leads employees to make sure that the blame doesn't fall on them.  A manager that looks for solutions without regard to blame will be far more motivating to their team.  This is not to say that poor performance should be ignored, but should be kept in perspective of cause and effect.  If a person's specific performance produced a predictably poor result, then it should be addressed as poor performance.
9. Poor work environment (Physical environment, temperature, equipment, etc.) - If it is too hot, loud, cold, dark, etc. it is hard to be motivated, especially if these conditions are fixable.  It is the same with tools and equipment.  If there is clearly nothing that can be done, it is sometimes motivating for an employee to overcome these obstacles.  However, if they feel that their tools or equipment are inferior to what others have, they will be de-motivated.
10. Not seeing the result of efforts - If a person doesn't see a difference between working very hard, or doing very little, they will not be motivated to do their best.
11. Work that is not seen to be adding value - If an employee does not see how their efforts contribute to the success of the organization, then they are only doing what they are told for a paycheck.  This leads to a "do the minimum" mentality.
12. Personality conflicts - This is not necessarily between the employee and their manager.  Any personality conflicts within a group will be de-motivating to everyone.
13. Inconsistency of management
14. Lack of communication with management - It is management's responsibility to keep everyone informed.  If an employee feels that no one is talking to them about how the business is going, or if rumors are allowed to proliferate, they will be demotivated.

What can managers do to motivate?
Almost everything that a manager does contributes to either motivating or de-motivating their team.  For this reason the list below is really a road map for effective management of a team.  There isn't one thing that needs to be done to motivate an employee or team; these must all be done. 

1. Show respect to all personnel - This is the most basic, but also the most important.
2. Provide leadership - Some people believe that there is a difference between management and leadership.  Maybe the ability to motivate is the difference.  Most employs believe it is the manager or leader's job to figure out what needs to be done and then they appreciate a collaborative approach with the team to figure out how to do it.  When the situation arises in any team or group where someone needs take charge, employees look to their manager to be the one to step forward. 
3. Show appreciation for work and effort - Although this can be in the form of formal recognition, it can be just as effective in simple ways of showing a person that their effort has been noticed and appreciated.
4. Listen to what people tell you - Good listening skills by a manager are critical to long term effectiveness with a team.  An employee will not want to go the extra mile for a manager that doesn't listen.  A key function of a manager is to "help" the team be successful.  The team reciprocates by trying to help the manager be successful, but many miss this because they don't listen to what their team is telling them.
5. Clearly define expectations and objectives - The more formally the better, preferably in writing.
6. Demonstrate fairness in all dealings - Fairness is sometimes hard to define, but most people know it when they see it.
7. Delegate important and challenging tasks - A paycheck may be what makes people go to work, but what makes them look forward to work is the chance to be mentally stimulated, do work that is important to the business, and to have some say in how that work gets done.
8. Be consistent - Predictable behavior by the manager keeps the stress level down in a team.  Arbitrary decisions raise anxiety and lower morale.
9. Recognize good and bad performance fairly - It is not enough to just recognize good performance.  That is what a cheerleader does.  A manager must create an accountability consciousness in his organization where everyone knows that although poor performance may not be addressed publicly, it will definitely be addressed.
10. Communicate both good and bad news openly - Employees look to their managers to know what is going on in the business and to communicate to them all relevant things that could affect them.
11. Encourage initiative and allow mistakes -  The person who steps forward to accept a large challenge and fails should be celebrated as much as the person who succeeds.  If it is only the successes that are celebrated, then there will only be volunteers for the jobs where success is certain.
12. Confront problems and don’t avoid them -
13. Demonstrate a sense of humor and have fun - This doesn't mean to constantly clown around, but if the manager clearly enjoys interacting with the group, it can be shown through a sense of humor.
14. Don’t shoot the messenger - A manager must be able to receive bad news without becoming emotional, over reacting, or blaming the messenger.  In order to confront problems, the manager must know they exist and hopefully in enough time to address them before they become unmanageable.
15. Set the example of a positive attitude - The attitude of the manager will be reflected in attitude of the whole group.
16. Provide proper tools and equipment

What should managers avoid? 

1. Favoritism
2. Sarcasm
3. Talking behind people’s back
4. Avoiding problems
5. Reacting too aggressively to problems or bad news
6. Jumping to conclusions
7. Losing composure in pressure situations
8. Allowing rumors to spread
9. Fraternization
10. Allowing cliques to form
11. Allowing people to be excluded.