Earlier this year, I wrote about putting some things into place to build employee motivation. It seems appropriate now to take a look at how a manager or business owner can go about maintaining that motivation. It would be easy to say just keep up with what you have already done but that would be a little too simplistic, although pretty much on the money.
In my last blog I outlined four steps to consider in setting up a motivational program:
- The goal – a clear and articulated vision of where the organization is going.
- The needs – finding out what your employees need to help them work toward the goal, which usually involves training, mentoring and coaching
- Implementation – getting a program up and running.
- Leader behaviour – in particular the need to continually communicate with the employee body as a whole and individually.
Having gone through these steps and achieved the result of motivated employees then the trick is now to maintain that motivation. What can happen in an organization where a motivational program is initiated is that there seems to be an initial positive response to the program and then after a while as the program slows in momentum and there appears to be a slump or a falling off with employee enthusiasm.
What has happened is that employees become used to the initiatives in the program and start to recognise them as part of the fabric of their work, almost like wall decorations, its there, its good, but it is what they expect. This behaviour can be attributed to what twentieth century psychologist Frederick Herzberg called hygiene factors which are essentially lower order needs that once fulfilled, no longer account for job satisfaction.
This means as leaders we need to be constantly looking at the needs that are going to provide continued job satisfaction. In a nutshell Herzberg saw these as:
- Achievement
- Responsibility
- The work itself
- Recognition
- Growth
- Advancement
So having initiated a program how can we ensure that the initial levels of motivation are maintained?
To maintain motivation in the workplace this initial process can now be looked at as a cyclical, constantly in motion program as illustrated in the diagram.
It starts with knowing where you are going and while the long term vision may not change too often (of it will at some point) there are interim goals and targets that are being updated and need attention. Needs can be reviewed and re-assessed in line with the new interim goals.
However, there now may well be an additional consideration at this point and that is a keen eye to the factors Herzberg highlighted. In most cases these factors will arise in the needs analysis undertaken with your employees as a matter of course. If not, then you as leader need to ensure they are covered in the program as it continues to be developed. This is not always easy as some smaller organisations do not have the same opportunities for advancement and others may have difficulty mixing up the work itself as can be the case in larger organisations. However, there are 6 factors and a critical look at how your organisation provides any one of these opportunities for employees will reveal several different areas where improvement can be made.
The cycle continues, as new needs and satisfaction factors are recognised then the motivational program can be tweaked and updated accordingly. Constant communications from leader to team continues to be a major factor and than around we go again.
A final note! Many organisations start out putting a program into place but then let it falter. This will invariably lead to dissatisfaction and demotivation in the work environment. Consistency is the key.
