Set Them Free: Two Musts For Employee Motivation

By Susan M. Heathfield

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Minimize Rules and Policies

Every person is motivated. The challenge at work is to create an environment in which people are motivated about work priorities. Too often, organizations fail to pay attention to the employee relations, communication, recognition, and involvement issues that are most important to people. The first step in creating a motivating work environment is to stop taking actions that are guaranteed to demotivate people. Identify and take the actions that will motivate people. It’s a balancing act. Employers walk a fine line between meeting the needs of the organization and its customers and meeting the needs of its internal staff. Do both well and thrive.

An attention-getting Gallup Poll about disengaged employees was highlighted in a recent Wall Street Journal. Gallup found 19 percent of 1,000 people interviewed "actively disengaged" at work. These workers complain that they don't have the tools they need to do their jobs. They don't know what is expected of them. Their bosses don't listen to them.

Based on these interviews and survey data from its consulting practice, Gallup says actively disengaged workers cost employers $292 billion to $355 billion a year. Furthermore, Gallup concluded that disengaged workers miss more days of work and are less loyal to employers. With this in mind, let’s look at a couple of areas in which balance is critically needed for employee motivation in organizations today. Rules and Policies
Want to be a cop? That’s how some supervisors feel in organizations that operate on the assumption that people are untrustworthy. You’ve seen the company handbooks that list pages and pages of rules. Step out of line? Fifty-seven potential infractions, with resultant punishment, are listed on page 74. Need time off for your grandma’s funeral? You get three paid days off to travel 600 miles. Have a question? We have answers. In fact, we’ve got policies that answer almost every question.

Supervisory discretion? What’s that? We’ve got employees who, left to their own devices, will choose to do bad things. You can’t trust supervisors to treat employees fairly and consistently either. John in Accounting is a softy. People who work for him get away with anything, everything. If you work for Beth in Sales however, you can count on the rulebook guiding every decision.

Sound familiar? I‘ve heard these reasons and many more to justify the need for hundreds of rules and policies in organizations.

Guidelines for a Motivating Work Environment

• Make only the minimum number of rules and policies needed to protect your organization legally and create order in the work place.

• Publish the rules and policies and educate all employees.

• With the involvement of many employees, identify organizational values and write value statements and a professional code of conduct.

• Develop guidelines for supervisors and educate them about the fair and consistent application of the few rules and policies.

• Address individual dysfunctional behaviors on a “need-to” basis with counseling, progressive discipline, and performance improvement plans.

• Clearly communicate work place expectations and guidelines for professional behavior.

Helpful Hints for Employee Motivation

• Solicit employee feedback on potential policies, areas in which policies are needed, and so on. (Do not, as one company did recently, announce a new attendance policy by posting it on a bulletin board.)

• If you decide to adhere to and hold employees accountable for an existing policy, don’t ambush your company members. If you have not enforced the policy in the past, meet with employees and explain the policy, the intent of the policy, why the policy is necessary, and why it was not enforced in the past. Then, tell everyone that following the meeting, everyone is accountable for adherence to the policy.

• You’ll be surprised how much support for legitimate policies and rules you receive from the people in your organization. People like a well-organized work place in which expectations are clear. People thrive in a work place in which all employees live by the same rules.

If you create an environment that is viewed as fair and consistent, you give people little to push against. You open up a space in which people are focused on contribution and productive activities rather than gossip, unrest, and unhappiness. Which workplace would you choose?

Involve People

In one university department, a committee of ten people met for several months and then recommended space use to their dean. He had formed the committee, provided guidelines, and requested their feedback. Talking to a committee member several months after they submitted their recommendations, I was informed they had never received any feedback about their work.

They had repeatedly asked for feedback and decisions but received none. They felt as if their recommendations had gone into a dark hole, never to be seen again. Demotivated? You bet. These staff members are loath to volunteer for another committee in the future, as well. Fool me once, poor me; fool me twice …

Most people want involvement in decisions that affect their work. Some may not want the final accountability. Ask why. Have people been punished for decisions they made in the past? Have organization leaders provided the time, tools, and information needed to make good decisions? Or have people made decisions that were over-ridden by their managers?

Does the clear expectation for employee involvement exist in your workplace? Are the people who make decisions and contribute ideas rewarded and recognized? These are critical questions if you want involved, motivated employees.