Employee Motivation
by Damien Clarke
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The Secret to Maintaining Employee
Motivation
Some people are motivated by money or
materialistic things, but in my experience this form of
motivation usually only lasts a short time. Once
the individual has become accustomed to their pay rise or
the company car, they have now set a new comfort zone for
themselves. However, if working conditions or poor
management skills from immediate bosses have not been
addressed or improved you will see employee
motivation return to where it once was. They will
do just enough to keep the bosses
happy.
I was once asked by the CEO of a company
what he could do to motivate his staff. I explained
that not one motivational technique will work for
everyone. Everybody is motivated by different
things and in different ways. After interviewing
each individual member of his staff, I discovered that
there was an overriding feeling that they were not
appreciated by the company or their immediate
bosses.
Have you ever caught yourself or had this
said to you, “You’d better do that or else!” “You
better tidy your room or else!” “That report had
better be on my desk in the morning or else!” These
threats get us into a ‘have to’ motivation mode and we
will do just enough to get the person threatening us off
our back. No more and no less.
In a work environment if you are told ‘do
it or else!’ You will only do enough to get your
boss off your back and not an inch more. This is no
way to inspire people. This is also called fear
motivation. You never get the most out of people if
you try and motivate them by fear. People will only
do enough to quell the threat.
For the managers and supervisors out there,
I am going to give you the secret to staff motivation and
it doesn’t mean providing child minding facilities or
giving everyone a gym membership or a yearly flu
injection. It is so simple and costs absolutely nothing.
Are you ready? Here it is..
Simple
acts that genuinely and sincerely recognise individuals for
their effort and contribution to the company will motivate
people.
I know, it seems so simple - but it works and you would be
amazed at the results achieved by doing this. It’s only natural
to seek acknowledgement for a job well done. Often staff will
work harder and continue a high level of work output if they
know that their efforts are genuinely acknowledged and
appreciated. Just a simple 'thankyou' can go along
way.
It’s important to note that these simple acts of recognising
individuals for their efforts must be done genuinely and
sincerely. If they are used too often they can come across as
insincere and will have a negative effect.
To get people achieving and working towards their goals,
positive motivation is needed not fear motivation.
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