Management Matters Most in Motivation

Management Vision and Communication Foster Motivation

Participative, empowering management is the key to employee motivation.
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Motivation is the most powerful tool that employees bring to work. It is also the most powerful tool for bringing them into work. The management role in stimulating motivation through shared vision and communication is the fundamental skill that great managers bring to the workplace.

Owners and employees in leadership roles can learn to inspire motivation through simple actions such as caring for employees, investing in them, and establishing a culture of developing trusting relationships with a rewarding work experience.

Management Through Motivation

Management in organizations have key roles to play when developing a climate conducive to creating motivation. There are many factors which will make or break the motivation of employees.

The right environment for motivation must be first be created. In this environment, a culture of greatness will need to be fostered and embraced. Employees should be rewarded for accomplishments in a way that matters.

Create The Environment

The right environment to foster motivation is not difficult to create. The environment, first and foremost, needs to be centered around having a good time at work. This does not mean that employees need to portray a false sense of happiness or bring in cakes every day.

It simply means that it should be OK to laugh and have a few casual conversations or allow some close working relationships which your employees can look forward to.

Show your employees appreciation for the work they do. Every employee (hopefully) will make contributions to the company. There will always be top performers and average performers.They should all receive some recognition for the work they are doing.

Keep in mind though, there are fewer top performers than there are average performers. Most of the work will be done by your average performers, so don't forget them when handing out thank you's and handshakes.

Make sure your organization is goal-oriented. All employees should be working toward a goal. If there is no goal for them to work toward, why are they there? Each department should have goals that are broken down into goals per section, then into employee goals.

Once challenging goals are met, show your appreciation then set more goals. In between the goal setting and celebrations, make sure you have established an environment where employees are encouraged to grow. Everyone has different abilities, so providing performance criteria and guidelines with regular feedback will breed growth and motivation.

Create a Culture of Greatness

Greatness is in the eye of the beholder. A culture of greatness is viewed as such through the eyes of the employees. Since employees are so critical to the definition of an organization's culture, a great culture should be one which focuses on the company's employees.

To focus on your employees, policies should be implemented that create programs that develop the skills and talents your employees have. Your business needs these skills, so it makes sense to care for those that bring them into your organization. A reward system should be created and implemented. Executives, managers, and leaders should all embrace the reward system and ensure it is followed through with.

Employee Reward System

People love to finish tasks, complete goals, work on challenging projects, and receive not only awards for it but the feeling they get from succeeding. The reward from management is a nice gesture, but the recognition from peers along with leadership is most coveted.

To be considered a doer, an expert, a contributor by one's peers and leaders is one of the ultimate rewards. This falls in line with the concept of social rewards, in which social interactions are used to enhance the feeling of worth. Humans, as social creatures, thrive on social recognition. Studies are beginning to show that monetary recognition, while still valued, is not as motivating for employees as once thought.

Alienation of Employees

A mistake commonly made by managers is to cause an employee to feel alienated by berating them. If employees are constantly berated, yelled at, or made to feel as if their work does not matter there will be no motivation for them to come to work or accomplish anything while there.

Values and Vision

Many leaders create vision statements and have a picture in their head of what they see their company being. A quick read through many corporate vision statements will demonstrate how they want consumers, investors and others to view them. Most will not say anything about a vision for their employees.

The values you instill in your employees with the vision you have of your company will be a timeless motivator. As you create the vision of your company, be sure to include the values you hold, as well as the value your employees have for you.

Including your employees in the vision for your company could help foster a motivational environment and culture worth working for. Many definitions for a vision and mission statement exist, and many companies have them. Sadly, not many of these statements mention anything similar to being a great place to work.