Motivating Today's Employees. Lin Grensing-Pophal

      “True leadership skills are hard to come by,” says an employee who is frustrated with the promotion practices of the company she works for. “Many times, a promotion has killed working relationships because the person promoted has not been at least introduced to real leadership skills. Not very motivating to either party.”

      Managers have a supremely critical impact on the satisfaction of an organization’s workers but, as this employee points out, managers are often not provided with the education, training, coaching, and mentoring needed to succeed in these critical roles. The result? Disgruntled and unmotivated employees.

      Research conducted jointly by Hay/McBer and Harvard University in 2000 confirms that the team leader is central to team success. The findings confirmed that leaders of outstanding teams share the following traits and approaches. Effective team leaders —

      • Lead real teams. They know who the members of the team are, they have a plan, and they hold themselves jointly accountable for a collective task.

      • Are not necessarily charismatic leaders. Effective leaders leverage the talent of their people to drive success. What does this mean for organizations? It means that charismatic employees should not always be promoted to managerial roles based on the assumption that they will be strong leaders.

      • Have unique characteristics. They rely on leadership styles that promote dialogue and discussion. They are not authoritarian or coercive.

      • Focus on what really matters. According to the Hay Group, there are five key conditions that make the greatest difference to performance:

      i. Articulating a clear and compelling direction for the team.

      ii. Establishing a structure that helps the team do its work.

      iii. Selecting the best people for the team — and keeping them motivated.

      iv. Providing ongoing organizational support

      v. Providing expert coaching

      • Understand that only they can be responsible for establishing clear direction and ensuring that team norms are maintained. These tasks can not be delegated or shared.

      • Are more “emotionally intelligent.”Members of outstanding teams, according to the study’s authors, “show the qualities of interpersonal sensitivity and integrity.”

      It all starts at the top. As a supervisor or manager, you lay the foundation for motivation in your work group. Through your words, your actions, and your deeds, you have a marked impact on your work group.

      Laying the foundation means that you can effectively perform all of the key managerial functions: recruitment and selection, teambuilding, training, leading, motivating, controlling, coaching, counseling, evaluating, disciplining, and, sometimes, terminating.

      While the organization certainly has an impact on employee morale through its programs and policies, you as a manager or supervisor have direct responsibility for, and direct impact on, the employees you manage. You also have the ability to provide input to your superiors to help them design programs, practices, and policies that will have a positive impact on employee motivation.

      The third section of this book will focus on organizational initiatives that can impact motivation; this section focuses on the role of the front-line manager.

      You are a front-line manager whether you are the owner of the company, the CEO, a vice president, a manager, a director, or a supervisor. In each of these roles, you will have direct responsibility for at least one individual who reports to you. In each of these roles, you are the first line of influence.

      This is an critical role. To be successful you have to want to succeed. You have to understand that you have a tremendous impact on the effectiveness of your employees. And you have to believe that each of your employees is an important part of your overall work team, whether you’re directing a team of two or a team of two thousand.