Motivating employees

Managers taking on challenges, do not think in the first place in which direction to direct the bus, the most important thing is to take the right people on the bus with whom one wants to cooperate[1]. However, the question arises – what do we mean by right people? According to M. Buckingham, C. Coffman, the right people are those who do not require strict control and additional encouragement, because they themselves feel the inner need to strive for the best results and to create great things[2]. However, motivating employees is a continuous and complex process. A great manager can not forget about motivating employees to effectively carry out their tasks in his daily work. You can not forget that people who are motivated, work better.

Motivating employees is a constant element of management, and effective motivation depends on the boss. The atmosphere at work depends on the manager, he is the key person in the company[3].

Who is the boss then? What is his role?

This is the most important role of the leader. The superior must inspire his people to act boldly through praise, confirmation and encouragement, as well – whenever necessary – through reprimand and criticism[4].

Big managers know perfectly well that every employee needs a different way of motivating, everyone has their own way of thinking and treating others[5]. Their task is to extract potential from every employee, finding what’s the best for them and for the enterprise. It is the motivation of action that achieving results at work depends on. The factor that stimulates people to act are their needs, and more broadly – the desire to satisfy them[6].

Peter Drucker “give people freedom of action and they will surprise you with their ingenuity” – refers to managing the company through goals. Jointly defining goals with an employee, giving him or her the freedom to act in defining goals, how to choose them, can really surprise us. The employee feels motivated and even feels that he or she is one with the company.

Motivating employees today is very difficult. It requires high managerial competences. When creating an incentive system in an enterprise, it should start with its strategic goals, and appropriate methods selected and adjusted to it.

Often due to the unsatisfactory amount of remuneration, the manager has a real challenge to motivate his employees with non-financial aspects that gain a lot of significance. The sense of accomplishment, appreciation, and development of your skills gives the employee self-confidence and encourages further work in favor of the organization.  In everyday work, the employee counts on the support of the superior, who is a model for him, and above all the person who will be able to guide him or her further. It is not an art nowadays to give a ready solution to an employee, it’s a challenge to guide the employee to choose the right solution. The employee is supposed to feel that the manager supports him or her in decision making.

Proper motivation allows you to achieve your goals and promotes a positive atmosphere at work.

There’s an old Chinese proverb, that best summarizes the motivation process: “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember, involve me and I will understand.”

 

[1] J. Collins, Good to great. Factors of sustainable development and companies’ victory, Warsaw 2007

[2] M. Buckingham, C. Coffman, First, Break All the Rules. What the biggest managers in the world do differently, Warsaw 2009

[3] See M. Buckingham, C. Coffman, First, Break All the Rules. What the biggest managers in the world do differently, Warsaw 2009

[4] N. Wolf, Błogosławiony, który odróżnia ziarnko piasku od góry. O chwaleniu, krytykowaniu i motywowaniu, w: N. Wolf, E. Rosanna, Sztuka kierowania ludźmi, Tyniec 2011

[5] M. Buckingham, C. Coffman, First, Break All the Rules. What the biggest managers in the world do differently, Warsaw 2009

[6] M. Mazur, Motywowanie pracowników jako istotny element zarządzania organizacją, Social Sciences 2 (8) – 2013