Motivating for Top Performance

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Motivating for Top Performance

• UKWF Conference
• Fall 2008

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Motivating for Top Performance

• During this workshop, you will learn to
• Recognize the myths surrounding motivation
• List the basic principles of motivation
• Understand the three conditions of motivation
• Set the three conditions into motion
• Create an environment that reinforces those
  conditions

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What Has Been Studied?

• Rewards and incentives
• A reward is that which is given following a
  behavior with the intention of acknowledging the
  positive nature of that behavior, and often with
  the additional intent of encouraging it to happen
  again.
• There are two kinds of rewards, extrinsic and
  intrinsic. Extrinsic rewards are external to, or
  outside of, the individual for example, praise
  or money. Intrinsic rewards are internal to, or
  within, the individual for example, satisfaction
  or accomplishment.
• Traditionally, extrinsic motivation has been used
  to motivate employees
• Tangible rewards such as payments, promotions (or
  punishments).
• Intangible rewards such as praise or public
  commendation.
• There is currently no 'grand unified theory' to
  explain the origin or elements of intrinsic
  motivation. Most explanations combine elements of
  attribution theory, work on self-efficacy and
  other studies relating to locus of control and
  goal orientation.

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Happy?

• When you focus on happiness, you are not focusing
  on performance. While no one wants to create
  unhappy employees, the happiness or unhappiness
  of a group of staff members isnt central.
  Motivation works best when its focus is on
  enhancing and sustaining performance.

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Just What Is It Anyway?

• Motivation is an inner drive that causes a person
  to act in a way to achieve a certain goal.
• Tell them what theyre expected to do and how
  well theyre doing it.
• Show them the total picture.
• Provide the resources to do the job well.
• Advocate with upper management when they are not
  getting what they need.
• Help solve problems dont solve the wrong
  problem or create a new problem or become the
  problem.
• Help them improve and get better.

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Common Myths About Motivation

• Myth 1 -- "I can motivate people"Employees have
  to motivate and empower themselves.
• Myth 2 -- "Money is a good motivator"Money, a
  nice office and job security can help people from
  becoming less motivated, but they usually don't
  help people to become more motivated.
• Myth 3 -- "Fear is a good motivator"Fear is a
  great motivator -- for a very short time.
• Myth 4 -- "I know what motivates me, so I know
  what motivates my employees"Different people are
  motivated by different things.
• Myth 5 -- "Increased job satisfaction means
  increased job performance"Increased job
  satisfaction does not necessarily mean increased
  job performance.

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Zap Motivation

• Make sure that the atmosphere in your workplace
  reeks of office politics.
• Have no clear expectations regarding your
  employees' performance.
• Create a lot of unnecessary rules for employees
  to follow.
• Plan unproductive meetings for employees to
  attend.
• Promote internal competition between employees.
• Withhold information critical for employees to
  perform their work.
• Provide criticism instead of constructive
  feedback.
• Tolerate poor performance so your high performing
  employees feel taken advantage of.
• Treat employees unfairly.
• Underuse the capability of your employees

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Motivation Management

• The crux of motivation management is to
  understand that employees are motivated by what
  they believe is going to happen, not by what
  managers promise will happen. Managers can
  motivate employees by setting in motion the three
  conditions required for motivation--confidence,
  trust and satisfaction--and by creating an
  environment that reinforces those conditions.

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Confidence

• Lack of confidence occurs when performance
  expectations are unrealistic, workloads are
  impossibly high and training fails to keep pace
  with needs.
• Many people fear that if they say they "can't do"
  something, you will assign the duty to someone
  else. So, employees go through the motions,
  giving the appearance that everything is fine.
• A good leader recognizes when an employee says he
  can do something but doesn't mean it. "If
  everything goes well, I'll probably be able to
  ... I guess," then clearly the employee has a
  confidence issue. If the employee doesn't
  volunteer information, ask questions in a
  non-threatening way about how he plans to carry
  out the instructions.
• To ferret out confidence issues, ask
• Do you know what is expected?
• Do you think what's expected is attainable?
• Can you do what is being asked of you and can you
  do it on time?

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Trust

• A major motivational roadblock is the belief that
  "Outcomes are not tied to my performance.
• Trust problems cannot be corrected quickly. It
  takes time to build trust.
• Give employees what their performance deserves.
  Too many have learned that poor performance does
  not result in negative consequences, and that
  lesson is a major cause of motivation and
  performance problems.
• Managers who delegate duties to employees and
  then never follow up think they are giving
  employees space and independence. But, in fact,
  they are not reinforcing positive behaviors or
  correcting negative behaviors.
• For trust concerns, ask the employee
• Do you know what is being offered for good
  performance?
• In your opinion, have we come through on our
  promises in the past?
• Do you expect to get what is offered?
• What do you expect to get if you do a good job?
• What do you expect to happen if you perform
  poorly

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Satisfaction

• People may believe they can do the job
  (confidence) and that outcomes will be tied to
  performance (trust), but they will not be
  motivated if they believe the outcomes will be
  dissatisfying. It does not make sense for anyone
  to work hard for something he doesn't want.
• Many managers make the mistake of believing and
  acting as though everyone is motivated in the
  same way. This simply is not true. What motivates
  one person may even de-motivate another.
  Challenging work, for example, is motivating to
  some employees, intimidating to others some
  employees prefer the certainty of a fixed
  routine, while others thrive on task variety.
• Managers also cannot assume that each employee
  will be satisfied if the three "big
  outcomes"--money, advancement and job
  security--are fulfilled. Another outcome, such as
  praise, recognition, openness or honesty, may be
  more of a motivating factor to some employees.
• Find out what your front line staff members
  considers satisfying
• What would be satisfying to you?
• Is the work meaningful to you?
• Is there anything you don't want?
• Do you want the things being offered?
• Do you want something that is not being offered

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Could Motivation Be An Issue?

• Attitude changes. The employee is usually upbeat,
  but now appears quiet, somber, sullen,
  disagreeable or even moody. Or the reverse--the
  employee becomes far more outgoing, energized or
  talkative than normal, typical or acceptable.
• Comments from co-workers that "something is
  wrong."
• Stress reactions. The job isn't being completed
  as well as in the past the employee is jittery,
  short-tempered or difficult to get along with.
• Tardiness. The employee is arriving late in the
  morning and leaving early or at the exact end of
  the workday or shift.
• Change in lunch and coffee breaks. The employee
  takes more time than usual or doesn't take them
  at all.
• Decrease in positive interaction with other
  employees. He "just doesn't get along" as well
  with others anymore.
• Increase in errors.
• Decrease in productivity. There's an increase in
  time spent on projects without a subsequent
  increase in quality or productivity.

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Intervention

• 1. Meet with the individual. Ask for perception
  of the performance or productivity. Share your
  specific views of the change.
• 2. Identify previous motivators. Determine
  which factors are no longer present and/or
  determine which ones no longer work as
  motivators.
• 3. Identify new motivators.
• Identify where the individual can experience a
  sense of achievement.
• Recognize and reward for a job well done or work
  in progress.
• Provide opportunities for personal or
  professional growth.
• Provide appropriate guidance and supervision.
• Try rotating job responsibilities between several
  employees.
• Try expanding the breadth and depth of
  responsibilities.

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Rust Out

• Burnout is when you're overused and exhausted
  rust out happens when your potential is underused
  and you deteriorate.
• An employee has rusted out when he or she no
  longer contributes much beyond the minimum. When
  a worker who was once a regular source of good
  suggestions no longer speaks up, that's a sign of
  rust out. Ditto for a worker who formerly
  volunteered for extra duties and was always ready
  to pitch in during emergencies but now stays out
  of the action.
• Firing rust out victims is rarely the wisest
  solution, in part because every termination means
  new costs in hiring and training replacement
  workers.

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No More Rust

• The starting point is to talk about rust out with
  employees who exhibit it. Review his or her
  performance and discuss why it is suffering. This
  is a crucial step to help employees see that they
  are rusting out--and that they have the ability
  to end it.
• In fact, simply holding this conversation is
  curative. Many are rusting out but don't know it
  because no one is giving them honest feedback.
• Offer to help employees update their skills. A
  key to reactivating any worker is to give him or
  her the means to elevate current skills--in
  whatever is pertinent to the current and future
  job description. A small investment in training
  can go far in halting rust out.
• While you're at it, spell out how their work
  contributes to the business' strategic
  objectives. Communicate to them how and where
  their roles make a difference in the departments
  success. Staff members frightened about their
  place at the university won't contribute at peak
  levels today.
• As employees emerge from rust out, reinforce
  their positive changes by recognizing their
  contributions. Initial steps will be small--just
  as a rusty wheel begins to move only slowly--but
  be ready to pour on encouragement.
• It's not easy work. Bringing employees out of
  rust out takes concentrated, prolonged attention
  to the individuals on your team. But the payoff
  justifies the extra effort.

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Reward the Right Behaviors

• Dont be inattentive
• No attention indicates that good performance
  doesnt really matter.
• Dont discourage the right behaviors.
• When staff gives you bad news, you verbally lash
  out.
• When staff seeks your help or counsel with a
  problem, you react like the situation is a crisis
  and create stress for everyone near you.
• When staff disagrees with you, you become
  defensive.
• When staff offers ideas that you dont like, you
  cut them off with That will never work here.
• Dont reward the wrong behaviors.
• Every time Melody Mistake Maker in your group
  makes an error, you say little and correct the
  problem yourself.
• Every time Ollie Outburst has a temper tantrum,
  you say little because you dont want to upset
  him either.
• Every time Esther Extension misses a deadline,
  You say, Thats fine do your best to get the
  job done.
• Every time you raise an issue with Walt Wiggle,
  you end up in long discussions about all the
  challenges Walt has and work out no plan for
  correction.

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Relating to Your Average Worker

• Managers generally agree that the problem
  associates, though only about 10 of the total
  workforce, receive the most management
  recognition and attention because in an effort to
  correct the inappropriate behavior or
  performance, these associates require
  management's attention and focus.
• Excellent associates receive the next greatest
  amount of management recognition and attention.
  After all, managers often recognize the
  contributions that this group makes to
  organizational success and "enjoys their
  company."
• The average group represents 75 of an
  organization's total workforce, these associates
  greatly out-produce both the problem and
  excellent associate groups. In essence, the
  average associate group might be viewed as the
  "forgotten majority."

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Managerial Action

• Immediately put the staff member at ease. Within
  five seconds, it should be obvious that this is
  to be a positive conversation.
• Express your personal appreciation to the
  associate. This process is most powerful when
  associates recognize that you personally are
  appreciative of their individual performances and
  that you, as a manager, care about them.
• Clearly state to the associate specifically what
  performance is deserving of the positive
  recognition. Avoid general performance
  observations such as Good job!
• Indicate why the recognized good performance is
  important.
• Ask if there is anything that you can do to make
  the jobs easier or to help improve performance.
  Listen and respond appropriately.
• Commit to following up on the input provided in
  by a specific date and then do it.