Motivating employees: Tips and tricks for the CEO and senior team.
How to make your employees like this
Let’s be honest, employees can be your best assets or your worst nightmares. I have been lucky and can say that all the people that have worked for me have been gems. But motivating employees is not easy and can be one of the most time consuming activities. In this post, I will describe some of the best practices in motivating employees and also provide some examples.
Be Consistent but Understand Uniqueness.
Sounds contradictory but it is not. It is important to realize that not everyone responds to the same incentives. For example, I had two salespersons working for me once and one wanted a base salary and bonus and one wanted a commission only compensation package. Both sold the same amount, one took home more money and one had more stability. So, how was I consistent? I created both plans in advance and made sure they had a choice and all the information needed to make the decision that was right for them.
Another example is to create a bonus plan that is consistent with the entire organization but the objectives to receive the bonus are different. For example, All engineers receive a 3% annual bonus, but engineer #1, who loves education, has to achieve 3 certifications and teach 1 class. Engineer #2 like to be onsite, so you have a billable hours goal.
Frequent and specific feedback
Seems easy but it is often the most overlooked. Most organizations, if they have a formal review program, set objectives at the beginning of the year and then near the end of the year, start looking to see if they are done, with no interaction in between. Jan 1: Don you must take 4 courses. Dec 15: Don, did you take those courses? Your bonus depends on them!!!
Believe it or not, that happens. So, my policy is to check the goals monthly informally and quarterly formally. And not just stated goals. Employees need to receive feedback when you notice something good or bad and be specific. Watch what is happening and look for employees that go out of their way for a customer or for a specific task.
When an employee stays late one evening, find out why and thank him for the extra time and see if there is anything you can do to help. Equally, if they do something inappropriate, bring it to the employee’s attention and suggest ways to do it differently. This ensures that the employee knows you are paying attention and that you care about what they are doing.
Rewards and Recognition
This is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to recognize and incentivize employees. I have my department heads come up with metrics and competitions for their department and choose 1-2 from each to give an award to. For example, a service department I have advised created a competition called Service Tech of the Quarter. The most tickets closed with the highest customer service record wins dinner for two each month. The results are posted and updated each week so everyone knows where they stand. The winner is announced at the quarterly company meeting in front of everyone so they know it is visible. Everyone applauds and the employee is recognized.
Then, I also create some other awards that are discretionary. If I notice a employee that stays late to close the books or post one more order for a customer, I will give them a special award maybe called “the overtime award” or something similar.
Goals and Objectives
When we first visit a new client, we do interview with every employee. When we ask if they know their goals, frequently we get “Whatever the boss says” which translates to “ Just enough to not get into trouble”.
Lack of direction and improper or unattainable goals is an incredible de-motivator. Start with something simple that everyone can work on. Sometimes this is a mission or vision statement, but can also be something simple. HSG’s is “Enabling Business Excellence”. But sometimes that is too vague for employees. Increase customer satisfaction or decrease service time is very direct and can be used.
It is important that the goals be attainable and material. Asking a person to triple their billable hours will just shut them down. Also, not connecting the goal with either the person, the job or the end result can be equally disastrous. For example, telling an entry level engineer that they are responsible for a 30% increase in sales without connecting their job to that goal or telling them what they get if it is accomplished is as good as telling them nothing.
However, it is also important to set a goal that is more than business as usual. A rule of thumb is 20% increase in anything. A 20% increase in sales, a 20% increase in utilization, etc. This at least keeps people working towards improvement.
Negative Reinforcement
I believe in positive reinforcement whenever possible, however, setting a goal and rewarding performance is moot if you do not also apply some negative reinforcement if the goal is not accomplished. If you have done everything else above, this should not be a problem.
But as it is important to be clear in what you expect, you also need to be clear in what will happen if the expectations are not met. Having a employee that is under-performing draws down the entire team and must be dealt with. Fixing the problem will motivate everyone else.
Holistic Approach
Finally, it is critical that you consider the entire company and all of its employees when you are thinking about one or more employees in particular. You cannot setup a bonus program for one employee only. You cannot set a bonus program for all employees that bankrupts the company. You must take into consideration all of the goals, all of the employees, all of the customers, everything when motivating employees properly.
