ILM Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management / assessment ILearner name: Svetlin BandakovLearner registration number: XWB1906 Motivation is the word derived from the word ‘motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals. In the work goal context, the psychological factors stimulating the people’s behaviour can be success, job-satisfaction, team work, desire for money, etc. One of the most important functions of management is to create willingness amongst the employees to perform in the best of their abilities. Therefore, the role of a leader is to arouse interest in performance of employees in their jobs.
Motivation Quote that says, “Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.” – Norman Augustine, CEO, Martin Marietta Corporation Augustine’s Laws (Penguin, 1987)Motivation can be specified as a management process, which encourage people to work better for the overall benefit of the organization, by providing them motives, which are based on their unfulfilled needs. The matters arising is: “why managers need to motivate employees?” it is because of the survival of the company contributed to this statement by arguing that it is necessary for managers and leaders of organization to learn to understand and effectively deal with their employee’s motivation; since motivated employees are the pillars of successful organization in present and future century. She also indicates that unmotivated employees may probably contribute little effort in their jobs, stay away from workplace as much as possible, go out of the organization and make low quality of work. When employees are well motivated, they help the organization to grow and survive in a fast-changing workplace (Lindner 1998). Thinking about where i am working we are motivated in line with Mayo’s example Human relations movement by minutes at meetings, briefings. Managers take care an interest on their workers. Exist also effective communication for a team work and support.
Staff representative and engagement.An effective performance management action is an important tool for employee motivation for optimal performance. However, it is not an enough condition for effective performance management. The most important issue with any performance management system is how critically it is taken and how devotedly it is used by managers and employees. (Pulakos2009, 103) Performance management is all about perfection, synchronizing, upgrading to create value for and from customer with the result of economic value creation to stockholders and owners. The expansion of performance management is clearly very large, which is why performance management must be viewed within an enterprise as a tool to improve on employee motivation for high performance.(Cokins 2009, 9).
The Carrot and the Stick approach to motivation, makes use of rewards and penalties in order to induce desired behaviour. The philosophy of this approach comes from the old story that the best way to make a donkey move is to put a carrot out in front of it or jab it with a stick from behind. Carrot refers to rewards, which are offered or promised to individuals to act in the desired way; while stick refers to punishments which are to be inflicted on individuals, for not acting in the desired way. In a way, carrot refers to positive motivation; and stick refers to negative motivation. A brief account of specific rewards and penalties; which form part of the management motivational system are following examples and in connection with my work – profit sharing schemes for employees, payment of pension rules, bonus payment, granting leave with pay, free PPE, job security.
More rewards are staff promotions, delagation of authority, assignment of challenging work. For example, from the next working season i will expect ‘carrot’ reward (more like a status symbol) – a company car and annual salary increment.Examples from ‘stick’ elements in my work are – loss of job (meaning loss of regular income), penalties, fines, transfer to an inconvenient work place, taking unfit for delegation of authority, not allowing un individual to participate in decision – making.
Our motivation is dynamic and not constant. I was read, that motivation is like phone batteries. You charge it full, then use it for useful things (like starting a business, hustle for side projects, to be achievable at work, etc). Then your motivation levels will go down – just like the flat battery. One of the most important factors in employee motivation is how often our hard work is recognized. Setting clear, achievable goals provides a real boost of motivation each time one is conquered. Applaud results part of what makes setting small and measurable goals so important is that it provides plenty of opportunities to applaud the results of our team’s hard work. It is very important to stay positive, fuelled and healthy seeing and share the pig picture.
To get the most from our employee relationships, I use some things that ultimately motivate employees to achieve. Trust is a powerful motivational tool and those leaders that are more transparent with their employees will find surprising results and new types of opportunities to develop talent (ILM – Level2).Being relevant and to helping to employees increase their relevancy is important and those leaders that participate in this process will help cultivate increased performance levels and loyalty. Helping our employees get discovered will elevate their motivation to achieve. As a leader, i should encourage our employees to exceed expectations by taking responsible risks. Don’t allow my employees to walk around carrying a load of guilt. I share my journey with them – my failures and successes. An employee that doesn’t believe will never achieve.
We should help our employees embrace the unexpected and help them navigate uncertainty and change. Many people are confused in today’s workplace about their future. Necessarily we must motivate them by giving them the perspectives they need to achieve.One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to motivate others is not taking their individual needs into consideration.
Some of the managers usually try to motivate their employees using one method like offering a salary raise without noticing that individual differences can affect the level of motivation of each employee.The ways that motivate people to achieve are unique for everyone. Regardless of what motivates us and drives us to reach peak performance – it must be managed and balanced. The objective should be to help one another and to accomplish this each of us must identify those things that motivate us both to work together.Trust is a powerful motivational tool, and leaders who are more transparent than their employees find surprising results and new opportunities for talent development. Appropriate and authoritative to increase their relevance is important and the leaders involved in this process will help cultivate increased levels of efficiency and loyalty.
You need to help employees get their motivation to achieve. As leaders, we need to maintain high levels of motivation from our staff if we can open the door to opportunities and accelerate their chances of progress. Many people are confused in today’s workplace for their future. We have to motivate them by giving them the prospects they have to achieve. People are motivated to have safety and security. Everyone wants a solid future, but you never know when time will pass.
That’s why we’re all in a race with time and we’re motivated to do it faster than ever. As leaders, we need to take into account the security and the stability of the way we direct our employees and monitor how their motivation levels increase. Happiness nourishes self-esteem and gives people hope for a better tomorrow. We are all victims of too serious a job.
One of the negative things about working in companies is often the lack of time and attention that is paid to motivation of the staff. It is always one of the nonurgent priorities that can be deferred till later. The net result of this is that motivation also becomes not only non-urgent but non-important too.
Poor performance employees who are not motivated perform at a lower level than other workers. If there is no excitement for the mission of the company, it can be difficult to maintain the momentum needed to complete a project. Low productivity is a consequence of not being motivated, and other employees may feel that they must work harder to compensate for unfinished tasks. Tying in company goals with employee objectives helps your staff members to see the importance of their positions. Encouragement helps employees know they are appreciated.
However, poorly performing employees can consume an inordinate amount of a small business owner’s time and dealing with late or unfinished projects can directly impact your earnings.Dissatisfaction When one employee lacks motivation, it can bring down the morale of the entire office. Gossip and complaining among the ranks can turn content employees against you. Dissatisfaction with their jobs can spread, and you may find that your employees want to quit. To avoid this scenario, talk to the unmotivated staff member as soon as you notice a change in behaviour. Reward employees who complete assigned duties on time to show that there is no basis for job dissatisfaction at your place of business.Decreased revenue employees should add value to your small business, whether through increasing revenues or supporting staff that produce sales. When an employee is not motivated to do the job properly, it can impact your bottom line.
If employees do not produce enough work product to pay for their positions, they become an expense instead of an asset. As a small business owner, it’s imperative to financially justify jobs added to your workforce, such as balancing the cost of staff members with the revenue their positions can generate. Employees with no motivation, who do not complete assignments, may not help your company keep pace with your projected earnings.Boredom saps motivation and reduces productivity. In order to maintain motivation at the office, keep things lively and new. Avoid routine by allowing employees to explore and be inventive. Try to think of ways to put a new spin on old tasks, and to make sure that the most repetitive tasks don’t always fall on the same people. Schedule short breaks so that employees can interact and check in with loved ones.
Early researchers thought that employees try hard and demonstrate goal-driven behaviour in order to satisfy needs. For example, an employee who is always walking around the office talking to people may have a need for companionship, and his behaviour may be a way of satisfying this need. At the time, researchers developed theories to understand what people need. Theories may be placed under this category: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s two-factor theory.
The Hierarchy of Needs theory was coined by psychologist Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”. The riddle of the theory is that individuals’ most basic needs must be met before they become motivated to achieve higher level needs. In the beginning the hierarchy is made up of 5 levels:1. Physiological – To survive, people need air, food, water, sleep, and so on. Employees need a comfortable work environment. If we work in conditions of extreme hot or cold, we probably won’t advance to the next level in the pyramid — simply won’t have the motivation. Similarly, employees need access to such things as restroom breaks, food, drinks, and so on.
2. Safety – People must feel that they, their family, their property, and other resources are safe. When it comes to the workplace, if employees have to worry about their personal safety (for example, getting hurt or sick at work) or their professional security (read: losing their jobs), morale will suffer.
Ensuring a safe workplace may include providing securing the building for example. Job security is also key.3. Love/belonging – social acceptance issues such as friendship or cooperation on the job4. Esteem – positive self-image and respect and recognition issues such as job titles, nice work spaces, and prestigious job assignments.5. Self-actualisation – the need for personal fulfilment, the need to grow and developAccording to the hierarchy of needs, we must be in good health, safe and secure with meaningful relationships and confidence before we are able to be the most that we can be.In his later years, Abraham Maslow explored a further dimension of needs, while criticizing his own vision on self-actualization.
By this later theory, the self only finds its actualization in giving itself to some higher outside goal, in altruism and spirituality. He equated this with the desire to reach the infinite.6. Transcendence needs – A person is motivated by values which transcend beyond the personal self (e.g., mystical experiences and certain experiences with nature, aesthetic experiences, sexual experiences, service to others, religious faith, etc.).
Maslow Hierarchy of needs is not really a technique or a process. It is more of an understanding. It allows you to gain a deeper insight into people and how they are motivated; what motivates them and indeed how you as a leader can help keep them happy.Managers often on an instinctive and incorrect basis, establish money as the only reward for employees, and emulate to use it as a sole motivator. The limiting factor is that, during a recession, money is not always readily available to service rewards in a transactional way. Much the same as in our examples above, Needs are not met by just hard-earned cash, which satisfies levels 1 and 2, the manager will seek other ways to create motivation, like empowerment, a team belonging, building relationships and developing the person’s true potential.An example: If a man is struggling in his home life and facing a divorce, he will more than likely not be interested in self-development and driving to self-actualisation.
The leader’s goal here, would be to give him time; maybe time off, to help resolve the issues he has, as well as coaching and counselling to try and satisfy this need. Once he is stable, the manager can then help coach the individual through the next level of needs, to eventually self-actualisation.On the other hand, a person that is already at the self-actualisation stage, can be empowered, delegated to and given new tasks and further ‘advanced’ training to help them reach new levels of success and development.The model helps in two areas: 1. It gives you as a leader, a greater understanding of motivation levels in humans, so you can devise a myriad of ways to keep your team happy and motivated. 2.It enables you to spot people’s motivational needs and their appropriate level, which in turn will help you communicate and care for your members on a one-to-one basis.Similarly, if we’re in any kind of leadership role, we can find out for our self why Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is so valuable to managers and use it to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of the people were leading as much as our reasonably can.
Let’s say you’re in charge of a group to do a charity run. That might offer a sense of social belonging, the esteem of others, self-respect for doing something worthwhile, and meet cognitive needs by representing an exciting new challenge. But if run meetings take place in a dangerous area, we’re not satisfying the need for safety, and that would need to be addressed.
Thinking how our staff motivated at work through each of the levels Maslow’s theory, I can arrange it as follow:Physiological needs – Environment without stress, good and stable payment.Safety needs – Health and safety rules, correct PPE, trainings and flex risks assementsSocial needs – Social notes boards, suggest box.Esteem needs – Newsletter, praises, employee of the monthSelf- actualisation – promotions, coursesBeing a leaders or managers, we want satisfied employees, people who are excited to come to work, motivated to do a good job, and open to changes and collaboration.
Satisfied employees are happier, more content, and more motivated at work. Ultimately, we want to find out about how satisfied the employee is with their roles and the company as a whole in a measurable way. The ways to check is on – in – on conversation with a few questions and to record what they say. Sometimes it’s difficult for employees to express themselves to their leader or manager, especially if they are concerned about how the other party will take it. That’s why surveys, especially anonymous ones, can be helpful tools. Read between the lines in the conversation, too.
Motivating our employees is a delicate challenge that requires more than an annual review or jotting a few notes in someone’s personnel file. Just like getting in shape or learning a new language, bolstering the motivation and performance levels of your employees won’t happen overnight. We should make expectation clear. Employees without goals can be naturally aimless.
Provide them with clear achievable goals and make sure there are measurable standards in place to evaluate their performance.Always we must be specific in our feedback. For example, instead of telling an employee he, “did a great job,” compliment him on the way he organized his presentation, the citations he used, or his public speaking style. Encouraging our leadership team to take this same approach when we’re trying to motivate our employees for a major event, “This is the most talented, hardest working group I’ve ever had, and that’s why I know we can win this working competition.”Everyone is familiar with the annual bonus trip awarded to the top-performing employee.
A series of smaller rewards throughout the year to motivate ongoing performance excellence. For example, instead of an annual trip, award several three-day getaways for each quarter. There is no universal way to empower or motivate employees to be more productive, more active, more creative.
We can do with a few very simple actions is to start communicating more effectively with them and to understand their view of the work they are doing. We all know that when they ask us what we think, it means that someone is interested in us and our way of perceiving things, and this inevitably reflects the way we treat our obligations.Choosing the right communication methods and exact communication channels.
There are different opportunities to communicate our message in a corporate environment. In most cases, a combination of different communication channels is most effective and quickly available to employees. For example, you can also use multimedia feeds like intranet, professional blogs, social networking pages in combination with verbal communication and face-to-face meetingsWe must not forget that engagement is carried over from top to bottom. The more engaged the direct managers, the more satisfied will be all the other employees in the company. Workshops and group discussions to show employee opinion is valuable to the company.
Developing a different approach depending on the employee’s age. As far as possible, consider policies and procedures in the company with employees. The main factors in the work environment that influence their engagement are the attitude with colleagues, the work tasks and the sense of satisfaction with the work done. It is necessary to make clear the possibilities for career development in the company at the entrance. We need constantly to know and understand what our employees are expecting and what they understand under career development.Finally, we motivate our employees that they are the most asset of the company.
