The Hamilton Spectator produces a comprehensive business section 1x per month which includes a section called "The Academic and The Practitioner” In this section they propose a question and someone from the academic world gives their opinion and someone from the business world gives an opinion.
In the latest edition the question that is asked is "Can you suggest some programs to help motivate and reward staff? Is an official recognition program even helpful?
The Academic
For improving an individual employee's motivation the Academic discusses the obvious reward systems of fair compensation based upon performance. She also believes it is important to emphasis lifelong learning to employees by creating opportunities to do so with tuition subsidies and training programs. She also goes on to mention that employees are motivated if they have a sense of belonging.
The Practitioner
Motivating people is the responsibility of leaders in the organization according to the Practitioner. She goes on to discuss how regular and consistent feedback to your team is important in order to achieve this. She discusses how feedback needs to be random and is most effective when it is specific and describes the impact of the behavior on the project, client, team, etc.
My thoughts…
Companies are realizing the importance of creating a positive work environment which offers unique benefits that recruits and retains top talent. According to a recent poll of local employees some of these top benefits include an employee fitness centre, onsite daycare and a nap room.
As leader the organization I work for I believe giving regular feedback is important as this allows open communication between me and my team. I often hear stories of employees who feel like their supervisor’s do not recognize their efforts and contributions to the team. Giving feedback does not have to take significant amount of time in fact it should be simple gesture of appreciation. Today there are several technologies that allow for instant feedback and recognition even if employees are working remotely.
To help know what feedback to give I use a quick questionnaire with my employee which helps me assess their motivational needs. This questionnaire is based around the McClelland's Human Motivation Theory, which suggests that there are 3 dominant motivators.
I also believe an engaged employee is a motivated employee. If you give employees responsibility and the opportunity to be invested in a certain project you are more likely to achieve your desired outcomes which will help contribute to the organizations success.
Below is a link to an overview of the McClelland’s Human Motivation Theory
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/human-motivation-theory.htm
How do you motivate your employees or how are you motivated as an employee?
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