Leadership Tip - Motivation and Appreciation

“In motivating people, you’ve got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people, I hope, by example – and perhaps by excitement, by having productive idea to make others feel involved”.
– Rupert Murdoch


Dear Leaders,

What motivates you? What motivates your team? In today’s difficult work climate it’s especially important to know what energizes us and how to energize others to help us achieve the results we desire (and work hard for).

Results from a management study show that 46% of employees leave their position because they felt under appreciated. 61% said their bosses don’t place much emphasis on them as people, and 88% said they don’t get acknowledged for the work they do.

Jack Canfield in the Success Principles provides a list of the top 10 ways to motivate employees and the top 10 ways to motivate supervisors. Interestingly enough, the lists differ considerably.

For employees, number one year over year is appreciation, yet for supervisors appreciation is rated 8th.

EMPLOYEE Top 10 MOTIVATORS

1. Appreciation
2. Feeling “in” on things
3. Understanding attitude
4. Job Security
5. Good wages
6. Interesting work
7. Promotion opportunities
8. Loyalty form management
9. Good working conditions
10. Tactful discipline

SUPERVISOR Top 10 MOTIVATORS

1. Good wages
2. Job security
3. Promotion opportunities
4. Good working conditions
5. Interesting work
6. Loyalty from management
7. Tactful discipline
8. Appreciation
9. Understanding attitude
10. Feeling “in” on things


For now we won’t delve into the reasons between the differences between the lists, but note that appreciation IS important to both levels. Mr. Canfield also makes another interesting point; the top 3 items on the employee list cost the organization nothing in terms of impacting your budget. Rather, they simply require time, respect, and understanding.

As a leader, do you invest enough time showing others appreciation? Be honest. Do you?

Next, review the list for employees and now review the list for supervisors. Which are you more aligned with? Is your job and your boss fulfilling your motivational needs? As a leader are you fulfilling the needs of your staff? Let us know.

Sincerely,
Jan Mayer-Rodriguez and Mike Kublin
PeopleTekCoaching.com
Leading Learning Succeeding