The 10 Commandments of workplace motivation

by Roxanne Emmerich

During times of war, commissioned officers build morale among their troops with light entertainment, hot meals and the occasional appearance of a decorated commander. In the working world, it’s not that easy. Often, management experiences difficulty motivating employees and boosting morale. And yet, a motivated workforce is a productive and happy workforce.

The problem is, intangibles such as workforce motivation require maintenance. Not only that, management must practice what it preaches. When management takes action and employees follow rules, morale improves. But when management or labor breaks the rules, motivation deteriorates. Managers spend too much time insisting they are building a motivated workplace when, in fact, they often sabotage it.

A motivating work environment is everyone’s responsibility. Gone are the days when we look to managers to motivate. Here are Ten Commandments that everyone in your organization must follow if you want to build the kind of workplace where everyone thrives.

1. Build self-respect
Positive reinforcement allows people to understand their performance adds value to the organization. Receiving positive reinforcement gives employees a sense of satisfaction that creates the initiative to try new ideas and take bigger risks. We never have enough self-respect.

2. Don’t be neurotic (or disguise it well)
Employees deserve a clear understanding of what behaviors and outcomes management expects. Many managers are so unclear, employees think they intentionally obscure purpose. Provide a precise vision and systems for the most important activities.

3. Show respect
Managers often treat employees like a child in an adult-child relationship.  An adult-adult transaction requires that we allow employees the latitude to solve problems. Provide guidance with a clear picture of what outcomes you expect and allow employees to think for themselves.

4. Live integrity
Most people say they are honest. In any day, however, those same people will break their word repeatedly in small ways. Employees immediately spot managerial mistakes and slips in integrity by peers and managers. Instead of confronting the problem directly, employees blame, gossip and whine. Manager and employees must live in integrity, keep their word and speak a deeper truth.

5. Be fair
In a world where nothing is fair, we need to find ways to be as fair as possible. Fair does not mean equal. Paying for performance isn’t fair if you cap the incentives that a star performer can receive.  If you reward employees for cost savings, increases in revenue, or sales to new customers, additional money is there to share. Share the money with employees!

6. Value and reinforce ideas
According to an Employee Involvement Association study, the average employee in Japan submits 32 ideas for improvement per year. The average employee in the United States submits 0.17 ideas per year. The ratio of Japanese to American improvement ideas equals 188 to 1. The root of this problem stems from the fact that only 33 percent of U.S. employees’ ideas are adopted, compared to 87 percent from Japanese workers. If we expect people to give us their ideas for improving the organization, we need to have a serious system for evaluating and implementing them.

7. Give them what they want
My mother loves crafts. I love books. Every year for Christmas, my mother gives me crafts. I give my mother books. What’s wrong with this picture? Each of your employees has a different idea of how they prefer to be rewarded. Money, trips, educational opportunities, promotions, verbal recognition, everyone likes it differently. If you don’t know what they want, ask them.

8. Provide immediate feedback
Somewhere along the path, management and workforce assumed that all feedback gets stuck in a file and delivered at the yearly performance review. The problem with this approach is that inappropriate behavior becomes habit by the time the employee hears about it. Worse yet, you lose the benefit of reenergizing your people with the substantial immediate impact of positive reinforcement for a project well done.

9. Reinforce the right things
One of the companies I have done work for believed that good employees come to work early and stay late. Not surprisingly, the CEO came to work early and stayed late. When a new CEO came, he placed the emphasis on performance. Productivity went up rapidly. Those same employees did more work in less time. Watch what you reinforce because you will undoubtedly get more of it.

10. Serve others
Switch the focus from customer satisfaction to customer success. Every thriving organization has a passion for serving its customers. When the workforce focuses on customer success, it enrolls the hearts, minds and souls of workers as opposed to simply working from job descriptions.

Roxanne Emmerich is president of The Emmerich Group Inc. in Minneapolis, where she helps organizations improve their performance. Roxanne  presented to more than 1000 audiences and authored more than 100 articles and 4 books including, "Thank God It’s Monday: How to Build a Motivation Workplace." She can be reached at (612) 820-0360.

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