As a manager there's only so much you can do to influence the work of your employees. It also depends on the kind of business you're in and the goals you're trying to accomplish. Either way, it is important to find a way to motivate your employees and make them happy to be at work. This page will explain why it's important to have happy employees, what motivates employees, and what managers can do to motivate their employees and create a more productive workplace.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO HAVE HAPPY EMPLOYEES
Research has shown that when employees are happier, they are more successful and higher performing in general. When employees are unhappy or unsatisfied with their job, studies have shown that this generally results in a lack of performance:
“Gallup estimates the cost of America’s disengagement crisis at a staggering $300 billion in lost productivity annually. When people don’t care about their jobs or their employers, they don’t show up consistently, they produce less, or their work quality suffers.”(Amabile). As a manager, it is very important to keep this factor in mind when managing your employees and coming up with business strategies. Managers need to pay attention to how their employees are feeling by examining their body language, verbal communication and recent work ethic. These three elements can serve as great indicators to what is causing your employees' happiness and unhappiness.
WHAT MOTIVATES EMPLOYEES
Understanding what motivates employees is crucial to developing a management style. The traditional style of thinking is that rewarding people with money and other extrinsic rewards can be effective for producing simple tasks, but studies have show that workers are more motivated and produce better results when intrinsic motivators are at work. "One study has found that emploees were willing to give up almost $30,000 in yearly salary to recognized for high praise at work." (Lieberman). This gives us a glimpse into what workers really want out of their job. Workers want recognition for their work, a chance to build positive relationships within the company, and they want to feel like they accomplished something. These are intrinsic rewards that a manager can't physically give to an employee. A manager has to give the employee the opportunity and resources to succeed, and when they do, they will feel empowered, accomplished and like they really contributed to the success of the company overall. This feeling will drive employees to be more engaged and creative which will lead to a rise in productivity.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO HAVE HAPPY EMPLOYEES
Research has shown that when employees are happier, they are more successful and higher performing in general. When employees are unhappy or unsatisfied with their job, studies have shown that this generally results in a lack of performance:
“Gallup estimates the cost of America’s disengagement crisis at a staggering $300 billion in lost productivity annually. When people don’t care about their jobs or their employers, they don’t show up consistently, they produce less, or their work quality suffers.”(Amabile). As a manager, it is very important to keep this factor in mind when managing your employees and coming up with business strategies. Managers need to pay attention to how their employees are feeling by examining their body language, verbal communication and recent work ethic. These three elements can serve as great indicators to what is causing your employees' happiness and unhappiness.
WHAT MOTIVATES EMPLOYEES
Understanding what motivates employees is crucial to developing a management style. The traditional style of thinking is that rewarding people with money and other extrinsic rewards can be effective for producing simple tasks, but studies have show that workers are more motivated and produce better results when intrinsic motivators are at work. "One study has found that emploees were willing to give up almost $30,000 in yearly salary to recognized for high praise at work." (Lieberman). This gives us a glimpse into what workers really want out of their job. Workers want recognition for their work, a chance to build positive relationships within the company, and they want to feel like they accomplished something. These are intrinsic rewards that a manager can't physically give to an employee. A manager has to give the employee the opportunity and resources to succeed, and when they do, they will feel empowered, accomplished and like they really contributed to the success of the company overall. This feeling will drive employees to be more engaged and creative which will lead to a rise in productivity.
"There is a growing body of evidence to suggest we are motivated at work by things other than money and that, as long as we are relatively job-secure and earning a reasonable wage, the quality of working life is at least as important. In the Mercer global engagement scale – developed with thousands of workers in the UK, US, Japan, India, Germany, France and China – "base pay" as a motivator comes low down a list of 12 factors that engage workers. The top motivator is "respect" – how valued and trusted by their organisation employees feel. Then comes (in order of priority) "type of work", "providing good service to customers", "the people you work with" and finally, good "work-life balance". Only after these does pay come into the equation. Given the recent controversies over bankers' pay, it's interesting that "bonuses" come bottom of the list.” (Cooper).
The style of motivating employees "with carrots and sticks" is rapidly becoming less relevant as studies have shown how important these intrinsic motivators can be. Real world evidence of how intrinsic motivation works can be seen in some of the most successful companies of our time. Tech companies like Google, embrace this idea of intrinsic motivation and have found it to work extremely well. For example, Google and a company called Atlassian have adopted this idea that for one work day a week, they tell their developers and researchers to work on an independent project or whatever they want, as long as it's not for the company to generate new ideas and promote innovation withing the company. This motivates employees by giving them autonomy and purpose, the feeling that they have control over their job and that what they do is important. (Pink).
There is growing evidence to suggest that these intrinsic motivators are what managers and business leaders should be paying attention to. With this philosophy in mind, we can start to develop a model for how management can control this.
There is growing evidence to suggest that these intrinsic motivators are what managers and business leaders should be paying attention to. With this philosophy in mind, we can start to develop a model for how management can control this.
WHAT CAN BE DONE AS A MANAGER
According to Aristotle, managers should build their relationship with their team in three consecutive steps: build relationships (pathos), Sell their values or vision (ethos), persuade with logic (logos). (Muller, Turner). We can utilize what we now know about motivation to build a management style around this idea.
Building relationships with your workers is very important for their motivation. Studies have shown that the biggest driver to happiness at work is having/building positive relationships with co-workers and superiors. "A large recent survey found that leaders who are rated highly on being analytic and results focused are unlikely to be seen as great leaders, but if those same leaders also possess strong social skills, their chance of being seen as great leader skyrockets." (Lieberman). When employees see you as a great leader, they are more willing to trust you and be more engaged in the company. To achieve a positive relationship with your employees, it is important to analyze them as a person, read their body language, and engage with them. Respect is extremely important when building these relationships, and it goes both ways. If your employees don't respect you, they won't take your leadership seriously or won't give your their best performance. If you don't respect your employees, you'll never understand what they can actually contribute to the company and you won't understand the reasons behind their actions.
Selling your team's values or vision is crucial for developing that intrinsic reward system that really motivates your employees. What this means is that you have to get your workers to believe in what your doing. If they think that accomplishing the tasks assigned to them have improved their value at the company and that their work was an expression of what they can do for the company, then they can get that intrinsic reward and become more engaged in the company. As a manager you want them to think that their individual contributions have meant something and that the company's values and your employees values can be the same. This is the idea of having purpose, giving your employees the drive to do things because they matter. This concept is very important when it comes to motivating your employees. If your employees don't feel like their work matters, then they won't put in anything close to their best effort.
The difference between an adequate manager and an inspirational leader is that knowing what should get done and why. (Muller, Turner) This is where persuading with logic (logos) comes into play. Getting your employees to understand why they are doing what they are doing is just as important as getting them to do it. Telling your team that they have to what you say because you are the manager creates a mentality in the workforce where people get less motivated because they have no idea how their job affects the company. As a manager, you should be able to lay out a plan for your employees that gives the who, what, how, and why of every task. This gives your workers a logical reason to work hard and be engaged rather than them doing it for the fear of consequences.
Additionally, there is this idea of autonomy that plays a large role in what a manager can do to motivate their employees. The success of Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo, and other major tech companies can be largely attributed to how they manager their employees. By giving their employees a sense of control along with a purpose for doing what they what and the freedom to do it, they have created a work environment where employees are happy to come to work and do their best to contribute to the company. This is not just an idea, the fact that this management style will lead to a more productive and innovative workplace has been proven by the success of these companies and the emergence of new studies on this subject.
According to Aristotle, managers should build their relationship with their team in three consecutive steps: build relationships (pathos), Sell their values or vision (ethos), persuade with logic (logos). (Muller, Turner). We can utilize what we now know about motivation to build a management style around this idea.
Building relationships with your workers is very important for their motivation. Studies have shown that the biggest driver to happiness at work is having/building positive relationships with co-workers and superiors. "A large recent survey found that leaders who are rated highly on being analytic and results focused are unlikely to be seen as great leaders, but if those same leaders also possess strong social skills, their chance of being seen as great leader skyrockets." (Lieberman). When employees see you as a great leader, they are more willing to trust you and be more engaged in the company. To achieve a positive relationship with your employees, it is important to analyze them as a person, read their body language, and engage with them. Respect is extremely important when building these relationships, and it goes both ways. If your employees don't respect you, they won't take your leadership seriously or won't give your their best performance. If you don't respect your employees, you'll never understand what they can actually contribute to the company and you won't understand the reasons behind their actions.
Selling your team's values or vision is crucial for developing that intrinsic reward system that really motivates your employees. What this means is that you have to get your workers to believe in what your doing. If they think that accomplishing the tasks assigned to them have improved their value at the company and that their work was an expression of what they can do for the company, then they can get that intrinsic reward and become more engaged in the company. As a manager you want them to think that their individual contributions have meant something and that the company's values and your employees values can be the same. This is the idea of having purpose, giving your employees the drive to do things because they matter. This concept is very important when it comes to motivating your employees. If your employees don't feel like their work matters, then they won't put in anything close to their best effort.
The difference between an adequate manager and an inspirational leader is that knowing what should get done and why. (Muller, Turner) This is where persuading with logic (logos) comes into play. Getting your employees to understand why they are doing what they are doing is just as important as getting them to do it. Telling your team that they have to what you say because you are the manager creates a mentality in the workforce where people get less motivated because they have no idea how their job affects the company. As a manager, you should be able to lay out a plan for your employees that gives the who, what, how, and why of every task. This gives your workers a logical reason to work hard and be engaged rather than them doing it for the fear of consequences.
Additionally, there is this idea of autonomy that plays a large role in what a manager can do to motivate their employees. The success of Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo, and other major tech companies can be largely attributed to how they manager their employees. By giving their employees a sense of control along with a purpose for doing what they what and the freedom to do it, they have created a work environment where employees are happy to come to work and do their best to contribute to the company. This is not just an idea, the fact that this management style will lead to a more productive and innovative workplace has been proven by the success of these companies and the emergence of new studies on this subject.
There is a disconnect between what science knows and what business does.
- Dan Pink