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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