You can make their day or break their day. Your choice. No kidding.
Other than the decisions individuals make on their own about liking
their work, you are the most powerful factor in employee motivation
and morale. By your words, your body language, and the expression on
your face, as a manager, supervisor, or leader, you telegraph your opinion
of their value to the people you employee.
Feeling valued by their manager in the workplace is key to high employee
motivation and morale. Feeling valued ranks right up there for most
people with liking the work, competitive pay, opportunities for training
and advancement, and feeling "in" on the latest news. Building
high employee motivation and morale is both challenging and yet supremely
simple. Building high employee motivation and morale requires that you
pay attention every day to profoundly meaningful aspects of your impact
on life at work.
- Your Arrival at Work Sets the
Tone for the Day
Picture
Mr. Stressed-Out and Grumpy. He arrives at work with a frown on his
face. His body language telegraphs "over-worked" and unhappy.
He moves slowly and treats the first person who approaches him abruptly.
It only takes a few minutes for the entire workplace to get the word.
Stay away from Mr. Stressed-Out and Grumpy if you know what's good
for you this morning. Your arrival and the first moments you spend
with staff each day have an immeasurable impact on positive employee
motivation and morale. Start the day right. Smile. Walk tall and confidently.
Walk around your workplace and greet people. Share the goals and expectations
for the day. Let the staff know that today is going to be a great
day. It starts with you. You can make their day.
- Use
Simple, Powerful Motivational Words
Sometimes
in my work, I get gifts. Yesterday, I interviewed an experienced supervisor
for a position open at a client company. She indicated that she was
popular with the people at her former company as evidenced by employees
wanting to work on her shift. Responding to my question, she said
that part of her success was that she liked and appreciated people
- telegraphing the right message. She also uses simple, powerful,
motivational words to demonstrate she values people. She says "please"
and "thank you" and "you're doing a good job."
How often do you take the time to use these simple, powerful words,
and others like them, in your interaction with staff? You can make
their day.
- Make Sure People
Know What You Expect
In
the best book I've read on the subject, Why Employees Don't Do What
They're Supposed to Do and What to Do about It, by Ferdinand Fournies,
setting clear expectations is often a supervisor's first failure.
Supervisors think they have clearly stated work objectives, numbers
needed, report deadlines and requirements, but the employee received
a different message. Or, the requirements change in the middle of
the day, job, or project. While the new expectations are communicated
- usually poorly - the reason for the change or the context for the
change is rarely discussed. This causes staff members to think that
the company leaders don't know what they are doing. Hardly a confidence,
morale-building feeling.
This is bad news for employee motivation and morale. Make sure you
get feedback from the employee so you know he understands what you
need. Share the goals and reasons for doing the task or project. In
a manufacturing environment, don't emphasize numbers if you want a
quality product finished quickly. If you must make a change midway
through a task or a project, tell the staff why the change is needed;
tell them everything you know. You can make their day.
- Provide
Regular Feedback
When
I poll supervisors, the motivation and morale builder they identify
first is knowing how they are doing at work. Your staff members need
the same information. They want to know when they have done a project
well and when you are disappointed in their results. They need this
information as soon as possible following the event. They need to
work with you to make sure they produce a positive outcome the next
time. Set up a daily or weekly schedule and make sure feedback happens.
You'll be surprised how effective this tool can be in building employee
motivation and morale. You can make their day.
- People Need
Positive and Not-So-Positive Consequences
Hand-in-hand
with regular feedback, employees need rewards and recognition for
positive contributions. One of my clients has started a "thank
you" process in which supervisors are recognizing employees with
personally written thank you cards and a small gift for work that
is above and beyond expectations.
They need a fair, consistently administered progressive disciplinary
system for when they fail to perform effectively. The motivation and
morale of your best-contributing employees is at stake. Nothing hurts
positive motivation and morale more quickly than unaddressed problems,
or problems addressed inconsistently. What about supervisory discretion,
you are probably thinking. I'm all for supervisory discretion, but
only when it is consistent. People need to know what they can expect
from you. In employee relations, an apt statement is: "Fool me
once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." (attribution
unknown) You can make their day.
