Managing and Motivating Employees
FEATURE
Eric Huntington
DC
In this article, you will learn some highly workable ways to build fierce loyalty and motivation in your employees.
You cannot gloss over this blithely as if it is a minor matter to be handled by random cash rewards, pats on the back, and an “attaboy.” This issue has taken on international attention as being a serious problem.
The 2012 Global Workforce Study provides a snapshot of the attitudes and concerns of 32,000 workers around the world. It sheds light on how employees’ views affect their engagement in their work and commitment to their employers, and ultimately, their behavior and performance on the job. Globally, nearly two-thirds (65%) of the more than 32,000 full-time workers participating in the study were not highly engaged.
• Stress and anxiety about the future are common.
• Security is taking precedence over almost everything.
• Attracting employees is almost entirely about security.
• Retaining employees has more to do with the quality of the work experience overall.
• Employees have doubts about the level of interest and support coming from senior leaders. ( Willistowerswatson. com)
Retaining Skilled Employees
After culling through so many applicants, you were so happy that you have a cadre of skilled workers who can make your office hum. How do you retain them and keep them happy, free from burnout, and producing with the “pedal to the metal”? Considering the statistics from the referenced study, you are at risk at all times of one or all of them walking, which could be devastating. We are talking about the art of human relationships here.
Engagement and Culture: The New Buzzwords
Engagement from an Employee’s viewpoint:
Employee engagement is getting up in the morning thinking, “Great, I am going to work. I know what I’m going to do today. I’ve got some great ideas about how to do it really well.
"We are talking about the art of human relationships here."
I’m looking forward to seeing the team and helping them work well today.”
Employee engagement is about understanding one’s role in an organization and being energized about where it fits in with the organization’s purpose and objectives.
Employee engagement is about having a clear understanding of how the company is fulfilling its mission, purposes, and objectives, and being given a say-so as decisions are made.
Employee engagement is about being included fully as a member of the team, focused on clear goals, trusted and empowered, receiving regular and constructive feedback, sup-
ported in developing new skills, and thanked and recognized for achievement.
Engaged organizations have strong and authentic values with clear evidence of trust and fairness based on mutual respect, where two-way promises and commitments—between employers and employees—are understood and fulfilled.
This workplace intimacy develops into a unique “culture” all of its own, sometimes even with expressions and a language that is solely understood by the members.
From the Employer’s Viewpoint:
Employee engagement is about positive attitudes leading to improved business outcomes in a way that they trigger and reinforce one another.
Employee engagement is about employees feeling pride and loyalty working for the organization, being a great advocate of the company to clients, users and customers, and going the extra mile to finish a piece of work.
Employee engagement is about drawing on employees’ knowledge and ideas to improve products and services, and being innovative about how everyone works.
Employee engagement is about drawing out a deeper com-
mitment from employees, so fewer leave, sick absence reduces, accident rates decline, conflicts and grievances go down, and productivity increases.
In brief, when employees are engaged (and engaged means connected to a part of the company), they feel as if they are family, appreciated contributors to the company’s mission and purpose, and a valued team member. (Engage for Success)
Culture:
Here it is in a nutshell:
• This is a fun place to work.
• We are results-oriented.
• Everyone here cares about each
other.
• This is a great place to leam and
grow.
A culture is what happens in any group of people who are brought together and organize for a purpose. One of the problems for members of the military, where troops or sailors worked together for survival for years and then retire, is emotional problems to adjusting without the culture of that group. Being severed from the bosom of such a close-knit group of people is not unlike the painful death of a loved one or loss from a divorce. A group develops its own unique way of doing things together as a culture. This makes it clear how engage-
ment and culture are linked, and are vital elements of employee retention. Do they like each other, work in harmony, and trust and admire one another? There is your engagement and culture.
Are Your Staff and Workers Engaged?
Are they part of an office-created culture?
It is axiomatic that employees many times leave not for money but for lack of engagement.
Employees don’t see themselves as talent needing to be managed. They see themselves as individuals seeking growth, purpose, and success in their work. Industry leaders recognize that employees can and will seek out employers who provide an environment that emphasizes their success in alignment with the organization’s success.
What you want is an office or firm that has its own intimate culture of employees who like and respect each other, work and help each other, who love doing what they do, and work together. This culture, aligned with the business’s mission, is as good as it gets. There are many ways to grow this culture of engagement.
Rewards and Recognition
You can do an infinity of things that will build employees’
loyalty and love for you and the work they do. There are great ideas out there in the many articles published by HR companies that are well paid to help employee morale and productivity. They complicate it, though, when it should be simple. Here is how one should do it to make the office or practice run like clockwork with stellar statistics and bright and shiny workers.
Empower Managers
Empower your managers and do not micromanage. Train them to get to know their staff members and know what they need and want. Tailor rewards to those needs.
The Three Levels: Praise, Recognition, and Rewards
Praise is an instantaneous acknowledgment, pat on the back, or “attaboy.” Let others know it. Call them into your office and personally thank them for a job well done. Recognition is a little more, such as by a certificate, open praise in meetings, for going an extra mile, etc. Finally, reward can consist of something personal for the employee, such as a cash award, dinner, or more depending on the extent of the service rendered, which must always have been beyond the call of duty.
A caring manager, whose eyes are always open to give such praise and recognition, is sheer gold. However, there should never be a trace of favoritism.
More Formal Awards Program
There should always be a more constructed and understood awards program to give predictability. An employee can be entitled to a certain award by having achieved a certain statistic or accomplishment, increasing in value according to degree of accomplishment, without any chance of arbitrariness involved.
Ideas
I can list hundreds of clever and totally appropriate awards and means of recognition, and will list a few, but you can Google “ideas for awards and recognition” to find a treasure of ideas. Make sure it is appropriate to make the employee happy, and it must be personal and fit the individual’s idea of what would be an appropriate reward. That is the job of your manager’s perception and good choices.
You can order beautiful certificates for little or no cost that work just fine for recognition. Google “recognition certificates” or “creative employee recognition categories.”
Ask employees how they most like to be recognized.
Employees nominate others for “going the extra mile.”
Profile on Facebook.
Employees earn badges for hitting milestones related to their own important functions.
Shout-outs at all company meetings. Mention someone’s name in front of the whole company, followed by cheers horn the crowd. That is better than a thank-you lunch or
gift card any day.
• Recognize employees who help others. For example, a “Make Others Great” monthly award. The chosen employee is recognized through a Q&A post on the blog and gets the honor of keeping the coveted lime-colored shoe for a month.
• Old-school recognition box.
• When you see something good, show appreciation immediately. Be timely and specific.
• Dole employee recognition out daily. Don’t wait until the end of the month. Give informal and frequent positive feedback about specific behavior, whether in conversation, in an email, or even in a short, hand-written note.
• Provide social praise and communicate clearly the positive impact the employee had, and acknowledge where the employee went beyond their job description. Employees need to feel their work is appreciated and feel invested in the overall goal of the organization.
There are thousands of examples that are only limited by
your imagination. The golden rule is to always tailor it to your
team’s and employees’ needs and wants.
Summary
It is the author’s belief that everyone is basically good. Everyone is trying, in his or her way, to survive. In your organization, you are dealing with a group of human beings. They may all be different and individual, but each has one thing in common—the need for recognition. Most employees want to succeed, grow, learn, expand, and become better at their jobs. They usually want more than a paycheck. They need engagement, to be part of the office culture, and feel they are needed and appreciated. They want to love to go to work, with goals that are achieved and to receive recognition for it. The wise manager knows this and makes sure that each member receives the right praise, recognition, and rewards for little and large jobs well done. Well-managed and motivated employees are happy, productive employees.
Eric Huntington, DC, is the President of the Chiropractic Business Academy (CBA), a chiropractic training and consulting group which assists chiropractors to build stable, profitable practices by teaching time-tested, proven business systems. To learn more about the CBA visit www.chirobizacademy. com You can contact the Chiropractic Business Academy at 888-989-0855.
