The Delicate Art of Employee Motivation: A Guest Post by Sean Conrad

employee motivationThe delicate art of employee motivation

If you’ve ever listened to a great motivational speaker, you know how inspired, energised and enthusiastic you feel coming out of the session. How long do these feelings last? For many of us, not terribly long. Especially when reality kicks in and we realise that the person responsible for keeping the momentum and the motivation going is… ourselves.

Yes, motivation is a personal responsibility. And, if you’re a “people” manager, you have to accept this right from the start if you’re serious about being a good manager. You don’t have the power to control  all employee motivation, but you can help bring it to the surface with right combination of tools, support and coaching.

It’s a delicate art that requires some effort, but you’ll find that the benefits will make that effort more than worthwhile.

Understanding an employee’s primary motivation drivers

In general, are productive, loyal and — given their positive disposition — wonderful to have around from a company morale perspective. The question is how do you keep these individuals engaged and motivated? A good place to start is by helping them understand their primary motivators.

The Anderson Leadership Group has developed a motivation self-assessment worksheet (available via this article) that gives individuals an introspective look at what’s most important to them in their work environment.

At the highest level, the survey asks you to compare, add up and rank personal needs from most to least endorsed:

  • achievement
  • affiliation
  • autonomy
  • intellectual stimulation
  • power
  • security/comfort

Once completed, the worksheet can kick-start some interesting conversations between you and your employees. For example, you can engage your employees in discussions about their primary motivators, and share what motivates you and why.

Goal setting and managing expectations

Another key to employee motivation and engagement and is to ensure that the members of your team clearly know what is expected of them, and to understand how their work contributes to your company’s mission, value and success.

The best way to do this is to involve them in the goal-setting process. Ask them to draft what they think their SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) goals and objectives should be for the coming quarter.

SMART goals are generally recognised as the most effective way to write clear goals. They allow employees to understand what is expected of them, how their success will be measured, and timelines for completing projects.

Rewards and recognition

Individuals need to feel that their company rewards employee performance fairly and equitably. This applies to project opportunities, promotions, and awards, but especially to all areas of compensation, including base pay, bonuses, stock options, etc.

It’s critical for companies to have fair and transparent compensation processes. Non-monetary rewards can be effective as well, for example, thank you cards, gift baskets, gift cards and theatre tickets.

Development opportunities

Another way to drive motivation is to support employee development and career progression. Your employees need to feel that they have a future with the company, and a career path that helps them further develop their knowledge, skills and abilities.

Career development can take many forms, from formal training courses, to challenging work assignments, to mentoring programs.

Regular and meaningful feedback

Research shows that employees crave meaningful feedback. So how do you encourage this dialogue, and even better, make it part of your work culture?

Some companies find that building quarterly reviews into their performance management process helps to give managers and employees a regularly committed interval for dialogue and feedback.

Some tips for giving feedback, include:

  • The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Give your feedback directly to the person it applies to, not to their peers, your co-workers or your manager.
  • Be specific and give examples so your employees understand exactly what’s expected of them, what they did well and what they can improve upon.
  • Delaying a conversation can reduce the impact of the feedback, which is why you should share it with your employee shortly after the action or behavior happens.

As I mentioned earlier, the art of motivation is delicate and requires a little diligence to find out what engages and inspires your employees. If you’re looking for additional expert resources on the topic, I encourage you to visit the Centre of Excellence for developing and retaining top talent.

Sean Conrad is a senior product analyst with talent management vendor Halogen Software. He regularly writes on employee performance and talent management trends and issues in industry magazines and on the Exploring Talent Management Blog.

Sean Conrad.jpg

 

 

This great article is from the People Discovery blog, associated with The e.MILE People Development Magazine: the Magazine is currently running a series for the 6 months April to September 2014 based on the challenges identified by The Centre For Creative Leaderships report 2013 Don't Miss Out!  Sign up here to be notified of our subsequent issues and posts

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3 Leadership Skills To Inspire Team Success

1350342133 Leadership skills

Leaders usually have a balancing act to perform, especially around how much they allow their team to contribute to organisational success, or how much they take upon their own shoulders.   How  well they harness the commitment, effort, skills and effectiveness of their team and how well they are able to let go and allow their team to take up the challenge and deliver, depends on how well they are able to set healthy parameters.

One of the most difficult dilemmas for a leader can be determining when they should let go and allow employees to either float their boat, or sink.

In order to do this well, leaders need to have three skills

  1. A reciprocal and healthy balance of giving and taking
  2. An ability to communicate their own boundaries and have a healthy respect for the boundaries of team members.
  3. The courage to take and manage calculated risk.

Being able to apply boundaries in working relationships is essential for good decision making, although for many reasons some find difficult to do so.   A mismatch of boundaries can, and does, create disharmony, distrust and demotivation inside and outside the team.

I remember a story about a CEO who was committed to a life changing cause and was respected by peers and stakeholders.  He got good results mostly and where he didn’t, had a great handle on problems.  What he didn’t realise of course was 75% of his team were slowly sliding off the deck, while the remainder were standing at his back cheering him on, watching him steer the boat.

This great man had such an extended sense of responsibility, he couldn’t see that by trying to control the whole ship, he was systematically dis-empowering his team one by one.   He was wary of taking risks, giving over control or allowing his team to take some of the responsibility from him. His people skills left a lot to be desired.

There are many variations on this theme and it’s not a perfect art, so few people get it completely right. There have been many times I’ve dis-empowered my kids by making decisions for them.  In a work situation, when the risk seemed too great I have been known to take over and override an employee’s decision; although I tried to do it kindly, it was not always perceived that way.

Sometimes a leader has to  take a calculated risk, and this can mean letting people fall and suffer the consequences of that fall, in order to learn and grow.  Those situations can be a tough call for a leader.

I heard from a team who had big problems because their leader “overdid” delegation.  He was so focussed on what others should or must be responsible for, he left himself out of the equation. He didn’t gain the respect of his team, as they often felt overburdened and were wary of asking for help because the signals he was giving indicated he didn’t really want to be involved, although that wasn’t the case at all.

One of the most difficult issues is respecting role boundaries.  Of course roles are meant to be fluid and let’s face it, we all must cross over role boundaries in order to get the job done.  But there are times when crossing over such boundaries either masks poor performance, or muddies the water so much that account-abilities are confused. Good role boundaries are essential, with a suitable degree of flexibility, to fit different situations.

When to let go and when to keep steering can seem daunting. Much depends on a leader’s inner confidence and maturity.   I have rarely worked with or for a leader who gets risk, responsibility and boundaries completely right.  Being aware, checking understanding and exploring where boundaries lie is essential.

 

This great article is from the People Discovery blog, associated with The e.MILE People Development Magazine: the Magazine is currently running a series for the 6 months April to September 2014 based on the challenges identified by The Centre For Creative Leaderships report 2013 Don't Miss Out!  Sign up here to be notified of our subsequent issues and posts

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If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   

7 Essential Steps To Create A Winning People Strategy

 154965544A people strategy is essential if a business wants to drive up performance and get the best out of their people.

Underpinning business outcomes with a people strategy can be a pretty smart move.  Too often, business plans, aims and goals are set without any corresponding detail describing how people will help to deliver and achieve what the business has set out to do.

Developing a people strategy mustn’t be confused with an HR strategy.  Lack of understanding about terminology can make or break the success of a strategy, particularly around your people.   Too often an HR strategy is focussed on transactional and policy functions and this dilutes the emphasis about developing strategies to make sure the right people in the right roles deliver the right outcomes, in the right time.

In reality though it matters not what the strategy is called, except that it must be about people and not HR processes or transactions.   Making sure everyone is on the same page in respect of terminology being used when developing strategy is absolutely crucial.  A great people strategy will not only increase the odds of, but also accelerate the speed of, success.

Following these seven steps will help to maintain focus on what is needed to develop a great people strategy.

1.      Horizon scans internally and externally

Horizon scanning should not be a one-off event which is carried out to inform a proposed strategy, but an on-going knowledge/news bank preserved within a pre-determined framework to make sure new factors are identified at the earliest opportunity.  Organisations benefit from ensuring future scanning is a cultural norm.

There are a variety of horizon scanning models, used to pull external information together.  It is worth researching to find the best fit, but STEEP (PEST) is one of the most commonly used formats.

2.     Understand the business and its people

It is crucial the organisation’s business objectives, priorities and constraints are understood inside out. If the people strategy is being developed through the HR Department, then it’s essential that HR are involved in the formation and decision making of overall business strategy.   This is because HR will understand the capacity, capabilities and current potential of the people and such insights can temper and shape expectations around outcomes and any timelines being worked to.

3.      Establish the top five priorities

Establishing the top five people priorities is a key step, as they will contribute directly to help deliver on desired business outcomes and priorities.  Required cultural changes should not be sidestepped.  Quite often “the way we do things round here” can sabotage the most exacting and thought out outcome based people strategy.   Being tempted to include more than five priorities can be counterproductive, and using a Pareto Principle approach is more effective.  Too much detail dilutes efforts, while a vital few things will create the biggest impact.

4.      Involve others and share widely to gain maximum input at all stages

If HR is developing the strategy, make sure it is not perceived as being “owned” by HR.  The business must own the people strategy. The name must be carefully chosen, so it represents inclusion of everyone in the organisation.  Call it, the “people plan” or the “people element of the business plan”.

Involving as many people as possible is crucial to the success right at the formative stage.  Using focus groups made up of a cross-section of employees, employee representatives and external customers is an effective way to capture ideas and feedback.  Take constructive suggestions on board and if you don’t act on them, explain why.

5.      Benchmark across both industry specific and Non-specific companies

Identifying innovative and emerging people practices across a range of industries can help develop great ideas and create achievable standards and benchmarks.   Finding out about success stories in alternative industries can invoke creative and “out of the box” thinking and can lead to fresh parameters around best practice or introduce new processes.

6.      Monitor and measure progress

Setting specific, measureable, attainable, relevant and timely (SMART) criteria is essential to measure success.  Put in place a credible, simple and easy-to-compile measurement system to track progress in hitting specific goals. Link any people outcomes clearly with business outcomes   Monitor results using measureable milestones.

7.  Produce a user friendly working document in simple language

Present the final strategy in employee-friendly language so that everyone both inside and outside of the organisation can understand it. If it doesn’t fit on two sides of A4 paper at most, it’s too long and so will be put in a drawer and forgotten about. A teenager should be able to understand it.  Check it against the Flesch–Kincaid readability test which gives some ideas about how plain the English should be.

 

 

This great article is from the People Discovery blog, associated with The e.MILE People Development Magazine: the Magazine is currently running a series for the 6 months April to September 2014 based on the challenges identified by The Centre For Creative Leaderships report 2013 Don't Miss Out!  Sign up here to be notified of our subsequent issues and posts

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If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.

   

7 Common Qualities of Inspirational People, Leaders Should Know

 Leaders can learn from inspirational people

I’d read about Philippe Petit some years ago, and while being amazed at his death defying tightrope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City, I was either was too young, too busy, in the wrong country  or too focussed on other things to truly absorb his story.  That changed last weekend when I happened upon an old documentary in which Philippe was recounting his experience on that day,  7th August 1974, and the events leading up to it.

I realise as I write this, I am almost 40 years behind, but I also know there is a right time for everything, and I needed this story now, because it clicked into place a piece of jigsaw I was toying with, but not quite knowing where it fit.

I have always admired people who have made a significant impact, and have been inspirational people.  People who particularly inspire me are Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Ghandi, Viktor Frankl, Sir Winston Churchill, Carl Jung, Abraham Lincoln , and latterly Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, and Steve Jobs,  to name but a few. I am now adding Philippe Petit to my list.

These inspirational people on my list are famous for very different achievements. Some didn’t particularly set out to be “world” leaders in their field.  But to me and many others of course, they are leaders, because by virtue of their achievements they have led a way, which has helped many people, and so been inspirational. Their stories and work have certainly changed my world.

Simon Sinek in his brilliant book “Start with Why” concludes the reason some inspirational people and their dreams (like Jobs and King for example) are globally successful is that they act from the inside out, they don’t sell their products, they sell their beliefs.  It is these beliefs that other people relate to which harnesses their commitment, support, and buy in.

I was blown away when I heard Simon speaking about this phenomenon, because I know it to be true, certainly about me. I finally realised the reason I was so enamoured  by these inspirational people was my interpretation of their beliefs and qualities embodied my own beliefs and value systems which I aspire to.

When I examined my own list of inspirational people, I discovered several qualities they displayed which I aspire to, and therefore inspire me.

  1. They owned a deeply held vision
  2. Inner and self- directed, they listened to their intuition and the world around them became secondary if it didn’t accord with their inner guidance.
  3. What they did/shared benefitted the greater good, even if they didn’t realise it at the time.
  4. They were committed and dedicated; in fact most, if not all, view their achievements as their life’s purpose.
  5. They weren’t deterred by popular opinion,
  6. They acted fearlessly, even if inside they felt fearful

And finally, what Philippe Petit made me see so clearly:

7.  They are aspirational, they dare to attempt “the impossible,” feats and successes which any rationale mind may have said weren’t possible.

Inspirational people lead others by letting them see that their hopes, dreams, aspirations, and values are not only desirable, but are possible, by demonstrating they can be done.  Once you have seen impossible being achieved, then the world has changed.

So how can this help our everyday leaders, who aren’t out to change the world, but who grapple with the day to day reality of where they are right now?

I asked this question of a very dear mentor of mine.  “How can I lead in my small way, when all my inspiration comes from people who have changed the world, it seems overwhelming?”   What he said to me can also be true for leaders in every field.   He said, “Don’t concentrate on the world; apply your beliefs, principles and values to your world and the rest will take care of itself.”  Although I agreed I still felt apprehensive.   That was until I witnessed Philippe’s mad impossible mission and suddenly the impossible was possible, and the final piece of the jigsaw slotted into place.

You don’t have to walk a tightrope across tall buildings or ravines to inspire your employees and customers; all you need is a clear vision, faith, commitment and courage. Together with the knowledge you are making a real difference for the greater good.  For me this is the real formula for success.  

 

This great article is from the People Discovery blog, associated with The e.MILE People Development Magazine: the Magazine is currently running a series for the 6 months April to September 2014 based on the challenges identified by The Centre For Creative Leaderships report 2013 Don't Miss Out!  Sign up here to be notified of our subsequent issues and posts

121242255

If you are a leader, you are continually developing and "Sharpening the Saw".  If you lead and manage teams, then you must read about our Inspirational New Leadership Programme.  Sign up now to find out more details when we launch in July 2014.  There is no obligation to undertake the programme, if you sign up today, you will simply be sent more information about the programme.  You can unsubscribe at any time!  Click below to register for further information.