Ten Motivating Factors That Work Wonders With Employee Performance

This article is a continuation of the last week’s posting on accountability.

A study at MIT showed that monetary incentives are great for routine, mechanical work. But how does it play when talking about cognitive, advanced tasks? Not well at all. Watch this super cool animation and get a better understanding on how the labor force will react in 5 to 10 years.

A very common myth of the past was that the best way to motivate an employee is through monetary rewards. The truth is that money can be a good motivator if it is applied in context with other factors. Money alone never works. Sooner or later they will be back for more and if you don’t have it or want to give it to them someone else always has deeper pockets than you. Motivating employee performance involves a number of factors.

The main by-product of motivation is to create enough goodwill so the employee performs to their optimum ability; thereby optimizing the overall productivity of an organization. Here are some factors, in no particular order, that have proven to work wonders:

1. Personal appreciation – a warm personal ‘thank you for a job well done’ can go a very long way in motivating an employee to put in his best. For best results, ensure that you do this with utmost sincerity and at exactly the right time.

2. Acknowledge efforts in public – a good way to motivate all employees is to acknowledge in public the achievement of every employee who does a good job. This instills pride in the employee who is praised in public and makes others wish to be in his shoes.

3. Provide Conducive work environment – promote an open and friendly work culture. Crush gossip, bullying, politicking, ‘groupism’ and all such factors that interfere with the work atmosphere. Your employees should look forward to come to work, not hate it.

4. Performance appraisal – people need to know what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. Set up performance appraisals at regular intervals and let employees know where they can improve and what they are doing well.

5. Appropriate reward – a good worker should always be rewarded so she feels valued and important. Whether this is with a personal ‘thank you’ card, or a special incentive, or a raise – rewards should not only be given, but also these need to be tailored it gives the employee the most joy.

6. Encourage dialogue – set up an open-door policy where anyone who wants to say something can walk up to you and say it. Make people comfortable talking to you, bringing their suggestions, feedback, demands and worries to you directly. And listen.

7. Down delegate authority – employees work best when they feel trusted with authority and added responsibilities. Down delegate authority and abstain from micro-managing so the employee is empowered in their role.

8. Participatory decision-making – leaving certain policy matters aside, the best is to have your employees participate in all decision-making processes. In this way, they would feel ownership in the company and would work better.

9. Celebrate together – celebrate together every milestone of the company or team. Let them build that feeling of “all are for one and one is for all”. Everyone wants to be part of something, use that to help motivate your team.

10. Encourage family-time – putting in long hours in the work place does not mean enhanced productivity. Encourage people to go home in time; to enjoy quality time with their families; to attain a balance between home and work.

Holding People Accountable

Does this little story sound familiar?

“This is a story of four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it.  Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.”

But, how to avoid this? How to create a culture of accountability and hold people accountable?

Actually, it’s SIMPLE:

S = Set Expectations
I = Invite Commitment
M = Measure Progress
P = Provide Feedback
L = Link to Consequences
E = Evaluate Effectiveness

Let’s explore a little further on what these actually mean?

S = Set Expectations

• The success of any organization comes down to one thing: how well it organizes its members to focus on and work toward the same purpose
• The employees need to know what is expected of them before they can be hold accountable for anything
• The more clearly the expectations and goals are set up front, the less time will be wasted later clarifying – or worse, arguing about – what was really expected

I = Invite Commitment

• Just because your employees know what to do doesn’t mean they will do it. After goals and expectations are set, employees need to commit to achieving them
• Employees are more likely to do this when they understand two things: how the goals will benefit them personally, and how the goals will help move the organization forward
• Once this connection is made they are more likely to buy into the goals, and actually welcome you holding them accountable for the results

M = Measure Progress

• Information is needed to hold your employees accountable. Measure their ongoing performance and gauge whether or not they meet the goals and expectations to which they had previously committed
• Goals are only measurable when they are quantified. Measure the results and compare them to the employees’ goals to discover the gaps that require further attention

P = Provide Feedback

• Feedback won’t solve problems by itself, but it will open the door for problem-solving discussions and follow-up actions
• The employees need feedback to do a good job and improve in areas where performance is falling short of expectations. Most of the time, giving objective, behavioral feedback is all it takes. Setting expectations followed by quality feedback is the backbone of holding someone accountable for results

L = Link to Consequences

• Sometimes employees need a little external motivation to live up to their commitments. When they struggle to reach their goals, they can be helped by administering appropriate consequences

E = Evaluate Effectiveness

• Review how the process has been handled
• Put a systematic and consistent method in place and you’ll find that when people are held accountable for the work that must get done, it gets done

For goals to be meaningful and effective in motivating employees, they must be tied to larger organizational ambitions.

Employees who don’t understand the roles they play in company success are more likely to become disengaged. No matter what level the employee is at, he should be able to articulate exactly how his efforts feed into the broader company strategy.

High performance and success are not dependent on one simple factor or as a result of one or two things. The entire context you operate in greatly impacts your results.

How do you hold your team accountable?

Source: Dilbert

Think and 'Do' Courage

I take a great deal of pride in the work I do for my clients as well as those contacts who aren’t. I have the strong belief that my role is to do what is right for the people and the business. Because of this I may tell people things they don’t want to hear. Some cases I have lost projects because of it. Yet in most situations that is what gets me hired. I tell leaders what they need to know. If I am not the right resource I refer them to the proper professionals that can help them out. While I am conscious of the client’s situation, I recommend the action they need to take and leave it up to the referral to see if they can help. After all, if someone has a cancer in their business, I do not want to be the one who didn’t warn them.

So, why am I saying this? Recently, I was disturbed with a conversation that took place with a service provider who was talking to me about referrals. To be clear, this was not a situation where i was asking him for referrals, but more of a discussion about the practice. He said he was often aware of needs that his clients had, but was reluctant to refer to outside professionals because of what they might think. He knows his clients have issues that could prove costly, yet he fails to act out of fear that they will balk at the idea or that they are unwilling to pay for outside help. The difference here is there is no perceived malpractice.

I do not say these things because I desire more regulations or outside intervention. I merely wish to bring up a point. As a professional, you owe it to your clients and colleagues to help them be successful. If relationships are built on a foundation of trust, I believe your clients and others in your professional circle will value what you have to say. If you are concerned about it you may need to do a gut check on how solid your relationship is. My clients are successful because they are told things they don’t want to hear, but NEED to hear. Because of this, many of these people are experiencing substantial growth when other businesses are struggling to make ends meet. They set goals and act deliberately while their competition worries and unfocused action. Many of my clients are building and expanding while others are shrinking. Ninety percent of my clients are through referrals. In other words, they came to me because someone had the courage to say there is help available.

Whether you are a banker, accountant, marketer or even a coach, your actions towards your clients speaks volumes about your values. That is why as professionals we build relationships of trust with other service providers. We may not be doctors, but we do need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. It is how we will grow and innovate. So go out and build those relationships, check backgrounds, research and build your circle of professionals. When you help a business grow, not only do you help that business, you help create jobs, and strengthen our economy. Not to mention you have strengthened a relationship that will pay you back many fold over time. Be courageous, build trust, and create growth.

Courage is about believing in something beyond your own needs and doing something about it. Very rarely is courage spoken about in organizations beyond some poorly defined misguided heroic notion that has more to do with aggressive competition and very little to do with nurturing people and creating a sustainable business model.

"And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~ Marianne Williamson

Turning up the courage can help you to:

Move into your future with inspired vision and upgraded mental models, knowing that there is nothing you cannot aim for and nothing that you need to regret. Manage your lows and create more highs; turn every failure into success and build on it further.

Discover your own unique way to make a difference and to make a living. Map out an inspiring future and create a dynamic 'plan for the road' designed on who you truly are, where your purpose lies, and on a realistic appraisal of the market.

Despite the prevalent fear in our changing society, be the person who transforms fear into courage by seeing the bigger context and the facts behind the emerging bigger picture. Turning up the courage provides orientation and advice on the order behind all the chaos.

Create powerful relationships that add extra value for you and others. Identify your allies and let go of extra ballast. Open your eyes to your own role in attracting the relationships that are in your life now. Negotiate assertively and authentically. Lose your fear of engaging with others in conflict. Resolve conflicts in an empowered way.

Five Key Qualities of Great Leadership

Good Leadership Is Both What You Do and What You Don’t Do

As you work with others in your leadership role, you will find that they face decisions, challenges and problems as often as you do. A good leader resists solving other people’s problems, but rather works alongside them to help them recognize opportunities and resolve difficulties for themselves.

It is critical for a leader to create an open environment that supports experimentation and discovery—key ingredients for both mistakes and successes. An open environment also includes time set aside for reflection, analysis and discussion about what is going well and what needs to be improved.

Key Quality I: Interpersonal Skills

This skill set reflects your ability to interact with others in a positive manner. Good interpersonal skills are vital to leadership development success. A leader who is empathetic, compassionate, fair, and encouraging will generate the personal trust and respect needed for leadership effectiveness.

Key Quality II: Self-Management Skills

Self-Management is the ability to prioritize and complete tasks in order to deliver desired out comes within allotted time frames. It is also the ability to control one’s emotions in challenging “pressure” situations. It requires self-awareness, valuing feedback, making decisions, and being willing to change. A leader who cannot effectively manage him/herself will have great difficulty in managing others. Leaders who have mastered self-management are more effective role models for everyone around them.

Key Quality III: Personal Accountability

This is a measure of your capacity to be answerable for your personal actions. Personal account-ability is leadership by example. A leader who has mastered personal accountability will inspire his/her protégé and team to exhibit the same behaviors and encourage leadership development within the team.

Key Quality IV: Influencing Others

The most critical key to leadership success is your ability to personally affect others’ actions, decisions, opinions, or thinking. Today’s leaders are in a position of influence, rather than power. To achieve results, you must be able to influence others to bring out the best in themselves as well as to do what you want them to do.

Key Quality V: Goal Achievement

An effective leader is one with the overall ability to set, pursue, and attain achievable goals regardless of obstacles or circumstances. This applies to the leader’s personal goals, as well as the protégé’s individual goals and team goals. Individual and team goals must be complementary to achieve the highest level of success.

Everyone has these skills to some degree. Some of these skill sets will develop a good administrator, but a good administrator is not automatically a good leader. It is the complete mastery of all the skill sets that creates the true leader.

Why Are These Skills So Important?

Your leadership effectiveness is measured through the results achieved by your team. Your role is to inspire and motivate them in ways that values their contributions while guiding them in a cohesive direction takes strong leadership skills. Effective leadership at any level demands that you be able to gain the trust of others, both one-on-one and in groups. They depend on you, their leader, to have a vision, see possibilities and work with them to create and achieve mutual goals. This is the cornerstone of the “art” of leadership!

Poor Leadership Skills Can Create Many Difficulties

A leader who has not developed good leadership skills can’t solve problems effectively. He/she may not have the empathy, self-confidence or motivation skills necessary to establish and meet goals or communicate them effectively.

 A true leader:

• Communicates a vision and a belief in its value

• Inspires others to peak performance

• Sets appropriate examples for others to follow

• Instills a sense of order, direction, and focus

• Responds to adversity without faltering

• Clearly communicates the “what”, “why”, and “when” behind every “how”

Leadership Skills Can Be Developed … They Must Not Be Left To Chance

An aspiring leader must create a personal development plan and pursue it at all times.

 As a leader you must learn to:

• Lead based on the foundation of your values, beliefs, and experience

• Share information with others; don’t hide news, feedback, critiques, or praise

• Support people when they make mistakes and help them learn from the situation

• Choose your battles wisely

• Be decisive

• Not make decisions for others

• Listen to others problems and help them define solutions

• Be persistent

• Encourage others to take initiative; reward them for independent decisions

• Not procrastinate

• Build teams and empower them to address problems

• Recognize the value of others contributions

The Best Leader Is The Most Effective Manager

A good leader inspires his/her team to constant improvement. A good leader recognizes that his/her own ongoing power and influence come from empowering others around them. A good leader nurtures leadership qualities within the team to complement his/her own development.