Motivation or environmentation?

After burdening their employees' with sales and customer service training the hardy manager faced with underperforming staff puts motivation next on the training list, reasoning that 'They need motivatin', and picks up the phone to find a likely training provider. They assume that a brush with an upbeat trainer well versed in the black arts of Maslow, Herzberg and Vroom will inject some well needed verve into their staff morale, improve production and get them that promotion they have been chasing, which, incidentally illustrates Vroom's Motivation -Effort - Performance - Reward; expectancy theory quite nicely. However nothing could be further from the truth, and that is not to belittle the sterling job done by the majority of management trainers, I mean I'm one of them! It just seems that in the case of motivation training the tail is being taught how the dog should wag it, when really the dog should be taught how to wag the tail!

Clearly that is not to say that team-leaders, supervisors and first line managers won't learn useful methods and theories to find keys to motivation. It is just that the middle to upper echelons of the majority of organisations would do well to have a top down rather than a bottom up approach to motivation training - after all they have the power to make the biggest difference.

The term 'motivation' in itself is misleading- motivation is in essence an intrinsic human drive- employers can only 'motivate' by providing the optimum environment, which is a good thing and illustrates the point of putting the onus on the levels with the authority to make the changes. Fortunately improved staff morale can be achieved by enlisting a few key principles such as setting clear goals and objectives, giving regular constructive feedback, both negative and positive, linking appraisals performance and reward, using positive and negative reinforcement rather than punishment, giving recognition and showing tangible appreciation for individual and team effort. As Samr says;

• Set goals and objectives
• Ask/tell
• Measure/monitor
• Reward/recognise

How many companies employ that tired old cliché 'Our employees' are our greatest asset' and yet seem to do everything in their power to negate that statement?

This is not all some humanist twoddle either, in their book 'Contented Cows give more milk', Catlette & Hadden surveyed the best performing and the worst performing companies over a five year period and surprise, surprise, the better performers were rated the best companies to work for by their employees. Naturally the worst companies did the least for their staff and were despised by them...if you do the math you should conclude that investing in employees' well being will result in happier staff, happier customers and a healthier bottom line.