Motivating Employees

Management has a basic choice in motivation of either offering some nature of reward for carrying out a task, or making the threat of some form of penalty for not doing so - the traditional 'carrot' and 'stick' philosophy.

But although the 'big stick' may have worked well when unemployment was high and there were few if any social security benefits, it is almost totally ineffective in the economic and social environment of today.

For ‘Knowledge Workers’, often, peer group relationships are more important than business relationships, formed inside the company.

The group expect to provide their own security and accept employment as a contract of convenience. Indicators included a results orientated approach, risk acceptance and a cavalier attitude to work hours and minor procedures.

Increasing your understanding of motivation will increase your understanding of yourself and your team. Learning about how to apply motivational techniques will help you to create a happy, more stable and more effective team.

Elements covered:

• Introduction motivation
• A brief history of motivation
• Understanding motivational needs
• Utilising motivation skills
• Objective setting
• Motivational blocks and demotivation

Competency addressed:
This module is designed to contribute to the PRE4M™ Coach and Performance Manager Competencies at the Foundation and Advanced levels.

At the end of this module learners will understand how to:

• Explain how individuals’ objectives link to the organisational strategy
• Monitor performance and gives specific, descriptive, motivational praise
• Monitors performance and gives specific, descriptive, constructive criticism in a way that motivates the individual or team to improve performance
• Set clear, consistent expectations and goals
• Articulate own goals and performance indicators
• Agree specific and measurable goals, objectives and performance standards
• Adopt an appropriate management style for each individual and situation
• Allocate tasks and responsibilities appropriately taking individual capabilities and workload into consideration
• Tackle poor performance appropriately as soon as it is identified
• Work with individuals and teams to identify strategies for improving performance