GoalManager's Two Keys to Retention and Motivation: Value ...
|GoalManager's Two Keys to Retention and Motivation: Value and Void |
|by: Bobbi Gray |
|The GoalManager team has spent the last year researching and | |
|publishing information on incentive programs, employee reward ideas, | |
|employee motivation tips, and ways to create positive company | |
|cultures. It has been an interesting ride. | |
|During the first months of 2000, high-tech and dot-com companies were| |
|re-writing the rules in terms of hiring and retaining talent. It was | |
|a furious race to staff up and with the need for greater team power | |
|came interesting and somewhat extravagant perks and benefits...some | |
|that the traditional workforce had never seen before. No longer was a| |
|company holiday party enough...companies were creating theme parties | |
|with popular and famous entertainers that cost in the thousands, | |
|sometimes millions. | |
|Toward the middle of the year, the story started to change and the | |
|crazy energy of companies going public on a daily basis and | |
|administrative assistants becoming millionaires overnight was | |
|starting to wane. The race for big money soon became a race to find | |
|ways to create revenue and support huge work forces. As the burn rate| |
|got larger, pink slips found their way to many a disappointed | |
|"dot-comer" and morale dropped. | |
|As the year drew to an end, not only had the market taken a downturn,| |
|but heads shook in disappointment as employees gathered up their | |
|belongings and walked out the door for the last time to an uncertain | |
|future. | |
|During both the uphill and downhill travel of the market, employers | |
|fought to retain talent as the options for bigger and better career | |
|moves remained. Whether it was a traditional company trying to keep | |
|its employees from jumping ship for the hope of making it big in an | |
|Internet company or whether is was a dot-com company trying to keep | |
|its skeptical employees from leaving a sinking ship for a different | |
|dot-com or traditional company, the war waged to motivate, reward, | |
|and retain employees was basically the same. But retaining employees | |
|and keeping them motivated and excited about their jobs should not be| |
|a war, it should not be a battle. Motivation is not rocket science. | |
|It doesn't take a full year to understand how to make your | |
|administrative assistant passionate about working for your company. | |
|Motivation is simple. | |
|You could read hundreds of testimonials, various business books, and | |
|try to understand all the philosophy behind motivating employees, but| |
|as many experts in this industry have pointed out, motivation is | |
|actually simple. You don't have to have speakers visit your | |
|organization to understand that retention and motivation have to do | |
|with two words: Value and Void. This is not a tested virtue of | |
|motivation as much as it is an introspect into our own personal | |
|experiences as employees. As we contemplated throughout the year | |
|about the key to motivation and retention, we drew upon our own | |
|experiences and feelings about "What makes ME motivated and loyal to | |
|my organization?" | |
|Answer #1 to the question is Value. | |
|How can it be that simple? | |
|Recruiting and Hiring Value | |
|Value has several meanings that will take us on a clear journey to | |
|making your organization a great place to work. As you hire an | |
|employee, you put a price to the value you expect them to bring to a | |
|company. The employee then evaluates whether or not they see their | |
|value matching the company's expectations. If the values don't match | |
|up, the company continues its search for the right employee. | |
|Creating Value, Feeling Valuable | |
|Once an employee enters an organization, they spend their time trying| |
|to bring value to the company and in return, they want to feel | |
|valuable and valued. We don't want to over-express the "Golden Rule";| |
|yet, this all gets really simple if you treat people the way you | |
|would want to be treated. Employees just want to feel appreciated and| |
|valued by their organizations. As John Barth, a US novelist, stated, | |
|"Nothing is intrinsically valuable; the value of everything is | |
|attributed to it, assigned to it from outside the thing itself, by | |
|people." | |
|Bob Nelson, a motivational speaker and author of several books on how| |
|to motivate and reward your employees, has spent many years simply | |
|compiling ideas on how different companies maintain a positive | |
|workforce. You could probably accomplish the same feat if that were | |
|your main focus for several years also; however, if you took a few | |
|moments and concentrated on what makes YOU feel valuable and | |
|appreciated in your organization, you would probably discover the | |
|majority of the people who work for you would answer the same things.| |
|Thank you's, impromptu awards, bonuses, and recognition, for example,| |
|would make it on everyone's lists. | |
|Creating Value with Incentive Programs | |
|Incentive programs are another great way to create teamwork, get | |
|people excited about their jobs, and share in the profits of their | |
|work and the revenues of the company. The competitive spirit comes | |
|out, the race for the goal and the prize makes work more | |
|exciting...and it creates value monetarily for the company and makes | |
|employees feel valuable as they meet their goal and the expectations | |
|of the company. Make a reward system a part of your company culture. | |
|It shouldn't be a one-time deal. When you look at the dynamics of | |
|different types of careers, there are reward and compensation systems| |
|in place that keep people dedicated to their jobs. For example: | |
|Sales organizations: How are sales executives and representatives | |
|kept motivated? Commission and the promise for a great salary. Sales | |
|is hard work! It is pounding the pavement. It means sometimes selling| |
|to someone who doesn't want to be sold to! Sales departments go on | |
|club trips. They have competitions internally. Their incentive | |
|programs are constructed to compensate them from doing a | |
|not-always-so-glorious job. | |
|Public Relations: Often times, PR account executives are working for | |
|a million clients at once. Speaking to reporters and writers on a | |
|daily basis and trying to see their clients' names in headlines is | |
|not as simple as saying, "Hey, my client is great and they just | |
|updated their software." PR staffs are compensated with gifts for | |
|retaining a client through a year contract and signing them on for an| |
|additional year. They receive impromptu bonuses for their hard work. | |
|Because they are not only working for their own company, they are | |
|working for their clients (in an agency setting). Keeping multiple | |
|"bosses" happy is a struggle. They are and should be rewarded for | |
|their struggles. | |
|Secretaries and Administrative Assistants: Filing, sorting mail, and | |
|answering phone calls are not always glorious responsibilities. They | |
|may not directly bring revenue to the company, but they are there to | |
|keep the machine well-oiled and ticking. How do you reward a | |
|secretary? Paid days off. A front row parking space. It doesn't | |
|always have to be a monetary reward with anyone. A spa day. It should| |
|be easy. Know your people and make them feel good about the job they | |
|do for you. | |
|The point remains. A positive working environment functions almost | |
|like a positive family environment. Your parents make you feel | |
|valuable. They make you feel like a good investment. There is respect| |
|and there are "rewards." The relationship between an employer and an | |
|employee doesn't have to be based on love, but respect, value, and | |
|investment are just as important in a work environment as they are in| |
|a home environment. | |
|Answer #2 to the question is Void. | |
|That sounds a bit serious. | |
|Avoiding the Void | |
|Void is serious when you determine the value of a great employee who | |
|decides to leave your organization. Retention can all be clarified | |
|when you can visualize the void your company will have if Employee X | |
|leaves. Void has a price, a valuable price. If Employee X leaves, | |
|takes all the training and experience with them to a competitor and | |
|you spend the next several month recruiting a person to fill the | |
|void, void could come at a price in the thousands, even millions in | |
|some cases. If the president of the Ford Motors were to decide to | |
|leave Ford to be the president of Chevrolet, (we are being | |
|hypothetical, of course) there would be a great void in Ford's | |
|leadership. Ford would possibly fear the potential the president | |
|could have with the resources of the competition. | |
|Invest in your employees. | |
|You provide a valuable salary to your employees for the value they | |
|deserve and for the void you would feel if they were to leave. You | |
|make efforts to make them feel valued as an employee in your | |
|organization and they will most likely feel valuable and appreciated.| |
|Run incentive and reward programs. Make the investment to organize | |
|and rally the troops around a goal and reward them for their efforts.| |
|They want to know they are being invested in as much as they are | |
|investing their time and talents in the company. | |
|In conclusion, motivation and retention appear really complex, but | |
|they are simple. Write the things down that make you feel valued at | |
|your company and try to do those same things for your co-workers and | |
|employees. You don't have to be a mind-reader and you don't have to | |
|have a degree in psychology or a heavy pocketbook to make your team | |
|members feel valued. It is all about trial-and-error and the fact | |
|that you are concentrating on making your work place like a home. | |
|Retention is about making an employee feel valuable. | |
|Motivation is about making an employee feel valuable. | |
|Retention is about determining the cost of the void you will feel and| |
|see when you lose an employee. | |
|Make the effort. | |
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