Best Strategies to Motivate your Workers
Motivation is critical to inducing all employees to give their best when at work. Managers often believe people are most eager to contribute when they have the highest pay or bonuses, and can be disappointed when a raise does not have the expected effect.
Daniel Pink’s book,Drive, reveals some surprising answers in the latest research on human motivation. The old paradigm of “sticks and carrots”, like discipline or bonuses, has been proved ineffective. Instead he advises managers to concentrate their efforts in three areas. Use these general principles and themes to tailor a motivation program to your unique workforce and budget.
Autonomy
People perform best when they have a clear sense that they have control. They have been persuaded that even though they have a boss, they are masters of their own domain, no matter how small. Employees who must tolerate micromanagement or endless rules have less energy for their work. Some satisfy only the basic requirements and spend their creativity scheming to get around the rules or find a better job. Harness their natural drive for autonomy by acting on their suggestions and trying to find ways to empower them. Be an advocate for your employees, instead of a director, and productivity will bloom.
Mastery
There is an inherent sense of satisfaction created by a job done well. People are highly motivated by work that not only produces results but allows them to develop greater skills and competence in an area that is useful to someone or something. Think of the hours of hard effort and practice it takes to learn how to carve stone into beautiful sculpture, yet an artist will persevere for years in obscurity. Identify the potential for growth in the business, and talk to your employees to find out which skills they are interested in developing personally. When you can match the two, motivation is the natural result.
Purpose
Like a cathedral stone mason, people are most excited by work that matters. When you are learning and working to build a cathedral in the service of your community and your deity, all that effort becomes worth it. Think of how your organization fits into the big picture and what it represents over the long term. Once you explicitly link the daily grind to a higher ideal, the smallest tasks are deeply satisfying. Spend time explaining why each person is critical to realizing the vision of the organization, and share any news of how they are making a difference in the world through their work. Watch attitudes change as workers take pride in doing the best job possible.
