What is the Employee Motivation Plan?
Developing motivational skills can be profitable for the career, the goals of your company and the success of your staff. The first step for a motivation plan is to identify good motivators that fit the needs of your staff and the capabilities of the organization.
All information about motivation
Defining a Motivation Plan for Employees
A motivation plan is a series of scheduled steps that are taken when you want to motivate staff to be more productive and make the best use of limited resources. Motivating employees does not come naturally to most people. Fortunately, it is a skill that can be learned with patience, time and persistence. It all starts with establishing a solid motivation plan.
The ability to motivate has long been considered one of the most desirable traits of a senior manager. In some cases, this ability makes or breaks a career. Even some authors who are experts in business motivation consider it one of the four activities that managers should do well and explain that when it comes to motivation, managers should think of themselves as catalysts.
Importance of the Motivation Plan
The motivation plan is important because it is the tool that the manager uses as a catalyst. The term comes from the biology of enzymatic processes, in which the enzyme acts as a catalyst to accelerate the reaction between two substances, thus creating the desired end product, the authors state. The manager creates performance in each employee by accelerating the reaction between the employee’s talents and the company’s goals, and between the employee’s talents and the customers’ needs.
The result of good motivation can be excellent if it is done well. So when managers play this role well, the company becomes strong, doing it with one employee at a time.
Structure of this plan
Becoming an effective agent of change without compromising the company’s results requires deliberate thought and action. Below are some steps for developing the employee motivation plan.
Motivation is not manipulation
First, it is important to reaffirm what many managers already know instinctively. Motivation is not manipulation, so good managers who value motivation work to help people find positive reasons to do the job as well as possible. Manipulators resort to punitive measures that may seem effective at first, but quickly expel talented people.
Another intuitive insight is that a little honesty goes a long way and is crucial when seeking to motivate others. Experienced managers are aware of this fact, especially if they have received insincere motivational efforts.
Staff Motivations
To develop a motivation plan, you need to find out the real motivations of the staff and their colleagues. A good first step is a brainstorming session in which you ask employees and teams about their motivations. It is also valuable to ask them to recall incidents where they were able to work with an employee to improve the employee’s productivity. The goal is to find out what specific actions managers took that worked well for them.
The Team’s Power of Influence
Another important aspect of keeping a team motivated is to make them feel that they have a power to influence the project, and they should actually have some of that power.
The authors argue that team leaders must take any input seriously. Therefore, the leader must work with the team members to ensure that their input is aligned with the project’s perspective (goals, objectives, outcomes, etc.). In this way, team members will have the opportunity to provide useful input, to make it happen, and to see that the leader supports it.
Money is not the main motivator
There are ways to motivate without adding to the paychecks. Many managers and executives automatically assume that money is the most powerful motivator. It is not. Managers sometimes forget that a sincere appreciation for a job well done, along with challenging job opportunities, can be a better motivator than money.
Cultural Differences
There are also some cultural problems when looking for good motivational actions. Cultural differences must be taken into account if you have employees who were born and raised in other countries. For example, in many other countries, people have more vacation time than is typical in America, so perhaps more vacation time or compensation time would be a powerful reward or incentive. Job security and they see it economic advantages that publicly demonstrate appreciation, such as a reserved parking space, could also be useful.
Putting flesh on the bones of the plan
Whatever is decided in the plan, make sure that measurable goals and public rewards are made. So, tracking the main elements of projects and publishing the status of projects internally is one way to motivate staff.
You can also publish a graph that tracks the company’s achievements in relation to the strategy. The goal is simplicity along with exposure. Because, the staff knows that their efforts are seen by the business leaders and the realization of the project elements, it supports the strengthening of the business infrastructure.
Tough times with limited resources
In difficult times with limited resources, there is a way to reward effort, not just results. Sometimes the department’s efforts can be affected by external circumstances, a mandate to advance national security over other efforts at a time is a good example. In these cases, it is important for managers to know that their hard work is valued, even if important objectives have not been achieved on time, due to factors beyond their control.
The ultimate goal of motivation
The motivation plan should also include ways to help managers motivate staff and teams. After all, you want the motivational effects to be felt throughout the department. Some form of individual training may have to be arranged with managers. Also make sure that they understand that senior management is serious about the role of motivation in the department.
Planning to motivate
Plan to motivate and actively work to build a plan for managers and staff that helps keep motivation at the top of the priority list. Ensure that incentives are designed according to the needs and desires of staff. Looking beyond money as a motivator and including as many people as possible in the decision making process In general, it is advisable to be an agent of change for your managers and staff, helping to convey such change.
Example of an employee motivation plan
To motivate employees, companies should first set targets for employee participation and examine the challenges they face.
But a word of caution, realism is essential. SME leaders need to understand how motivated employees are and how this can change over the course of the year. Of course, not everyone can be motivated all the time.
In general, people believe in the company’s purpose, culture and employer brand. Therefore, you need to know how loyal the employees are. If the response is low, then the employee engagement processes need attention.
Below is a five-step action plan for motivating employees:
Displaying Employees
Companies must see their staff not only as a sounding board, but rather as the stream and the true character reference of an organization.
Leaders must find out what makes the team tick. They could use surveys (preferably anonymous) to establish what really motivates and de-motivates them, as well as the employee benefits that are most important to them.
Separation of Morale and Motivation
Good leaders are quick to separate the concept of morale, which is how employees feel, from motivation, which is the ability to turn talent into productivity. Even employees with low morale can still be highly productive and committed. Therefore, this is an important principle.
Explore solutions
The first step for business leaders is to recognize that they cannot always motivate people. But they can create an environment in which they feel inspired and confident that they can do their best.
Therefore, they should focus on what works well in the organization, managers should regularly give positive feedback to employees, put success stories as the first item on the agenda in all meetings, and move from discussing problems to exploring solutions and creating initiatives.
Team building events, with clear objectives
A dedicated conference or event can do wonders in terms of motivating employees, solving specific business problems and boosting morale. However, these events can be costly, so companies should be clear about their objectives and ensure that the event format meets their goals. About
everything, make sure that any event really involves everyone, avoiding the talk for this, because it will be counterproductive.
Establish a program of rewards and recognition
Another way to motivate staff throughout the year is to implement a well-planned rewards program. This idea can be very positive and cost-effective. But research is essential and companies must ensure that the right rewards are offered, because financial remuneration is not always the answer. In fact, in most cases it is not only the monetary reward that is always welcome, but also recognition that people respond to with satisfaction.