Here are the most typical answers:"They don't want anything," "They're not passionate," "They lack initiative," "Every step needs to be controlled," "They don't offer anything, you just need to give instructions," "They don't feel involved in the common cause," "They don't understand their contribution to strategic tasks," "I don't know how to motivate them to work in constantly changing conditions," "Salary increases only make them happy for 2 months," "Punishments are losing effectiveness. It's a dead end," "How to motivate non-materially?" "What will ensure stable motivation?"
Motivation, delegation, and empowerment are interconnected topics, but motivation is primary to the others. Moreover, if we recall the classic cycle of a manager's work, motivating and developing employees will be at the center of the cycle. Like an engine for the other tasks of the cycle - planning, setting goals and organizing execution; control and feedback; analysis of results.
Unfortunately, people often try to make money on the evergreen topic of "motivation." Usually, such "expert recommendations" are about different types of carrot and stick - motivation "from" and "to." It has become especially fashionable now to talk about non-material motivation. Yes, there is a grain of truth in it, it gives a longer-term effect than material motivation. But such a simplified, unsystematic understanding of the subject, without connection to modern neurophysiology data, looks, to put it mildly, ridiculous today. I regularly see how managers are disappointed in the methods of carrot and/or stick from their own bitter experience. Both the carrot and the stick need to be constantly strengthened to have an effect. Otherwise, a person gets used to it, and very quickly. Remember any of your experiences of getting used to discomfort: in the heat, the water in the sea is cold at first, then you get used to it. And in A.S. Pushkin's "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish" vividly shows the limitlessness of human desires for "gingerbread." As my colleague Veronika Vodokhlebova, HRD with 20 years of experience in the largest Russian manufacturing companies (JSC Ilim Group, OJSC Wimm-Bill-Dann, LLC Prodomenedzhment, OJSC GAZ, OJSC TGC-6, PJSC Sibur), told me, "a salary increase makes you happy for exactly two months. Personally verified. There was even such a case: after long efforts to increase salaries, a manager complained a week later that it was not enough." So, punishments and rewards, including non-material ones, give an unstable short-term effect. This is the meaning of Einstein's quote in the epigraph.
The key to success in understanding any problem is a systematic approach. Over the past 10+ years, Veronika and I have used the latest advances in neuroscience to create and test an employee motivation system in various companies.
With this article, I am opening a series of publications dedicated to ourauthor's employee motivation system. This system is built around the individual needs of employees and the goals of the company.
The system has a clear algorithm. Following all the steps, without exceptions or rearrangements, gives a stable long-term effect. Otherwise, all efforts to motivate employees are like sticking numerous plasters on a non-healing wound.
By analogy with treating a wound, let's understand motivation from the very beginning. Don't look for another temporary relief gimmick, but lay a solid healthy foundation. Let's get acquainted with the first stage of the system.
1️st stage.IDENTIFYING THE INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OF THE EMPLOYEE.
You can come up with different non-material incentives, but not take into account the most important thing - what a particular person needs. Unfortunately or fortunately, everyone needs something different. Therefore, even non-material motivation does not give the expected stable effect: what the organization offers is not valuable to the employee.
A need is a necessity for something in order to live and develop further. Needs are different - biological, social, spiritual. Biological ones are aimed at ensuring life, safety and procreation: sleep, food, water, breathing, self-preservation, relationships with representatives of the opposite sex. Social needs are due to our inclusion in society and relationships with each other. For example, recognition, self-realization, belonging to a group, communication. Examples of spiritual needs are development, creativity, self-identity, self-respect.
The task of the manager at the 1st stage
The most importanttask of the manager to ensure sustainable motivation is to identify the personal needs of the employee in order to link them to work tasks.
Tools and methods for identifying needs It sounds simple, but in practice, managers have a lot of questions about how to find out the needs of an employee. Obviously, the most effective way is personal conversations with the employee. Because, as we have already found out, everyone will have their own. A logical question arises: how to conduct these conversations? Probably, the direct question "What are your current needs?" will at least cause bewilderment))) Especially if personal conversations are not accepted in the organization, and the manager does this for the first time.
A minimum set of knowledge and skills to help the manager:
· developedactive listening skills, which help to hear a person, understand him, feel his mood and the moment when it is appropriate to start asking questions about needs, and will tell you what language to ask these questions in;
· knowledge of thestructure of suchdialogues, which we have developed specifically for this task;
· the ability to askfocused open questions that help to move through the structure of the dialogue and get closer to the goal of the conversation.
In practice, it is not uncommon for employees to find it difficult to name their needs. It's just their first experience. The process of becoming aware of yourself. No one has ever made them think so deeply about themselves before. Dear managers, treat this process with acceptance. Don't expect people to use official, generally accepted words from textbooks. Allow them to name their needs in their own words. And in your questions, you don't have to use the wordneed, if this word is not clear to the person. For example, you can formulate the question like this: "What do you lack the most right now?"
I foresee objections from managers: where to find time for personal conversations? I know it's not easy. But any manager in any normally organized company has a maximum of 10 people directly under their supervision, and more often 7-8. He who seeks will always find. Otherwise, you will continue to stick fashionable plasters on a non-healing wound.
Application Cases
Here's what managers who conducted conversations learned about the individual needs of their employees:
· professional growth,
· flexible schedule,
· interesting projects,
· recognition in the team,
· training,
· stability,
· health,
· ...
When the needs are clarified, the manager needs to move on to the next steps in the motivation algorithm. We will consider them in the next article.
Olga Yudina, founder of the academy
"Territory of Innovation", Candidate of Philological Sciences,
author of internationally accredited training programs
for business mentors, development of communication skills and
leadership competencies