Motivating Employees

Attitude

As simple as it might look, the manager must accept himself. He must be glad for his strengths, and be willing to assume the effects of his weaknesses. He must also have a very clear goal and a burning desire to reach it. For instance, he might take time to write down what he expects to achieve for himself and for his organization and then measure what he is willing to do to reach such a goal. With such an attitude towards himself and towards his goals, the manager will be sustained in his own motivation.

Equilibrium

But motivation depends also on the various factors surrounding the office. A well oriented manager will do a poor job of motivating himself on a Monday morning if he appears at work too tired from weekend activities or too preoccupied with personal problems. To achieve a successful state, the manager must reach a point of equilibrium where he balances the demands made on him by the following factors: 1) his health, 2) his family, 3) his job, and 4) his personal finanges (Fig. 1).

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Fig. 1.

If one of these factors pulls too much on him, a problem situation will develop rapidly. For instance, if one spends 14 hours a day at work without taking time for physical fitness or family life, a crisis will follow sooner or later. On the other hand, if one spends more money than one cares to earn, financial preoccupation will appear to worry him on the job, and his motivation will soon go down.

The well motivated manager strives to keep a state of equilibrium.

Action

However a period of hard times might happen, this could lead the manager into a state of inactivity where he feels guilty about missed opportunities and worried about expected problems. In such a situation, two reactions could develop: 1) a fight to get out of the problems, or 2) a flight into dreams, vacations, and even more inactivity.

Starting to fight is easier said than done. But the only way to achieve a success is to step into action and to do it NOW. As shown in Figure 2, acting on the first task that comes to mind, even if it is a small task, will generate a success, which will in turn create a satisfaction generating confidence and leading into more action for another task. Failure to step into action NOW will only force the wheel the other way around, creating more problems, less satisfaction, and loss of confidence in one’s ability.

Therefore, to motivate himself first, the manager must have a proper attitude, reach a state of equilibrium, and step into action NOW.

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Fig. 2.

Attitude

First, the manager must have a positive attitude towards the employee himself, considering him as a really important person. He must also take into consideration the employee’s own objectives and try to see how they can be achieved while achieving the company’s objectives. We will see later on how active listening and active communication can be used daily to do this.

Equilibrium

More often than not, the manager will be successful in motivating his employees but at times, even the best attitude and the best intended action will not produce the expected results. Then, more attention will be required to find out whether the employee might have reached a loss of equilibrium among the demands from his own four factors: 1) his health, 2) his family, 3) his job, and 4) his personal finances.

Active listening will permit the manager to find out. Even if it takes time, it will be well worth the effort. When the employee realizes that his demotivation is created more by his own problems rather than by his job or his boss, he will be on his way to a solution and a better motivation on his job.

Action, active listening

Active listening starts with a sincere effort from the manager to find out what the employee has in mind, a patient effort to let him express his own problems and a heroic effort to keep his mouth shut. Active listening is achieved without probing but with feed-back given to the employee in a NONEVALUATIVE manner. As an example, if the employee mentions that he considers a deadline too close for a job, an active listening approach might go like this: “You think that you will not have enough time to do the job?”, where as on an evaluative answer could be “I have calculated that deadline and you can do it!”, or even better “Who do you think you are, to evaluate how long it takes to do it?”

Active listening will let the employee realize which problems are caused by himself (problems he can solve), and which problems are caused by the job (problems the manager can solve).

Active communication

Active communication means a planned and purposeful effort to give the employee information on the enterprise and on his performance within it. The more informed the employee will be on the goals and results of the enterprise, the better the chances of keeping his interest. The more often he will be consulted in decisions that affect him, the better the climate will be.

Moreover, each employee wants to know where he “stands with the boss.’’ Unfortunately, in many cases, he finds out only once a year and if he happens to be under a labor contract, he might not even find out. “If I have not told you anything, it is because I am happy” is not enough. Congratulations and appreciation for a job well done will do much more to develop a proper climate of motivation.

Therefore, active communication requires the manager to reserve some time in his busy schedule to inform the employee, consult him, and give him proper and frequent feed-back on his performance.

An effective program of motivation for employees starts with a well motivated manager which shows him a proper attitude, looks for his equilibrium, and uses active listening and active communication.