M is for Motivation

This article is number four in a series of nine. In article one, Work in a Rainforest, I outlined the ways in which your office functions as an ecosystem and laid out how to use the acronyms T.E.M.P and R.A.I.N. to impact your team's satisfaction and engagement levels. To read that full article click here.

Article 4 of 9

This article will discuss the M in T.E.M.P. - MOTIVATION.

When some people hear the word motivation they instinctively think of "the carrot and the stick" philosophy of leadership. But the reward and punishment model of motivation is outdated and ineffective in today’s modern business environment. As outlined in Daniel Pink’s book Drive, intrinsic motivation is the key to long-term success and job performance. As a manager you need to be well-versed in ways to support the intrinsic motivation of your associates to perform their day-to-day work. Why would a manager need to motivate their employees to do their day-to-day work? Well, there aren’t many jobs in the world that offer enough variety and stimulation to self-sustain motivation. Unless you are a professional athlete, astronaut, or a movie star, most people go to work from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, doing the same repetitive tasks week in and week out. Most are working in jobs they never even knew existed when they were growing up. Ask yourself this question; do you think that when they were kids, your employees would play (insert their position title here) with their friends? If not, chances are that their jobs don’t inherently motivate them. That’s where a good manager comes in.

The Right Seat on the Bus- In his book Good to Great, one of Jim Collins’ keys to moving a company from a good company to a great company is hiring the right people and having them sit in the right seats on the bus. This metaphor is simple in concept but difficult in execution. There are many programs and methods used by businesses to help get each associate in the right seat on the bus. Programs like StrengthsFinder from Gallup, Myers-Briggs and DiSC are some of the more popular assessments used to help understand who your associates are and where they might best be seated on the bus. Using one of these programs, in addition to a strong internal behavioral interviewing program, can help you hire the right people into the right roles and increase the chances of keeping your associates intrinsically motivated to execute the tasks of their job.

**Business hack: Hire an executive coach trained in the assessment your company uses in order to help develop your internal talent and maximize your chances of employees working in their ideal roles.

Resources- One of the hiccups that can prevent associates from performing their day-to-day tasks is a lack of up-to-date and easy-to-find resources. Tasks performed on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis are not necessarily embedded in their muscle memory. Neither are randomly performed, one-off tasks. For these random, non-routine or infrequent tasks, having up-to-date and easily accessed resources like short explainer videos and job aids is key. Nothing throws off motivation quite like frustration. And nothing is more frustrating than not having the answers you need when you need them.

Feedback- Providing feedback to your associates on how they are performing in their various job tasks is another key to continued motivation. Often, associates are left wondering if they’re doing a good job. Providing that feedback in a timely and routine manner allows them to adjust in the areas where they are not performing as expected and continue doing the things that are gaining them praise, recognition, and success. One approach to feedback that I have always found beneficial is to focus on behaviors and actions more than results. So, for example, if a sales agent is hitting their sales targets, don’t just praise the result of hitting that target. Praise the actions and behaviors you believe led to those results. These feedback sessions work twofold: #1- Your associate feels good about receiving communication and feedback from their manager on what is and is not working. #2- They have a clear understanding of what behaviors you appreciate and want to see repeated.

Creating and maintaining motivation within your team helps drive employee satisfaction as well as productivity. But motivation alone is not enough to help maximize employee satisfaction. Check out other articles on driving and influencing satisfaction as a leader with Tone and Enthusiasm.