Up to this point we have reviewed two of the three components for creating a motivational environment: the organization, and the organization and its managers. The organization’s role in the motivation picture is to satisfy the fundamental needs of its employees; the role of the manager and the organization working together is to demonstrate that they value their employees.
For some employees this is enough. If these first two components are taken care of then these employees will be motivated. However, the vast majority of employees need something else. That something else is the responsibility of the manager and is the third component of motivation. The manager’s job in motivation is to build the self-worth of the employee. Self-worth is the opinion employees have of themselves. The higher an employee’s self-worth on the job, the more she will be motivated and productive. The manager needs to build self-worth in employees through:
- Recognition of achievements
- Independence
- Interdependence
- Interesting work
- Advancement
Recognition of Achievements. Part of The Platinum Skill of Giving and Receiving Feedback was devoted to giving positive feedback, which is the prime way to recognize team members’ achievements. There are three additional ways that managers can recognize their team members: by offering visibility, publicizing accomplishments, and exerting strong will.
Offering Visibility. A manager can give a team member greater visibility by letting her make presentations (or parts of presentations) to senior management, having her attend more influential meetings, or mentioning her contributions to others in the organization.
I once worked for a manager who pulled a few strings and got our team’s picture and names displayed on a local downtown bill-board. That was visibility!
Publicizing Accomplishments. When the team member achieves something that is outstanding, the manager can get it written up in the company newsletter or in a local newspaper. The manager can also notify a professional organization in the team member’s field that might be willing to do a story on the accomplishments.
A manager friend of mine at Fox Studios takes her team out to lunch every few months and invites two or three senior managers to meet her team (a clever tactic because the senior manager usually expenses the lunch).
Exerting Strong Will. The theme of Pygmalion, the George Bernard Shaw play that later became the musical My Fair Lady, is that through the power of strong will, an individual can literally transform another person. That is what Professor Higgins did with Eliza Doolittle. Managers can transform their team members as well through the power of strong will. What managers expect of their team members and the way they treat them often determines how a team member will perform.
Independence. Giving team members independence is another way that managers can create a motivating environment. Having autonomy, or freedom on the job, means being able to work on one’s own without close supervision. Before a manager can give team members independence, he has to develop each individual to perform at productivity stage 5. Independence reflects the team member’s need to set his own goals and targets, have ownership over his work, measure his own progress, be in control of his own behavior, be accountable for important resources, and have the authority to make decisions and solve problems on his own. There are several levels of decision making that managers use, depending on the productivity stage of the team member (Decision-making levels and productivity stages). When motivating a team member by giving him independence, the decision-making level should be a level 5.
Interdependence. Another responsibility of the manager is providing a motivational environment that builds team spirit, where team members rely on each other and help each other with their work products. Interdependence is not in conflict with independence. Being independent does not mean that a team member works in isolation. He needs the assistance and support of other team members in order to accomplish his goals. Interdependence is also different from social relationships. Interdependence is directly related to performing one’s job effectively, whereas social relationships are about having people to be friendly with.
In order for managers to build this interdependent working relationship, they need to do the following:
- Let all team members know the specific goals of the team (work unit or department).
- Make certain that each team member understands the team’s priorities and procedures.
- Have the team understand how it fits into the organizational mission.
- Have everyone on the team work toward accomplishing the goals of the team.
- Give feedback to team members on how they are progressing in meeting team goals.
- Give team members the resources needed to meet the desired outcomes.
- Allow team members to make decisions that affect their work.
- Keep all team members up-to-date about what is going on in the organization.
- Instill open, honest, and timely communication among team members.
- Make certain that all team members have the skills they need to accomplish their roles.
- Have all team members understand the roles and responsibilities of every other team member.
- Teach team members how to resolve conflicts, listen to each other, and recognize the contributions of other team members.
As a way of motivating team members by building this interdependent working atmosphere, the manager needs to make sure that the team members themselves can answer, with their other team members, questions regarding their progress. Next is a sampling of the type of questions interdependent team members ask when they are working with other interdependent team members. The questions cover four categories of interdependent behavior: interaction, function, purpose, and procedure.
Interaction includes communication, trust, support, friendliness, feedback, and satisfaction. The questions interdependent team members need to ask are:
What is the quality of our interactions?
Do we give personal and task-related feedback?
Are there underlying conflicts that are not addressed?
How open are we with each other?
Do we trust each other and how do we demonstrate that trust?
Do we share our perceptions about each other?
How satisfied are we with working together?
Are we sensitive to all team members’ feelings and how do we show that we are?
Have we been sure to include everyone in the team, in order to develop a sense of belonging?
Do we work together with conviction, excitement, and enthusiasm?
Function includes job content, roles and responsibilities, use of resources, participation, involvement, and control. The questions interdependent team members need to ask are:
Do we know what tasks we need to accomplish?
Do we know which team members should be doing what?
How are we interdependent with each other?
How should we work with each other to get the job done?
How can we best coordinate our efforts?
Have we organized our tasks and roles appropriately?
Have we built in the necessary checks and balances?
Do we know who is accountable for what?
Who is going to take the lead in which areas?
How will we keep ourselves on track? How will our progress be monitored?
Purpose includes the clarification of mission, plans, and priorities. The questions interdependent team members need to ask are:
What are our specific goals, and do they align with the goals of the department?
Where are we reaching are goals?
What do we need to do to reach our goals?
What are the specific steps for reaching our goals?
How do we know when we have reached our goals?
Are we all in agreement on our direction?
Can we all commit to these goals?
Who determines our goals and priorities?
With what other organizational goals or policies must we coordinate our goals and priorities?
Do we all believe we are working on the right goals?
Procedure includes decision making, problem solving, managing (including managing perceptions and cultural differences), evaluating, setting agendas, and running meetings. The questions interdependent team members need to ask are:
Do we make decisions as a team or do certain individuals dominate?
How well do we follow up on decisions and implement plans?
Do we listen to everyone’s opinions? Can we cite examples?
What is our process for solving problems?
How are our meeting agendas set?
How do we evaluate our own individual and team performance?
What are the ways we recognize each other’s efforts?
How are our meetings run? Are they stimulating? Useful?
Do we make the best use of our time or do we need to make some changes?
Are we too formal and rigid in how we do things? Can we cite any specific examples?
Are we flexible enough to change procedures in order to be more creative and innovative?
Do we step back occasionally to examine our meeting process? Do we need an outsider to observe our meetings and give us feedback?
There are four major cues that should be an immediate signal to managers that their team members are not working interdependently. These cues are:
Disagreements and conflicts are not being addressed.
Results are not being achieved.
There is much confusion about who is supposed to do what.
Team members are beginning to talk about each other in negative ways.
Interesting Work. If a team member finds her job interesting and feels that she is learning each day, then she will want to come to work and be motivated while she is there. Tom Peters, the management guru, once said that when you get your people to believe that they are building their résumés by coming to work each day, then you will have the most motivated people imaginable. If you, as the manager, want to have a team member motivated by the work she does, try implementing the following practices:
- Give the job variety. When a team member has to do the exact same job day after day, she will become bored and may even burn out.
- Make the job as challenging as possible. If the job is too easy the team member will lose interest and her self-worth will decrease.
- Change the job on occasion. Do some cross-training, so the team member can learn other tasks and become familiar with what happens in other areas of the company.
- Make the job valuable. Let the team member know how her job is helping the department or the organization meet its goals.
- Provide learning opportunities. Send the team member to training programs and courses or provide for online learning so she can develop more technical knowledge and expertise.
- Make the job fun. Ask the team member how the job could be more fun and follow up on as many of those suggestions as possible.
Advancement. Another motivator that builds self-worth is the opportunity for advancement. Individuals get motivated when they work hard and are appreciated for it. One of the best ways that managers can show this appreciation is to advance their team members. Advancement, in today’s work world, can mean either moving to a higher level of responsibility or moving laterally. Because of decreasing levels of management, it is more difficult to promote team members than it used to be. There are just not enough slots to move people into. Therefore, managers also have to concentrate on advancing their team members through growth and learning opportunities. All managers need to have a career development plan for each of their team members in order to prepare them for either type of advancement.
The Jason McGuire Case
Picture the perfect team member. That is Jason McGuire. His performance didn’t go unnoticed. After two years at Dimensional Inc., Jason had received two promotions. First, he went from a staff position to an assistant manager. He was never an accidental manager because his company spent six months training him before he was promoted, and he had the desire to manage people as well. Then, a few months ago, he moved in to the managerial role. Jason is motivated by many things, but his prime motivator is advancement. He is currently considered to be an excellent manager. But this is the end of the road for Jason. There are only two levels above him and neither of the individuals holding those slots are going anywhere, as far as anyone knows. It would be very easy for Jason to lose his motivation now. He hasn’t. The president of the company has explained the realities to him and is making every effort to expose Jason to new learning and growth opportunities. He knows that he may not be able to hold on to Jason forever, but he will try to keep Jason motivated as long as Jason works for Dimensional Inc. Jason plans on using his new learning to move the company in a new direction. He hopes he will be in charge of that new division.
Motivational Dos and Don’ts for Managers
Remember that what motivates people is always changing. Today, a team member may be focused on self-worth needs. Tomorrow, she can go out and buy a new house with a big mortgage. Then the need for job security and a higher salary becomes much more important. Furthermore, what motivates one team member may not motivate another person. One team member may be motivated by public recognition, while another might be motivated by the one-to-one feedback that he gets from his manager. Managers need to individualize their motivational strategy as much as possible.
Find out what motivates each team member. There are ways that managers can find out which components of motivation a team member desires. The manager can observe the behaviors and actions of the team member; that may give some clues. Or the manager can listen to some of the statements that the team member makes. For example, if someone says to you or others on the team, "How much longer can I keep doing what I have been doing for the last three years? It is beginning to drive me crazy," then you know that team member needs some new opportunities or challenges. The most expedient method is to talk directly to your team members and ask them what they are looking for—what they need—to be more motivated.
Don’t let values and assumptions get in the way of providing a motivating environment. Managers often make decisions based on their values and assumptions. When they do so, they are not seeing clearly what really motivates each of their team members. They are seeing motivation only from their point of view.
The Case of the Nursing Assistant
At a large medical center in Houston, Texas, one of the best nursing assistants the center ever had was Angela. Patients would come back and visit her; she would get cards and presents. The story was that when patients checked in for elective surgeries, they would ask to be put in her wing. Angela had worked in this 5,000-bed facility for over five years, always getting glowing reviews from her supervisors.
Eventually, the director of nursing took notice of Angela. As a surprise and reward for Angela, the nursing director pulled a lot of strings and got Angela into nursing school without having to take any entrance examinations. The director even got her a nursing scholarship. As a result of these great deeds, what do you think Angela did? She quit her job and became a nursing assistant at another hospital. The medical center lost one of its most valuable team members.
The nursing director made two fatal mistakes. First, she applied her motivational values to another person. She thought that any nursing assistant would, of course, want to become a nurse. But that’s not always true. Perhaps at this time in her life Angela was happy being the assistant, or what really motivated her was the recognition she was receiving, not the opportunity for advancement. The second mistake the nursing director made was not speaking directly to Angela or having Angela’s supervisor speak directly to her.
Don’t punish your excellent performers. Many managers and organizations punish their best performers each day and usually don’t even know that they are doing it. When excellent performers get punished for being excellent, they will stop performing at high productivity stages. Punishing excellent performers leads to an unmotivating work environment. You are probably thinking that this makes no sense: Why would a manager and/or an organization punish their best? Here are a few examples of why it happens:
The best performers get more work to do, usually the same type of work. When your best performers finish their regular assignments, do you say: "You’re done and it’s only two o’clock; that’s great. Take ten more to do." It is much better if you give them new projects or new learning opportunities instead.
Top performers are held to different standards. Managers expect their best performers to be perfect and make no mistakes. When they do make a mistake, they are often treated much more critically than others who make many mistakes.
Top performers are taken for granted. Because they always perform well, their managers assume that they will continue to. Managers also fail to give their best performers as much positive feedback as they deserve. They may also get the most difficult shifts, be assigned to the more undesirable locations, or get the most challenging employees because the manager knows and trusts that they can handle it.
Managers don’t let their top performers leave. Managers come to overly rely on their excellent performers. I’ve known managers who wouldn’t let their best performers go to conferences or training classes. If they are gone, who’s going to do all of the work? Some managers may even try to prevent their outstanding performers from getting a promotion.
Managers don’t always reward their top performers. Team members who exceed their goals and outperform their colleagues should be rewarded. If they are not, the excellent behaviors and performance will diminish.
Don’t reward poorer performers. This key point about motivation is the opposite of the previous point. When managers and organizations reward poor performance, it has a tremendous negative impact on all those staff members who are doing well. It also sends the message that the manager and/or the organization condones poor performance or behavior. Managers need to help their poorer performers improve, not reward them for not doing what they are expected to. Here are a few examples of how poorer performers get rewarded in the workplace:
They keep getting paid. Not only do they keep getting their salaries (which are probably the same salaries as their better-performing peers earn), but they also get the annual raise and any cost-of-living increases.
They have it easy. Because they cannot handle the job, poor performers get easier assignments, better shifts, choicer locations, and more resources.
They get promoted. The ultimate reward for the poor performer is a promotion. Some managers don’t want to deal with poor performers. They don’t want to have to give them constructive feedback, document their performance, or discipline them. To make their own lives easier, some managers would do anything to get them out of their group, even if it means an undeserved promotion.
The Ronald Ackerman Case
Tamara Livingston is a manager at a well-known manufacturing company in Minnesota. Five years ago one of her employees was Ronald Ackerman. Ronald was a challenging employee. His work was competent but he had a terrible attitude. He would not share information with his teammates, failed to attend team meetings, and called people idiots to their faces. He felt he knew more than anyone else. Tamara was a new manager at the time and, overall, was handling her new responsibilities well. However, she just couldn’t deal with Ronald. She had a few feedback sessions with him, but he was totally uncooperative. She decided not to get an ulcer over the whole thing and gave him a much better rating than he deserved on his performance appraisal. When Ronald viewed the job openings on the company’s intranet, he saw a position that he liked, applied for it, and got it. It was at another location and a higher level. To make a long story short, for the last five years everyone at this company has been doing the same thing with Ronald. No one has wanted to deal with his unprofessional behaviors. He is now a departmental director. The irony of the story is that after the last company reorganization, Tamara now reports to Ronald, and he is making her life miserable.
She deserves it. She should have done something about his behaviors when he was her direct employee. Instead, she rewarded him for his poor behaviors.