Light Their Fires

LIGHT THEIR FIRES
by
William Cottringer

Knowing how to motivate employees is an important part of any supervisor’s toolbox. Fortunately you don’t have to be a psychologist to be an effective motivator. All you have to do is apply practical people principles in a common sense way. Below are some common sense approaches that are effective in lighting fires under employees and guaranteeing better performance.

START BY FILLING SEATS WITH THE RIGHT EMPLOYEES

All problems have a starting point and this is true for motivational problems with employees. All facilities and jobs have their own unique characteristics, needs and requirements and employees are all different in regard to their own characteristics, abilities and preferences.

It doesn't make any sense to not match employees with the right job. An employee who is introverted, prefers the outdoors, dislikes paperwork and is highly intelligent will not be motivated to work a boring, indoor, public job that involves mountains of paperwork. Spending a little time profiling jobs and employees has a big motivational payoff.

INERTIA IS WORKING IN YOUR FAVOR

All employees have a drive to perform well. This is a natural desire. In fact, poor performance may be actually harder to maintain because it requires an employee to make up excuses and to cover his or her tracks. Most of the time poor performance has good reasons. The starting point in being a good motivator is to see and remove the barriers in the way of employees keeping them from doing their best.

Make sure your employees understand what you expect, that they know how to do all the aspects of the job and that they have the right tools to do the job well. You can't assume poor performance is a result of low motivation —it might have more to do with unclear expectations.

KNOW YOUR EMPLOYEES

Each employee is motivated to perform well for different reasons and even the same employee may need to be motivated in different ways at different times. Human motivation is complex and it runs in cycles. There is no shortcut here, you simply have to take the time and effort to get to know your employees well enough to know what best motivates him or her. For some it may be public recognition, while for others it may be the promise of a promotion.

Make sure something you are using as a reward is in fact rewarding to the particular employee you are dealing with—you can’t ever assume that without checking it out. And when bad habits tend to be repeated, look for the hidden rewards that are being given to that performance and remove them.

SHOW YOUR OWN BONFIRE

A supervisor's most effective motivational tool is his or her own energy and enthusiasm. Employees learn much more from what they see than what they are told. When you are demonstrating a positive attitude and enthusiasm for doing your job well, that is what other employees see and follow. How you act as a person will generally outspeak what you try to do or say as a supervisor.

Acting like a champion in your attitude and conduct is something you can't afford not to do. Besides, being a good role model has too many other valuable payoffs. The importance of supervisors leading by example cannot be emphasized enough, especially in the area of motivating other employees.

COMMUNICATE WELL

The second most important motivational tool is good communication. Good communication includes careful listening to understand what is meant and thoughtful use of words that are clearly understood, don't waste anyone's time and have high impact. A good rule to follow is listen twice and talk once. The worst thing you can assume is that you can say something so simply that it can't possibly be misunderstood. It sure can.

Also, understand that defensive communication inhibits good motivation . This is any form of communication that appears to be controlling, judgmental, insensitive, over-certain, dishonest or superior. Using a more supportive tone—conveying equality, freedom, tentativeness, empathy, honesty, and acceptance—will always have a better impact on improving motivation of employees.

EXPLAIN YOURSELF

Whenever you have to carry out an unpopular action that can hurt moral and motivation with employees at your sight, take the time to explain the reasons for what you are doing. You would be surprised how a reasonable explanation can take away the bad taste in somebody's mouth and get him or her to move on without much resistance.

Employees have a strong need to know what is going on and they can handle bad news better than we usually assume. Also, too many times basic expectations you have for employees go unspoken. Laying your expectations for all employees in very clear terms with justification is the best way to start. That way there can be no doubt about their understanding and acceptance of those expectations.

BE CONSISTENT

Good motivational intentions can be easily undermined when you are not consistent in demonstrating a good standard of work for employees to follow and when you don't reward good performance and correct poor performance consistently and quickly. Employees will spot these inconsistencies immediately and they will be like termites eating away at all the good foundation you have built at your facility.

Supervisors also have to pay close attention to the perceptions employees can develop, concerning favoritism and fundamental fairness. The supervisor’s role is always challenged by the need to balance the concerns and issues of each individual employee against the over all welfare of the work team and company.

COMMON NEEDS

All employees have certain needs in common. These common needs are achievement, recognition, reasonable autonomy, responsibility, meaningful work, jobs that require skills, a finished product to see and feedback about their performance. As a supervisor, you are in an excellent position to help all employees meet these important needs. Designing jobs to accommodate such needs is a good place to start. When you help employees meet certain needs, you will be gaining loyalty and improving productivity at the same time.

It is also important for supervisors to realize that employees are all functioning differently on their own personal hierarchy of needs. For instance, they may need to feel safe and secure in their job and comfortable in their work environment before they can feel free to join in fully as a team member. And, they may need to gain a sense of belonging and acceptance as a team member, before they can reach their full potential. It is good practice to avoid trying to talk philosophy with someone who is hungry and cold.

TEAM BUILDING

Sometimes what you can't accomplish in the way of motivating employees yourself, the team can do. Actually the positive energy from a good team working together toward a common goal, can accomplish much more than any individual employee can on his or her own. This is the important Gestalt Principle—meaning that the whole is much more than just the sum of its parts. A good example is the strength of a rope as opposed to individual hemp fibers.

That positive motivational energy arising from good teamwork is called synergy and it is a valuable thing to tap into. Making your employees aware of this valuable principle is a good place to start—reminding them of the results they are getting as a team.

USE A TELESCOPE AND A MICROSCOPE

Good motivation has to be a difficult balancing act between emphasizing consistency for the good of the facility and listening to and acting on the unique concerns of individual employees. Basic human nature involves the opposing needs of wanting to be respected for our individuality and at the same time being treated fairly and equally, just like everyone else. This divergent conflict between freedom and equality is a perpetual one that you can only rectify to avoid either one getting too much unfair airtime in the workplace.

Employees need to have their individual concerns and issues hear, even if you can’t act on them in their favor. Arranging enough fair wiggle room for individual employees can have major payoffs. So can explaining why the bigger picture is more important when that is in fact the case.

THANK YOU

The most powerful two words you can say to an employee who has done a good job is, "Thank You." In fact, leadership guru Max DePree says a leader’s first responsibility is to tell people where they are going and the last to say, “Thank you.” When these words are timely and genuine, they hit the bull's eye. The amazing thing about it is the words are free. Writing personal thank you notes and sending them to employees at home is also quite effective. Employees never get tired of hearing or reading these words.

Motivation doesn't have to be so mysterious and you don't have to have a graduate degree in psychology to be a good motivator. Practice these simple fire-lighting techniques with all the employees at your company and you will get excellent performance.