Gallup Poll Research says that if we engage employees in decision-making and recognize them often, they will feel valued and give their employers up to 74 percent more productivity.
A recent McKinsey survey validates this finding. Their respondents named three noncash motivators, as seen below, as more effective motivators than the three highest-rated financial incentives: cash bonuses, increased base pay, and stock or stock options.
- Praise and connection from immediate manager, 67 percent.
- Attention from leaders (one-on-one conversations), 63 percent.
- Opportunities to lead projects or task, 62 percent.
What both surveys point out is that the key to motivating an employee to achieve greater productivity is to make them feel valued.
So why do leaders fear employee engagement and often opt for the traditional financial forms of recognition?
According to the surveys mentioned and my experience for 25 years as a business consultant many have a perceived lack of time and energy; and fear that “If I engage and ask, I will have to do what they want and say, even if I think it is substandard. Otherwise, why ask?”
Here’s the good news: There is a process to employee engagement that creates immediate effectiveness. Here are 4 of the most important keys to apply:
- Engage your employees in the education, creation, management and execution of your strategic plan throughout the year, so you get understanding, buy-in and motivation. Traditionally, upper management goes off-site and decides the strategic plan, puts plaques on the wall, and begins organizational communication to TELL the employees what they MUST do. Try this instead:
- Do a S.W.O.T. Analysis-ask your employees what they believe are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company.
- Educate your employees on the strategic planning process: What is a vision statement, a mission statement, values, goals, and initiatives? Why are they important?
- Ask them what they think the vision, mission, values, goals and important initiatives ought to be, BEFORE deciding, or trust me, you will hear about it in the form of resistance afterwards.
- Foster creativity, mastery and purpose in your employees by helping them discover how they can contribute to the goals and needed initiatives.
- Don’t just tell them the tasks and initiatives they need to do, ask them for their ideas and how they can make a difference. No one wants to be told what to do, but when we ask employees how they can contribute and stay open-minded, we give them bragging rights and recognition.
- Affirm them often and help them see their brilliance. People will become what you see in them.
- Stay engaged and informed of progress weekly and give recognition, feedback and coaching.
- Have them chart out exactly what they will do by when and tie their initiative to the strategic goal so that they understand the importance of their activities.
- Always know exactly where your employees are in the progress of their projects. Being aware is a way to say, “What you are doing is important enough to me to have my attention.”
- When an employee is off track, give coaching. When an employee is creating results give praise. Both are a form of attention, and therefore express, “You count and you matter!”
- Create an empowered culture: Encourage your employees to recognize each other.
- Create a team leader for major projects. Have their role be to ensure the team is on track with that initiative.
- Have your team leader ensure team members talk about project progress, problem solve and recognize each other for a job well done. Have them think out of the box on how to meet: through email, WebEx, or a phone conference… It doesn’t always have to be an in-person meeting. What’s most important is they meet regularly and consistently. Many companies get off track, cancelling meetings because of people missing, only to find themselves disconnected.
When you follow the above steps, you create a culture that has true recognition and motivation. I remember when George Dalton became the chairman of my BIZremedies board. He naturally knew how to make people feel important and valued. He asked great questions that truly engaged my creativity. When I would come up with an idea, he would tell me, “That was brilliant!” Of course, I knew exactly what he was doing, and how brilliant he actually was as a leader.
Your challenge: What will you do to create real employee engagement, recognition and motivation in your organization, beyond the traditional financial incentives?
