Hi Friends,
I am working as an HR Executive in a US based IT Co. in Bangalore. We give 24/7 support to our clients. Currently we are providing them with the following benefits.
* Good working conditions (Environment)
* Financial Benefits like Performance based bonus etc..
* Employee of the period prize( monthly, quarterly and yearly)
* Fun games & Team Outings
* Technical & Comm. training to keep them updated according to the market
* Subject based quiz once in a month and special prizes to the winners
* Weekely meditation classes to reduce work stress
* Free food for the employees who are in the shifts etc.
Apart from all these what else can we do to ensure our employees get motivated and commited to the company and work for better productivity.
I would like to seek your valuable suggestions on this.
Thanks & Regards,
Kalyan. :D
From India, Bangalore
2I am working as an HR Executive in a US based IT Co. in Bangalore. We give 24/7 support to our clients. Currently we are providing them with the following benefits.
* Good working conditions (Environment)
* Financial Benefits like Performance based bonus etc..
* Employee of the period prize( monthly, quarterly and yearly)
* Fun games & Team Outings
* Technical & Comm. training to keep them updated according to the market
* Subject based quiz once in a month and special prizes to the winners
* Weekely meditation classes to reduce work stress
* Free food for the employees who are in the shifts etc.
Apart from all these what else can we do to ensure our employees get motivated and commited to the company and work for better productivity.
I would like to seek your valuable suggestions on this.
Thanks & Regards,
Kalyan. :D
From India, Bangalore
Hi Kalyan,
Introduce "Retention bonus" for employees..
You can also have some surprises for them on their Birthdays, anniversaries.
Have the HR Managers speak to individuals once in a month or two and discuss their problem, issues..generally speaking councel them...this would help you get a unbiased feedback and control attrition.
You can have a brainstorming session (on intranet) where you can ask employees for things which they would like the company to initiate.
Don't have much idea in HR Generalist ares, I hope this information may be of use.
Regards,
Neeti.
From India, Mumbai
Introduce "Retention bonus" for employees..
You can also have some surprises for them on their Birthdays, anniversaries.
Have the HR Managers speak to individuals once in a month or two and discuss their problem, issues..generally speaking councel them...this would help you get a unbiased feedback and control attrition.
You can have a brainstorming session (on intranet) where you can ask employees for things which they would like the company to initiate.
Don't have much idea in HR Generalist ares, I hope this information may be of use.
Regards,
Neeti.
From India, Mumbai
Dear Mr Kalyan,
Greetings!
Top Ten Ways to Motivate Employees
----- by Bob Nelson
1. Personally thank employees for doing a good job-one on one, in writing, or both. Do it timely, often and sincerely.
2. Be willing to take the time to meet with and listen to employees as much as they need or want.
3. Provide specific feedback about performance of the person, the department and the organization.
4. Strive to create a work environment that is open, trusting and fun. Encourage new ideas and initiatives.
5. Provide information on how the company makes and loses money, upcoming products and strategies for competing in the marketplace, and how the person fits into the overall plan.
6. Involve employees in decisions, especially those decisions that affect them.
7. Recognize, reward and promote people based on their work.
8. Provide employees with a sense of ownership in their work and the work environment.
9. Give people a chance to grow and learn new skills; show them how you can help them meet their goals within the context of meeting the organization's goals. Create a partnership with each employee.
10. Celebrate successes of the company, of the department and of individuals in it. Take time for team-and morale-building meetings and activities.
==============================================
14 Steps to Motivate and Retain Employees
1: Operating Systems
The foundation of an efficient and effective workplace is the structure, discipline and consistency provided by well-conceived systematic operating methods. World-class companies like Disney, McDonalds and Ritz Carleton all have well defined operating methods. A policies and procedures (P&P) manual is critical to ensure that employees understand what is expected of them and know how they should handle the myriad of duties and responsibilities in the day-to-day operations of the business.
#2: Employment Agreements and Job Descriptions
Legal agreements are often a “necessary evil” to ensure there is a “meeting of the minds” as to exactly what the parties agree to when they enter into an employer-employee relationship. The agreement should specify the term, termination, duties, responsibilities and compensation.
#3: Training
New employees will need orientation before going to work in your business and then on-the-job training. Training should include a review of your policies and procedures, with special emphasis on key subjects, such as customer service and your company philosophy and culture. Retraining should be done each year.
#4: Tools to do the Job
Employee costs constitute a major expense in most businesses. Not giving your employees adequate tools to do the job is “penny wise and pound foolish.” Employing current technology can greatly improve efficiency and employee morale. Don’t forget to provide the little things that make employees’ jobs easier. Providing adequate tools to do the job will increase employee productivity and satisfaction.
#5: Workplace Atmosphere
How your employees feel about their jobs is greatly influenced by your workplace atmosphere. Extravagance is not necessary, but you should provide a pleasant place to work. Little things like a fresh coat of paint make a big difference. Don’t neglect the break room and the rest room. The impression you make on your employees is just as important as the image you project to your customers. Keeping the workplace clean and uncluttered requires the cooperation of all employees. Employees’ attitudes are affected by their work environment; make sure it is positive!
#6: Support
Your employees need someone readily available to help when they have questions or encounter problems. Adequate staffing to properly serve all customers is also essential for employee morale. Your people should not feel like they are left on their own.
#7: Company Culture
World-class companies always have in common World-class cultures. Leaders of such businesses recognize that profit is a byproduct of meeting the needs of customers and employees. A business also has a responsibility to give back to the community and most employees want to make meaningful contributions through their work. They also like to take pride in their work and deliver quality products and services. And they need to continue to learn and grow professionally. A good company culture enables employees to combine their strengths to meet these mutual needs as part of a dynamic team.
#8: Compensation
A performance-based compensation plan should encourage employees to behave in ways that will attain the company’s goals, while also meeting your employees’ personal objectives. Company goals usually include growth, profitability, quality service, efficiency, effectiveness, image and reputation. To attract desirable employees, your pay scale should be competitive. The pay plan must also be objective and fair to all employees. Rewards should be commensurate with contributions.
#9: Benefits
Even if your profit margins are thin, you can provide benefits that are not cost-prohibitive, or even free. Providing more benefits puts you in a better competitive position to attract and retain employees. A profit sharing plan based on growth in profits is a win-win. You could offer a 401k plan or a pre-tax benefits savings plan. Group life and disability insurance and other benefits can be provided through the Greater Richmond Chamber. Group discounts on products and services are also extended through the Chamber. Your company can become a member of a credit union to enable employees to qualify for benefits. Little perks, like buying pizza for the staff on a hectic day, help to make your employees appreciate their jobs. Be creative!
#10: Recognition
Numerous studies have documented the fact that money is not the primary motivator for most workers. In fact, people who are motivated primarily by money may not be good employees. Recognize your people frequently for their good work and they will repeat the performance frequently. Praise must be sincere and should be distributed equitably, if warranted. When possible, praise people publicly in meetings or employee newsletters. Be sure to give credit and rewards for good ideas that benefit the company. Reinforce the right behaviors. Avoid saying “Great, but.” Look for key measures to recognize employees, such as production or customer retention. Come up with contests to recognize your people. Give recognition certificates, plaques and prizes other than money, such as tickets for movie rental or sports events, or gift certificates for merchandise or dinner. A tangible reward makes a more lasting impression. Praising your best performers (the top 10-20%) will raise the bar for your weaker people. The goal is to encourage behaviors that build your business and recognize your people for practicing those behaviors as often as possible.
#11: Communication
Lack of effective communication from superiors is often the greatest cause for employee dissatisfaction and premature departure. The best managers listen to and communication frequently with all employees; and they make it easy for employees to tell them about problems and concerns. Communication should include training, group and individual meetings and, most important, daily dialogue with employees. As the manager, you must make the time to regularly talk with everyone. E-mail is a good communication vehicle, but the phone is more personal; and neither can replace face-to-face meetings. Employee newsletters can enhance communication. Keep communication simple, provide adequate information and give examples for clarity. Show your trust in your people and make them feel included by sharing financial and other inside information. Management can make much better decisions by getting input from front-line employees. If your people know their voices are heard and feel like they are part of the decision making process, they will be much happier, loyal and more likely to support new programs.
#12: Empowerment
Engage your employees to make decisions; give them the authority to act in the best interests of the company. Provide training in resolving customer problems and then trust them to make the right choices. Give your people some time to think and plan by building in some slack time through adequate staffing and by providing support. Don’t criticize employee mistakes. Recognize that making decisions naturally results in making mistakes. If you criticize honest mistakes, your people will stop making decisions. Failure is also OK, because it is a normal part of the road to success. Nothing is more gratifying than to see your people develop the skills and confidence necessary to act independently and make sound decisions that are in the best interests of the company and your customers.
#13: Leadership
Much has been written about leadership and you should make the time to learn how to be a more effective leader. Here are ten basic keys: (1) Integrity: always tell the truth and always keep your promise, even when it hurts. (2) Trust: You must first demonstrate your trust in people by making yourself vulnerable before you can expect them place their trust in you. (3) Respect: If you really don’t care about your people they will sense your lack of concern and will not respect you. (4) Fairness: Treat all employees fairly and equally (including family members) regardless of your personal feelings. (5) Vision: To be a true leader, you must have an unfaltering vision, be able to communicate it to your people, and get them to understand and share in your vision. (6) Optimism: You must always be positive and confident that the company will succeed; but you should also be realistic. (7) Decisive: A leader must make decisions and stick with them as long as they make sense. Consensus is not always better than an individual decision, particularly in a crisis situation. Remember, “The buck stops with you!” Trust your intuition. Intuition draws upon your experience, stored knowledge and information you may not even realize you have in your head. (8) Example: You must “practice what you preach” or you will have little credibility. (9) Teamwork: Insist on mutual respect, courtesy and cooperation among your people. This fundamental attitude was crucial in shaping our nation and is also essential to build your company. (10) Authority: Remember that authority is not vested in your position as “the boss.” Authority resides with the people who report to you and they have the power grant it to you or not.
#14: Having Fun
People like to work in an environment that is enjoyable; they can get burned out if the work environment is totally serious and strictly business. Great companies like Southwest Airlines have come up with creative ways for employees to have fun. If you’re not naturally good at getting people to have fun, designate a key employee to assume this role and be your official or unofficial cheerleader.
===============================================
Steps You Can Take
The following specific steps can help you go a long way toward supporting your employees to motivate themselves in your organization.
1. Do more than read this article -- apply what you're reading here
This maxim is true when reading any management publication.
2. Briefly write down the motivational factors that sustain you and what you can do to sustain them
This little bit of "motivation planning" can give you strong perspective on how to think about supporting the motivations of your employees.
3. Make of list of three to five things that motivate each of your employees
Read the article . Fill out the list yourself for each of your employees and then have each of your employees fill out the list for themselves. Compare your answers to theirs. Recognize the differences between your impression of what you think is important to them and what they think is important to them. Then meet with each of your employees to discuss what they think are the most important motivational factors to them. Lastly, take some time alone to write down how you will modify your approaches with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are being met. (NOTE: This may seem like a "soft, touchy-feely exercise" to you. If it does, then talk to a peer or your boss about it. Much of what's important in management is based very much on "soft, touchy-feely exercises". Learn to become more comfortable with them. The place to start is to recognize their importance.)
4. Work with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are taken into consideration in your reward systems
For example, their jobs might be redesigned to be more fulfilling. You might find more means to provide recognition, if that is important to them. You might develop a personnel policy that rewards employees with more family time, etc.
5. Have one-on-one meetings with each employee
Employees are motivated more by your care and concern for them than by your attention to them. Get to know your employees, their families, their favorite foods, names of their children, etc. This can sound manipulative -- and it will be if not done sincerely. However, even if you sincerely want to get to know each of your employees, it may not happen unless you intentionally set aside time to be with each of them.
6. Cultivate strong skills in delegation
Delegation includes conveying responsibility and authority to your employees so they can carry out certain tasks. However, you leave it up to your employees to decide how they will carry out the tasks. Skills in delegation can free up a great deal of time for managers and supervisors. It also allows employees to take a stronger role in their jobs, which usually means more fulfillment and motivation in their jobs, as well.
7. Reward it when you see it
A critical lesson for new managers and supervisors is to learn to focus on employee behaviors, not on employee personalities. Performance in the workplace should be based on behaviors toward goals, not on popularity of employees. You can get in a great deal of trouble (legally, morally and interpersonally) for focusing only on how you feel about your employees rather than on what you're seeing with your eyeballs.
8. Reward it soon after you see it
This helps to reinforce the notion that you highly prefer the behaviors that you're currently seeing from your employees. Often, the shorter the time between an employee's action and your reward for the action, the clearer it is to the employee that you highly prefer that action.
9. Implement at least the basic principles of performance management
Good performance management includes identifying goals, measures to indicate if the goals are being met or not, ongoing attention and feedback about measures toward the goals, and corrective actions to redirect activities back toward achieving the goals when necessary. Performance management can focus on organizations, groups, processes in the organization and employees.
10. Establish goals that are SMARTER
SMARTER goals are: specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic, timely, extending of capabilities, and rewarding to those involved.
11. Clearly convey how employee results contribute to organizational results
Employees often feel strong fulfillment from realizing that they're actually making a difference. This realization often requires clear communication about organizational goals, employee progress toward those goals and celebration when the goals are met.
12. Celebrate achievements
This critical step is often forgotten. New managers and supervisors are often focused on a getting "a lot done". This usually means identifying and solving problems. Experienced managers come to understand that acknowledging and celebrating a solution to a problem can be every bit as important as the solution itself. Without ongoing acknowledgement of success, employees become frustrated, skeptical and even cynical about efforts in the organization.
13. Let employees hear from their customers (internal or external)
Let employees hear customers proclaim the benefits of the efforts of the employee . For example, if the employee is working to keep internal computer systems running for other employees (internal customers) in the organization, then have other employees express their gratitude to the employee. If an employee is providing a product or service to external customers, then bring in a customer to express their appreciation to the employee.
14. Admit to yourself (and to an appropriate someone else) if you don't like an employee --
Managers and supervisors are people. It's not unusual to just not like someone who works for you. That someone could, for example, look like an uncle you don't like. In this case, admit to yourself that you don't like the employee. Then talk to someone else who is appropriate to hear about your distaste for the employee, for example, a peer, your boss, your spouse, etc. Indicate to the appropriate person that you want to explore what it is that you don't like about the employee and would like to come to a clearer perception of how you can accomplish a positive working relationship with the employee. It often helps a great deal just to talk out loud about how you feel and get someone else's opinion about the situation. As noted above, if you continue to focus on what you see about employee performance, you'll go a long way toward ensuring that your treatment of employees remains fair and equitable.
Rgds,
John N
From India, Madras
Greetings!
Top Ten Ways to Motivate Employees
----- by Bob Nelson
1. Personally thank employees for doing a good job-one on one, in writing, or both. Do it timely, often and sincerely.
2. Be willing to take the time to meet with and listen to employees as much as they need or want.
3. Provide specific feedback about performance of the person, the department and the organization.
4. Strive to create a work environment that is open, trusting and fun. Encourage new ideas and initiatives.
5. Provide information on how the company makes and loses money, upcoming products and strategies for competing in the marketplace, and how the person fits into the overall plan.
6. Involve employees in decisions, especially those decisions that affect them.
7. Recognize, reward and promote people based on their work.
8. Provide employees with a sense of ownership in their work and the work environment.
9. Give people a chance to grow and learn new skills; show them how you can help them meet their goals within the context of meeting the organization's goals. Create a partnership with each employee.
10. Celebrate successes of the company, of the department and of individuals in it. Take time for team-and morale-building meetings and activities.
==============================================
14 Steps to Motivate and Retain Employees
1: Operating Systems
The foundation of an efficient and effective workplace is the structure, discipline and consistency provided by well-conceived systematic operating methods. World-class companies like Disney, McDonalds and Ritz Carleton all have well defined operating methods. A policies and procedures (P&P) manual is critical to ensure that employees understand what is expected of them and know how they should handle the myriad of duties and responsibilities in the day-to-day operations of the business.
#2: Employment Agreements and Job Descriptions
Legal agreements are often a “necessary evil” to ensure there is a “meeting of the minds” as to exactly what the parties agree to when they enter into an employer-employee relationship. The agreement should specify the term, termination, duties, responsibilities and compensation.
#3: Training
New employees will need orientation before going to work in your business and then on-the-job training. Training should include a review of your policies and procedures, with special emphasis on key subjects, such as customer service and your company philosophy and culture. Retraining should be done each year.
#4: Tools to do the Job
Employee costs constitute a major expense in most businesses. Not giving your employees adequate tools to do the job is “penny wise and pound foolish.” Employing current technology can greatly improve efficiency and employee morale. Don’t forget to provide the little things that make employees’ jobs easier. Providing adequate tools to do the job will increase employee productivity and satisfaction.
#5: Workplace Atmosphere
How your employees feel about their jobs is greatly influenced by your workplace atmosphere. Extravagance is not necessary, but you should provide a pleasant place to work. Little things like a fresh coat of paint make a big difference. Don’t neglect the break room and the rest room. The impression you make on your employees is just as important as the image you project to your customers. Keeping the workplace clean and uncluttered requires the cooperation of all employees. Employees’ attitudes are affected by their work environment; make sure it is positive!
#6: Support
Your employees need someone readily available to help when they have questions or encounter problems. Adequate staffing to properly serve all customers is also essential for employee morale. Your people should not feel like they are left on their own.
#7: Company Culture
World-class companies always have in common World-class cultures. Leaders of such businesses recognize that profit is a byproduct of meeting the needs of customers and employees. A business also has a responsibility to give back to the community and most employees want to make meaningful contributions through their work. They also like to take pride in their work and deliver quality products and services. And they need to continue to learn and grow professionally. A good company culture enables employees to combine their strengths to meet these mutual needs as part of a dynamic team.
#8: Compensation
A performance-based compensation plan should encourage employees to behave in ways that will attain the company’s goals, while also meeting your employees’ personal objectives. Company goals usually include growth, profitability, quality service, efficiency, effectiveness, image and reputation. To attract desirable employees, your pay scale should be competitive. The pay plan must also be objective and fair to all employees. Rewards should be commensurate with contributions.
#9: Benefits
Even if your profit margins are thin, you can provide benefits that are not cost-prohibitive, or even free. Providing more benefits puts you in a better competitive position to attract and retain employees. A profit sharing plan based on growth in profits is a win-win. You could offer a 401k plan or a pre-tax benefits savings plan. Group life and disability insurance and other benefits can be provided through the Greater Richmond Chamber. Group discounts on products and services are also extended through the Chamber. Your company can become a member of a credit union to enable employees to qualify for benefits. Little perks, like buying pizza for the staff on a hectic day, help to make your employees appreciate their jobs. Be creative!
#10: Recognition
Numerous studies have documented the fact that money is not the primary motivator for most workers. In fact, people who are motivated primarily by money may not be good employees. Recognize your people frequently for their good work and they will repeat the performance frequently. Praise must be sincere and should be distributed equitably, if warranted. When possible, praise people publicly in meetings or employee newsletters. Be sure to give credit and rewards for good ideas that benefit the company. Reinforce the right behaviors. Avoid saying “Great, but.” Look for key measures to recognize employees, such as production or customer retention. Come up with contests to recognize your people. Give recognition certificates, plaques and prizes other than money, such as tickets for movie rental or sports events, or gift certificates for merchandise or dinner. A tangible reward makes a more lasting impression. Praising your best performers (the top 10-20%) will raise the bar for your weaker people. The goal is to encourage behaviors that build your business and recognize your people for practicing those behaviors as often as possible.
#11: Communication
Lack of effective communication from superiors is often the greatest cause for employee dissatisfaction and premature departure. The best managers listen to and communication frequently with all employees; and they make it easy for employees to tell them about problems and concerns. Communication should include training, group and individual meetings and, most important, daily dialogue with employees. As the manager, you must make the time to regularly talk with everyone. E-mail is a good communication vehicle, but the phone is more personal; and neither can replace face-to-face meetings. Employee newsletters can enhance communication. Keep communication simple, provide adequate information and give examples for clarity. Show your trust in your people and make them feel included by sharing financial and other inside information. Management can make much better decisions by getting input from front-line employees. If your people know their voices are heard and feel like they are part of the decision making process, they will be much happier, loyal and more likely to support new programs.
#12: Empowerment
Engage your employees to make decisions; give them the authority to act in the best interests of the company. Provide training in resolving customer problems and then trust them to make the right choices. Give your people some time to think and plan by building in some slack time through adequate staffing and by providing support. Don’t criticize employee mistakes. Recognize that making decisions naturally results in making mistakes. If you criticize honest mistakes, your people will stop making decisions. Failure is also OK, because it is a normal part of the road to success. Nothing is more gratifying than to see your people develop the skills and confidence necessary to act independently and make sound decisions that are in the best interests of the company and your customers.
#13: Leadership
Much has been written about leadership and you should make the time to learn how to be a more effective leader. Here are ten basic keys: (1) Integrity: always tell the truth and always keep your promise, even when it hurts. (2) Trust: You must first demonstrate your trust in people by making yourself vulnerable before you can expect them place their trust in you. (3) Respect: If you really don’t care about your people they will sense your lack of concern and will not respect you. (4) Fairness: Treat all employees fairly and equally (including family members) regardless of your personal feelings. (5) Vision: To be a true leader, you must have an unfaltering vision, be able to communicate it to your people, and get them to understand and share in your vision. (6) Optimism: You must always be positive and confident that the company will succeed; but you should also be realistic. (7) Decisive: A leader must make decisions and stick with them as long as they make sense. Consensus is not always better than an individual decision, particularly in a crisis situation. Remember, “The buck stops with you!” Trust your intuition. Intuition draws upon your experience, stored knowledge and information you may not even realize you have in your head. (8) Example: You must “practice what you preach” or you will have little credibility. (9) Teamwork: Insist on mutual respect, courtesy and cooperation among your people. This fundamental attitude was crucial in shaping our nation and is also essential to build your company. (10) Authority: Remember that authority is not vested in your position as “the boss.” Authority resides with the people who report to you and they have the power grant it to you or not.
#14: Having Fun
People like to work in an environment that is enjoyable; they can get burned out if the work environment is totally serious and strictly business. Great companies like Southwest Airlines have come up with creative ways for employees to have fun. If you’re not naturally good at getting people to have fun, designate a key employee to assume this role and be your official or unofficial cheerleader.
===============================================
Steps You Can Take
The following specific steps can help you go a long way toward supporting your employees to motivate themselves in your organization.
1. Do more than read this article -- apply what you're reading here
This maxim is true when reading any management publication.
2. Briefly write down the motivational factors that sustain you and what you can do to sustain them
This little bit of "motivation planning" can give you strong perspective on how to think about supporting the motivations of your employees.
3. Make of list of three to five things that motivate each of your employees
Read the article . Fill out the list yourself for each of your employees and then have each of your employees fill out the list for themselves. Compare your answers to theirs. Recognize the differences between your impression of what you think is important to them and what they think is important to them. Then meet with each of your employees to discuss what they think are the most important motivational factors to them. Lastly, take some time alone to write down how you will modify your approaches with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are being met. (NOTE: This may seem like a "soft, touchy-feely exercise" to you. If it does, then talk to a peer or your boss about it. Much of what's important in management is based very much on "soft, touchy-feely exercises". Learn to become more comfortable with them. The place to start is to recognize their importance.)
4. Work with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are taken into consideration in your reward systems
For example, their jobs might be redesigned to be more fulfilling. You might find more means to provide recognition, if that is important to them. You might develop a personnel policy that rewards employees with more family time, etc.
5. Have one-on-one meetings with each employee
Employees are motivated more by your care and concern for them than by your attention to them. Get to know your employees, their families, their favorite foods, names of their children, etc. This can sound manipulative -- and it will be if not done sincerely. However, even if you sincerely want to get to know each of your employees, it may not happen unless you intentionally set aside time to be with each of them.
6. Cultivate strong skills in delegation
Delegation includes conveying responsibility and authority to your employees so they can carry out certain tasks. However, you leave it up to your employees to decide how they will carry out the tasks. Skills in delegation can free up a great deal of time for managers and supervisors. It also allows employees to take a stronger role in their jobs, which usually means more fulfillment and motivation in their jobs, as well.
7. Reward it when you see it
A critical lesson for new managers and supervisors is to learn to focus on employee behaviors, not on employee personalities. Performance in the workplace should be based on behaviors toward goals, not on popularity of employees. You can get in a great deal of trouble (legally, morally and interpersonally) for focusing only on how you feel about your employees rather than on what you're seeing with your eyeballs.
8. Reward it soon after you see it
This helps to reinforce the notion that you highly prefer the behaviors that you're currently seeing from your employees. Often, the shorter the time between an employee's action and your reward for the action, the clearer it is to the employee that you highly prefer that action.
9. Implement at least the basic principles of performance management
Good performance management includes identifying goals, measures to indicate if the goals are being met or not, ongoing attention and feedback about measures toward the goals, and corrective actions to redirect activities back toward achieving the goals when necessary. Performance management can focus on organizations, groups, processes in the organization and employees.
10. Establish goals that are SMARTER
SMARTER goals are: specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic, timely, extending of capabilities, and rewarding to those involved.
11. Clearly convey how employee results contribute to organizational results
Employees often feel strong fulfillment from realizing that they're actually making a difference. This realization often requires clear communication about organizational goals, employee progress toward those goals and celebration when the goals are met.
12. Celebrate achievements
This critical step is often forgotten. New managers and supervisors are often focused on a getting "a lot done". This usually means identifying and solving problems. Experienced managers come to understand that acknowledging and celebrating a solution to a problem can be every bit as important as the solution itself. Without ongoing acknowledgement of success, employees become frustrated, skeptical and even cynical about efforts in the organization.
13. Let employees hear from their customers (internal or external)
Let employees hear customers proclaim the benefits of the efforts of the employee . For example, if the employee is working to keep internal computer systems running for other employees (internal customers) in the organization, then have other employees express their gratitude to the employee. If an employee is providing a product or service to external customers, then bring in a customer to express their appreciation to the employee.
14. Admit to yourself (and to an appropriate someone else) if you don't like an employee --
Managers and supervisors are people. It's not unusual to just not like someone who works for you. That someone could, for example, look like an uncle you don't like. In this case, admit to yourself that you don't like the employee. Then talk to someone else who is appropriate to hear about your distaste for the employee, for example, a peer, your boss, your spouse, etc. Indicate to the appropriate person that you want to explore what it is that you don't like about the employee and would like to come to a clearer perception of how you can accomplish a positive working relationship with the employee. It often helps a great deal just to talk out loud about how you feel and get someone else's opinion about the situation. As noted above, if you continue to focus on what you see about employee performance, you'll go a long way toward ensuring that your treatment of employees remains fair and equitable.
Rgds,
John N
From India, Madras
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How to Motivate Employees.pdf
How to Motivate Employees.doc
10 Simple Ways to Motivate Employees.pps