It takes a lot more than an annual barbeque and a bonus cheque at Christmas to motivate staff - anyone can tell you that. But what exactly is the "a lot more"?
It's too simplistic to say that motivation the result of a goody salary, perks and training opportunities. Inspiration takes time, effort and consistency. It's about creating a culture that inspires self-motivation as well as providing the security to develop and innovate. In fact, there is increasing evidence that creating a motivated workforce is less about monetary rewards and more about management styles.
So what can business owners and managers actually do to motivate employees? What really works?
The Harvard Business Review has just completed two major studies aimed at answering that question. In one, 385 employees of two global businesses were surveyed. In the other, employees from 300 Fortune 500 companies were surveyed.
The secret, HBR reports, is to focus on four basic emotional drives: the drive to acquire, bond, comprehend and defend. Each of these drives can be managed by business owners or managers with a particular lever. Here are the drives and levers explained:
1. The drive to acquire. The lever: rewards
Individuals are driven to acquire goods that boost our sense of well-being and wealth. Delight is experienced when this is fulfilled, discontent when it is thwarted.
It's also important to note that the drive to acquire tends to be relative and insatiable: we compare what we have with those around us. And regardless of how much we have, we want more.
Businesses can use this drive to their advantage by creating a reward system that discriminates between good and poor performers, ties rewards to performance, and gives the best people opportunities for advancement.
2. The drive to bond. The lever: Culture
The drive to bond is associated with strong positive emotions like love and caring. When these are missing, negative emotions like loneliness take hold. When employees feel proud of belonging to an organisation they are motivated; when businesses betray them they feel demoralised. This also explains why employees find it hard to move around businesses internally: people become attached to those around them.
So how do you boost morale? Create a culture that promotes teamwork, collaboration, openness, and friendship.
3. The drive to comprehend. The lever: job design
We want to make sense of the world around us, we are frustrated when things seem senseless, and we are invigorated by the challenge of working out answers. In the workplace the drive to comprehend accounts for the desire to make a meaningful contribution.
Employees are motivated by jobs that challenge them and help them grow and learn. They are demoralised by jobs that seem to be monotonous or lead to a dead end.
Design jobs that are meaningful, interesting and challenging - whether or not the task is stacking shelves or managing clients. Talented employees that feel trapped look for new challenges elsewhere.
4. The drive to defend. The lever: performance management
We all naturally defend ourselves, our property and accomplishments, our family and friends. Instinctively we want what is fair and just.
It's important to make sure the way you measure performance and calculate salaries and bonuses meet this employee's drive to defend. If employees feel they're being taken advantage of, or others are being unfairly advanced, they will go elsewhere.
Each of these drives is independent and there is no heirarchy.
This means that you can't pay your employees a lot and hope they'll feel enthusiastic about their work in an organization where bonding is not fostered, work seems meaningless, or people feel defenceless. Nor it enough to help people bond as a tight-knit team when they are underpaid or toiling away at deathly boring jobs.
Here's the evidence: If a business owner whose business ranked in the 50th percentile on employee motivation improved job design, the business would only move up to the 56th percentile. In comparison, an improvement on all four drives would catapult the business up to the 88th percentile. Does this research ring true? How do you get the most out of your employees, or reduce the risk of losing them, when a better job comes along?
(Source: smh blogs)
It's too simplistic to say that motivation the result of a goody salary, perks and training opportunities. Inspiration takes time, effort and consistency. It's about creating a culture that inspires self-motivation as well as providing the security to develop and innovate. In fact, there is increasing evidence that creating a motivated workforce is less about monetary rewards and more about management styles.
So what can business owners and managers actually do to motivate employees? What really works?
The Harvard Business Review has just completed two major studies aimed at answering that question. In one, 385 employees of two global businesses were surveyed. In the other, employees from 300 Fortune 500 companies were surveyed.
The secret, HBR reports, is to focus on four basic emotional drives: the drive to acquire, bond, comprehend and defend. Each of these drives can be managed by business owners or managers with a particular lever. Here are the drives and levers explained:
1. The drive to acquire. The lever: rewards
Individuals are driven to acquire goods that boost our sense of well-being and wealth. Delight is experienced when this is fulfilled, discontent when it is thwarted.
It's also important to note that the drive to acquire tends to be relative and insatiable: we compare what we have with those around us. And regardless of how much we have, we want more.
Businesses can use this drive to their advantage by creating a reward system that discriminates between good and poor performers, ties rewards to performance, and gives the best people opportunities for advancement.
2. The drive to bond. The lever: Culture
The drive to bond is associated with strong positive emotions like love and caring. When these are missing, negative emotions like loneliness take hold. When employees feel proud of belonging to an organisation they are motivated; when businesses betray them they feel demoralised. This also explains why employees find it hard to move around businesses internally: people become attached to those around them.
So how do you boost morale? Create a culture that promotes teamwork, collaboration, openness, and friendship.
3. The drive to comprehend. The lever: job design
We want to make sense of the world around us, we are frustrated when things seem senseless, and we are invigorated by the challenge of working out answers. In the workplace the drive to comprehend accounts for the desire to make a meaningful contribution.
Employees are motivated by jobs that challenge them and help them grow and learn. They are demoralised by jobs that seem to be monotonous or lead to a dead end.
Design jobs that are meaningful, interesting and challenging - whether or not the task is stacking shelves or managing clients. Talented employees that feel trapped look for new challenges elsewhere.
4. The drive to defend. The lever: performance management
We all naturally defend ourselves, our property and accomplishments, our family and friends. Instinctively we want what is fair and just.
It's important to make sure the way you measure performance and calculate salaries and bonuses meet this employee's drive to defend. If employees feel they're being taken advantage of, or others are being unfairly advanced, they will go elsewhere.
Each of these drives is independent and there is no heirarchy.
This means that you can't pay your employees a lot and hope they'll feel enthusiastic about their work in an organization where bonding is not fostered, work seems meaningless, or people feel defenceless. Nor it enough to help people bond as a tight-knit team when they are underpaid or toiling away at deathly boring jobs.
Here's the evidence: If a business owner whose business ranked in the 50th percentile on employee motivation improved job design, the business would only move up to the 56th percentile. In comparison, an improvement on all four drives would catapult the business up to the 88th percentile. Does this research ring true? How do you get the most out of your employees, or reduce the risk of losing them, when a better job comes along?
(Source: smh blogs)
