Motivation – why it needs a mandatory certification

When you look at the certificates you need in the current job market to be taken seriously for any management position, you will come across many which explain the processes and most important tools to do your job. Let's take the classical role of a project manager as example. The certs you will often find listed in job ads:

• Project Management Professional (PMP by Project Management Institute) which focuses on some processes and a lot of tools and important corner stones of success as well as some pitfalls. It also requires at least 3 years of experience in Project Management for a potential test taker
• Prince2 Foundation & Practitioner which mostly focus on the processes surrounding a project as well as the roles of the project manager or the director
• ITIL which is applicable if you are delivering or maintaining services
• Scrum Master or PSM which explain how agile software development works, focusing on the tools, processes and roles

While some of these certifications actually mention employee motivation and its value for the success of any endeavour, their overall focus is always the structure of how to organise a project and which tools to use for which purpose.

Now let's assume you are a project manager of a medium-sized software development project and implemented all the processes stated in the certifications and have the right tools available for your job as well as managed to put together a team of qualified employees who will be available to you for the time required as per project plan. There is only one issue: Your employees, or as the literature talks about them: resources, don't like you and the company they work for very much. They are frustrated by the work environment but unwilling to look for a new job just yet. Does anybody honestly think this project will have any kind of chance to be successful?

You can have a project with bad processes and simplistic tools, as long as you have very well motivated and qualified employees, they will find a way to do the job required of them even if they have to overcome hurdles to reach the goals. Who has not done something above and beyond their responsibilities to help out a boss or colleague or friend they liked and enjoyed working with? Of course there are issues that simply can't be overcome by the team itself without proper processes and defined risk responses, like a sudden and serious lack of funds by the project sponsor or never ending change requests in a non-agile project. I am not saying the previously mentioned tools and processes aren't useful, but they simply aren't worth very much if your employees are not motivated to do a good job. We can call the people who are part of our team “resources” as much as we like, but they simply are not machines. They will not function properly with just food and orders put into them.

That simple fact is pretty much known to everybody, but strangely enough policies and decision making do not seem to follow the conclusions this would demand. Especially large companies really seem to love their reorganisations. They happen every few years, always shake things up and usually resemble a model used in the past. Instead of continuous reorganisations for more efficiency or other benefits, spend some money on motivation and establish a culture where people can feel valued for their efforts. You simply need managers who know how to motivate their teams, give them the means to do so and give employees a true channel to challenge company policies and best practices without repercussions. It will not take nearly as much money as a reorganisation to make your employees happier with their jobs. The salary is only a small part of employee satisfaction, there are way more facets you can influence without spending huge amounts of money.

A well respected certification solely focusing on human psychology and motivation as mandatory requirement for any future hires, and maybe even used in the company to train existing management staff, would neatly increase the overall success rates of anything managed by these individuals. It would raise awareness across all levels of management and very likely result in much happier employees in general. Happy employees are also proven to be more innovative and willing to spend extra effort, sometimes even for free, to get a job done. They might even start recommending you to their friends and associates which would help you out in recruitment and marketing. Apart from the cost to drive an initiative like this, it is a guaranteed win scenario for many companies. In this day and age with a huge global market you need any edge you can get to be continuously successful. Why not start by utilising the people you have to the best of their abilities?

The great thing about this is: Even if there is not going to be a relevant and wide-spread certification, anyone leading a team can effect this change, if necessary. So, if you are leading a team of people, not robots, start educating yourself how different people can be motivated and ask your superiors to help you with it while pointing out the benefits. Every company will have its methodologies, processes and tools in place which will not be changed easily or quickly. But they most likely won't tell you how to make your employees enjoy their job and work together effectively towards a common goal. The better you are at this, the more successful you and your teams will be, no matter the environment. And the more people are living this simple fact, the more companies might start noticing what actually drives those eagerly sought after profits.

If I had anything to say, no one would be allowed to lead people without knowing what motivates and demotivates their employees. Noticeably low motivation in teams would lead to mandatory trainings and mentoring for the managers responsible. Many workplaces would be far better off, people would be way happier, loyal, more innovative and productive. And companies would be more successful.