Motivation
by Miki SaxonCompanies are pushing managers to do more with fewer resources than ever before.
Managers are searching for ways to motivate their people in a world where bonus money has dried up.
But for many employees it isn’t about money. Today’s workforce is far savvier and as long as they see that management, especially executive management is taking a similar hit, relatively speaking, they are willing to push through if their primary desires are satisfied.
In my 20+ years as a recruiter I found that people want to
- make a difference;
- be treated fairly; and
- matter [to boss and colleagues].
There are other things you can do to show your appreciation and motivate your people without killing the budget, but they are worthless if you don’t supply the three on the list.
Assuming they are functional in your organization, what else can you do to tangibly show your appreciation, reward effort, lighten deadline-induced stress and just have fun?
Here’s a starter list to get you thinking
- Chocolate—in any form.
- Beyond chocolate use any/all kinds of food, fruit, cheese, etc.
- Coupons for iTunes.
- Buy stuff that can be taken apart so that each part becomes a prize. People can trade and swap parts with each other to complete their thing faster. (Small fountains, gadgets, etc.)
- Buy annual family memberships to various museums, zoos, etc. (several to each). Most offer special visitation nights to member-only exhibits and holiday showings. (The memberships may even be tax deductible.) Use the specials as rewards along with loaning out the regular memberships.
- Create company money worth $X that can be added together and redeemed for cash to use as they choose. You can have different denominations that add up over time with a max of ten bucks. Remember, it’s not about money it’s about fun.
- Take the team to lunch for hitting deadlines.
- Have one or more daily hero awards with a special trophy or cap to wear the following day.
- Give annual Hero Awards (like the Oscars) at an awards dinner (maybe combine with your Holiday party). Projects and sales worked on could be like movies with various categories. Employees do the voting. This balances the instant gratification with longer term rewards.
Whatever you do, don’t forget your admin and support staff. They usually get left out of rewards/motivation programs, but they shouldn’t—they are the oil that keeps that machinery humming and things won’t run smoothly without them!
What do you do, or would like your manager to do in the line of motivation? Please take a moment and share your ideas with other readers.
Flickr photo credit to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoosvanrobin/4435615438/
May 17th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Well Miki, for once I disagree with most of your propositions. Individual prizes play against collaboration, unless there is a consensus in the team for a very specific event. Some in your list are good and cheap as moral maintainers (like fruits baskets for a team, team meals, …).
Also gift cards, to me are a big turn off because they lack differentiation. You can buy a bunch of them and distribute them like the treat you give for trained animals.
A while back a friend and I came to the consensus that, to be effective, the prize has to be valuable to the person giving it. Usually the most precious resource is attention. So a prize has to show that the person giving it used some of its attention for the person receiving it.
May 17th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
I guess I wasn’t clear, Denis. Once the collaborating is over and the decisions made the project is usually divided up and the various pieces assigned to each member of the team. Teams rule, but teams are made up of individuals and the ones who go above and beyond their role deserve extra recognition.
I disagree about gift cards; it depends on how they are given, as you so aptly point out. If they are handed out like training treats that is how they will be seen. But anything given with much fanfare and general knowledge that [whatever] isn’t given lightly can work. An engineering vp I used to work with gave out pencils with the company name on them, but because of how they were presented every engineer in his organization busted their tail to win one as did the project teams.
May 17th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
I will keep on disagreeing with. In software development (my area of expertise), once tasks are given out they still require a high level of collaboration which is not achievable if there are individual incentives. Further, the more the hero culture, the poorer the work as it is easier to be a hero fighting the fires you lighted than producing quality products.
I have very strong reservations about the expression above and beyond in the way it is used in business. And what it could mean if used by an ideal manager does not matter.
And again gift cards will always be less powerful than an actual gift or even cash.
May 17th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Denis, I’m not locked into gift cards. As to the individual vs. team, I still believe in both. One manager I cited did complicated hdwr/sftwr projects in the telecom field and another manages sftwr dev on the east coast (not overseas:), so they are both tech.
Reading back, I still wasn’t clear enough. The rewards for both team and individual were for achieving company/project goals, not for efforts to look like a hero. The second guy awards ‘hero’ status weekly based on nominations by the team, not the manager.
The point I was trying to make is that even with a tight budget managers can find tangible ways to show appreciation. I also said that this was in addition to the primary three primary desires, * make a difference; * be treated fairly; and * matter [to boss and colleagues].
Nothing means anything without those three.
May 18th, 2010 at 5:27 am
I would not even contemplate anything without the three primary ;).
Having nominations made by the team is certainly the way to go. Even then weekly seems like having low expectations, Exceptional things do not happen every week ;)
I will stick to the idea that as far as projects go appreciation for achieving goals should be collective and not individual.
There is a space for individual appreciation. That space is, in my opinion, more in the one on one realm rather than in the public recognition for individual goals agreed between the manager and the employee. There is also the appreciation shown for individual achievements (such as exams, certifications, …).
Bottom line still, there is no magic recipe, is there ? each group is unique and needs a custom tailored appreciation program…
May 18th, 2010 at 9:08 am
The weekly heroes is in addition to daily recognition.
I think we can agree to disagree. I’ve always followed and recommended the “praise in public, criticize in private” approach; additionally, when all recognition is team-based it can easily lead to ego-merge, which is a disservice to all.
But the most important thing we agree on is the need for skillful managers who understand their people and give them what the need.
And we aren’t the only ones who are thinking along non-monetary lines, but I have to wonder just how well the survey results are implemented.
this just came in my email.