Employee motivation, in my view, is key to creating long term successful companies. While there are no magic bullets out there, here are 9 tips that we’ve gathered over the years that can help any manager improve the motivation of the people working for him or her.
Every year most employees go through a performance review process where the employee and the manager set goals for the upcoming year. In the past 15 years of working in and with organizations, I have experienced a variety of performance reviews. Each of them had the good intention of reviewing past performance and setting performance goals and metrics for the upcoming year. But each performance review process regardless of how well thought out and defined seemed to fall short.
Some of the most common performance review blunders are:
There are probably many other blunders that could be listed above, but this list provides a glimpse of how a poorly developed and delivered performance review can turn even the best employee into a disengaged employee.
Now that you are aware of the potential blunders, what will you do to improve your performance review process?
It is never too late to change.
Do you know how you are compensated for the work that you do?
You may be surprised that there are many employees who have little understanding of how they are compensated for their work. How can that be possible? Aren’t employees motivated by money? If this is true, then why would they not know how to squeeze every penny out of their compensation plan and maximize it?
Over the last year, I have interviewed approximately 50 individuals soliciting feedback about their incentive compensation plan. Surprisingly, even though the industries and compensation plans were different, the interviewees stated similar concerns about how they were compensated for their work.
Here is a snapshot of some of the responses:
The above concerns can lead to an unmotivated workforce which can turn into organizational or departmental goals being unmet. There is little room for error in today’s economy because it may determine the success or demise of an organization.
In this new economy, effective and aligned compensation plans can be an effective tool for harnessing individual, team, and organizational success.
Monday started like any other day for Catherine. She arrived at work, turned on her computer, scrolled through 100 emails or so, and checked her voicemail. Before coming into work today she felt fine in fact Catherine was singing in her car, smiling, and quite happy. But after her initial morning routine was completed she found herself staring at the computer screen, not moving like a wax statue and before she knew it 10 minutes had past. She shook it off and wondered what is wrong with me?
She thought to herself,“Why am I just bla, I have no energy, where is the zip I had this morning when I was singing in the car?”
Catherine glanced over at her coworker, who was crazy busy shuffling papers to and fro and looking like at any moment she might collapse from exhaustion. Catherine rolled her chair over to Diane’s cube and asked, “What is wrong with me, my morning was going great and now I don’t feel so well. I have no energy and I caught myself staring at my computer screen for 10 minutes, this is not normal.”
Diane kindly smiled and said, “Awe, I know what is happening, you have a virus called lack of motivationitis, I heard it has been going around the office lately.”
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Lack of motivationitis is not a real scientifically vouched for virus but the signs and symptoms of an unmotivated workforce are just as toxic as any real virus. Motivationitis can spread and corrupt an organization quietly and without warning. You may have experienced the symptoms yourself;
Do you recognize yourself in any of the descriptions?
What do you do when you feel a lack of motivation taking over your work day?
Do you succumb to it or do you change your perspective and persevere?
When your motivational drive is in the tank sometimes a change is needed in the form of routine, tasks, or environment. The solution(s) can vary but if you concentrate on moving forward instead of staring at the computer screen you will be able to move forward, eventually clearing out the last remnants of the motivationitis virus.
The Fourth of July, Independence Day holiday is almost upon us and many Americans will enjoy some time off from work: spending time with their families, having a picnic in the park, or simply enjoying a local fireworks show. Have you ever noticed what happens to work productivity right before a holiday or a vacation? Does it increase dramatically? The motivator may be making sure projects and clients will be well taken care of while you are gone or simply wanting a guilt free holiday or vacation.
I have noticed an increase in my work productivity right before I go on vacation or before a holiday. It is part of the process I go through and one I actually enjoy.
What, did I just say that? Yes, I enjoy taking care of loose ends, transferring project details, and cleaning up my massive piles of papers on my desk.
I love the feeling of letting go and not worrying about every little thing because I have been diligent about making sure I have a back up person in place in case something happens while I am away. Therefore, the work involved, making sure I have communicated to the right people, projects files have been shared, and worst case scenarios have been thought through is neither easy nor simple. But it is a necessary part of the vacation or holiday process.
Today if you catch yourself staring at the massive piles of papers on your desk or daydreaming about the fireworks show you may see on the Fourth of July don’t be alarmed, take a deep breath and find your inner motivational muse. I double dog dare you to take the first step of clearing up the clutter in your work life in order to make way for the wave of freedom that is coming your way tomorrow.
Today’s Motivation Monday Tip requires an honest look at identifying 5 specific things that will motivate you and/or your team this week to excel.
Managers:
Sometimes it can be hard to ask for feedback but today’s tip could really help your team soar this week! Schedule a 30 minute motivation meeting this week to have an honest conversation with your team on what motivates them.
Individuals:
It is time to stop procrastinating and honestly look at the tasks/projects that you are not motivated to do this week. Schedule a 15 minute motivation meeting for yourself this week.
You could feel the time was coming, closed office doors, secret management meetings, evasive answers to your questions, and efficiency consultants creating report after report about your department. The layoff announcement was like a bomb silencing even the most prepared employee. Next, your coworker arrives with empty boxes in hand determined to hold their head up high and not make eye contact with anyone for fear of breaking down and showing weakness. Packing up a career into a cardboard box can feel like your contributions have been insignificant and meaningless.
So where do you go from here now that your team has been dismantled, budgets are tighter than ever, and you are shell-shocked, in a holding pattern, waiting for the next round of layoffs that might include you.
It is time to dig deep, to go inside and find out what motivates you. The Four-Drive Model of Employee Motivation can be your starting point for this discovery. This mini exercise will help flush out what currently motivates you to work. Based on your answers you will see a glimpse of what is currently motivating you to get up and out of bed and go to work after surviving a layoff.
Mini Exercise #1
Instructions: Read the following questions below and answer them honestly. Write down the appropriate response or print off the article and circle the appropriate response Yes or No
The Drive to Acquire:
The Drive Bond:
The Drive Comprehend/Challenge:
The Drive to Defend:
So how does knowing this help you? A layoff can be a very paralyzing and numbing experience. Taking the time to find out what is motivating you, can help you realize what your current motives are and what actions you are taking to fulfill your drives. By asking the questions and reflecting you may start to free yourself from helplessness and move toward empowerment.
Questions on motivation? Send them here.
In today’s world it can be hard to motivate not only ourselves but also our teams.
Check out today’s Top 5 Tips for Motivating Your Team:
The Four Drive Model of Employee Motivation was presented by Lawrence and Nohria in 2002. The model is a holistic way of looking at employee motivation beyond the typical “pay” model that is prevalent in the corporate world today. I will not go into detail regarding the model here, but just give an overview and how this model presents a new way of thinking for organizational leaders (see here for how leader’s can impact performance using it).
The Four Drive theory is based on research that shows four underlying drives – the drive to Acquire & Achieve, to Bond & Belong, to be Challenged & Comprehend and to Define & Defend.
Each of these drives are important if we are to understand employee motivation. While companies typically focus on the drive to Acquire & Achieve (i.e., base pay, incentives, etc…), the other three drives play an integral part in fully motivating employees. Thus, the new theory provides a model for employers to look at when they are trying to find ways to increase employee engagement and motivation.
For instance, companies often pay lip service to team building as they don’t see how it really impacts performance. The Four Drive model shows that team building relates directly to the drive to Bond & Belong – which in turn can influence an employees motivation. Thus conducting a team building session should no longer be just about having fun for a few hours, it should help a company’s employees positively build and enhance the bonds they have with their co-workers.
The drive to be Challenged & Comprehend highlights the fact that we perform better when we are not bored or “not challenged” and learning on the job. Instead of trying to automate and simplify all work, leaders should look at how they can enhance or create challenges for employees and provide them opportunities to learn and grow. With this in mind, organizations must look at how they are structuring their jobs, their projects, their incentives.
Organizations do not typically think of the drive to Define & Defend when they are thinking about motivation. The Four Drive model indicates that a company’s reputation, its moral bearing, the culture and what it does can all be significant factors in how motivated employees are. Think of the different motivation an employee would have working for a pharmaceutical company that is providing life saving medicines for people or a one that is out to maximize shareholder returns. Which do you think would have the more motivated workforce?
Note: Alright, a theory that is almost seven years old really isn’t new, but theories moving from academics into the real world often require a much longer time to be accepted – so I’d give this a good grade! For more information, please go to www.lanterngroup.com or www.prlawrence.com
A LOOK BACK AFTER ONE YEAR – 6-11-10
We have done much work on increasing our understanding of the 4-Drive Model of Employee Motivation over the past year. We are in the final stages of development for a 4-Drive Assessment that will help people understand how the four drives influence their individual motivation. Another area of research for us was to look at how managers can use the 4-Drive Model to create programs, put in place systems, and change their behavior to increase their employee’s motivation. All of this work has helped solidify our understanding of the 4-Drive Model and reconfirmed our belief that this is a very powerful employee motivation model. We now understand that using this as an underlying architecture for creating a motivational workplace can be very beneficial for organizations.
Our work in this area has also shown that there are some weaknesses to the model. For instance, “Purpose” isn’t really addressed in the model. Purpose has been shown to be a key motivator in individuals – highlighted in Pink’s recent work but dating back to research done by Deci, Eisenberger, Locke, Lathum and most importantly Leider. In the 4-Drive Model we have been forced to put passion under the Define & Defend Drive – but that stretches the current definition for that drive. We are currently working on a way to integrate Purpose into the 4-Drive Model.
All in all, we still believe that the 4-Drive Model is one of the strongest and most robust models to help understand employee motivation and engagement. We are working on developing more actionable tools and programs so that managers can both understand the model and be able to use it to increase their employee’s motivation. It is with great anticipation that we are looking forward to the next year and taking this to the next level.
12/15/10
Please see Rethinking the 4-Drive Model of Employee Motivation for further thoughts on this model and how our thinking has led to new ideas. Here are some other links to blogs we’ve written about the 4-drives Impact on Leaders here, and other four-drive info here, here, here, here and here.
Kurt
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