Be a motivating manager
Motivation has a direct impact on people’s performance. But how can it be sustained? The attitude of superiors has a decisive influence on the satisfaction that people derive from their work, and by extension, on their motivation.
A great deal has been written about motivation in business. Yet, keeping people engaged in their work remains a source of daily concern, both for the HR department, company leaders and front-line managers. And for good reason! According to a Gallup Institute poll, over half of all employees in the U.S. are not engaged in their work. The cost of this lack of engagement is a loss of productivity valued in the neighborhood of $270 billion a year. Worse, according to a McKinsey study, the proportion of the working population highly committed to their work is no more than 2 to 3 percent in some countries.
So how do you rekindle drive in your teams? No expert claims to hold a definitive answer to this problem, given that the drivers of motivation are complex and variable from one person to another. However, research in recent years tends to indicate that a core factor in motivation is the work in and of itself. A number of studies have shown that the satisfaction derived from work has a direct impact on individual motivation and performance. A 2010 analysis of two thousand business units realized by Gallup showed that the employee satisfaction index is a good predictor of the performance of a business unit six to twelve months later. Studies by Teresa Amabile, head of research at the Harvard Business School, underline that employees derive day-to-day motivation primarily from the sense of progressing efficiently in their work.
The good news is that companies don’t necessarily have to set up complex compensation policies or put a ping-pong table in the office lounge to motivate people. On the other hand, it does mean that local managers play an essential role in employee engagement. For who is in a better position to have a direct influence on how work is organized, as well as the conditions and climate in which it takes place? Sensitizing managers to the importance of their operational support and their day-to-day attitude is hence crucial.
In this synopsis:
- Energize your team
- Five ideas to make work more gratifying
- Keep your people motivated from day to day
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Foster your staff’s self-fulfillment
In theory, work represents a major opportunity for personal fulfillment—but the reality is often less gratifying. How can the line manager contribute to helping to rekindle this fulfilling dimension of work?
