Entry #4 Managing Motivation

It has been very fascinating to read about how managers and top executives choose their employees and the styles they utilize to motivate employees in the workplace.  I believe the great managers understand what makes a team function and are able to utilize this knowledge to their advantage in order to drive performance and execution. They constantly have to be investing in the development of their employees to involve everyone both individually and collectively. When you think about motivating your employees as a Manager, it all begins during the hiring process. This is where the good employees are separated from the great. In the readings from “Good to Great” by Collins I definitely agree with his oppinion that we must hire great employees because a shared vision can be learned and most great employees are in it for the long run. Hiring the best employees possible is definitely the most important concept I would address from a hiring standpoint. During the hiring process being able to determine which employees fit best with the company is hard to figure out. The only way I believe this process can be successful is to focus the interview questions towards figuring out what motivates the potential employee. In addition it is important that the candidate is personable, relatable, and confident in themselves. The Executive Director from Champaign Parks and Recreation that spoke with us last week was very beneficial in describing the types of qualities he looks for in his employees. The two most important things he described to be important were a great personality and someone who takes initiative. He would much rather have someone that will get out there and try new things on their own rather than someone that might be conservative and sticks to what’s comfortable to them. As a young professional that will soon be going through the hiring process and interviews I really took this into consideration. I think he is spot on when he talked about giving it your all and showing people how good you are at what you do. Ultimately it’s important to make the person above you look good by showing your personality fits in and you are motivated to do your good the best you possibly can.

This leads me to my next point of how to motivate employees. There is a lot of controversy out there saying that it is not the job of managers to motivate their employees and other believe it is the manager’s job to motivate them. I think it is a mixture of both because internal motivation has to come from the self which puts the employee in charge of his/her own motivation. In addition I think the manager must understand what motivates his/her employees and use it as a tool to create a successful organization.  I believe that motivation should not be treated as a program, but more as a personal approach to deal with employees. Each person is likely to be motivated differently in a number of ways. Some may be more intrinsically motivated and some more extrinsically. Based on the two types I would rather have intrinsically motivated employees, but that likely hard to find, especially since people change overtime and there is never a consistency. An important point to understand is that as a manager you have to know your employees on a personal level with constant communication to figure out what drives them to be successful. Another way to think of this is to shift from a “management”
 role to more of a “leadership” role. You manage the projects going on in the business, but you lead the people. This could start by paying attention to what matters to your employees and focusing on the WHAT of work and leaving the HOW to the people you hired in these positions. This builds trust and allows for intrinsic motivation to occur because they can individually focus on their strengths. Giving employees the opportunity to do something they will likely be successful with and passionate about leads to higher intrinsic motivation. 

 Another concept I believe can help motivate employees extrinsically is to reinforce. This focuses on the positive and reinforcing what is valued in the company. For example, when employees are meeting the organizational goals this behavior should be reinforced or rewarded. Rewarding those who are accomplishing behaviors that are expected should happen automatically, but rewarding those who go above and beyond is acceptable in this case. A manager’s role in motivating employees can be tricky, but I think it’s all about knowing your employees and keeping a work relationship that allows for constant evaluation and communication to make sure they will be successful. It is the job of the manager to set people up for success it’s just a matter of putting forth the effort to figure out what makes his/her employees tick.