subject: How To Motivate Your Team Building Productivity & Leadership [print this page] Motivating you team can be extremely difficult.
Firstly, if you are the boss and you've been fulfilling this role s part of your job, there is an instant disconnect when you try something new. It's almost as though you are attempting to wear a new hat and pretend it's always been there.
That's why you need a specialist.
The average company has a staff engagement issue. The figures from Gallup's eye-opening survey of 2002 are very scary for the average employer. These figures are world-wide and even though some numbers may have regional differences, the overall message is the same.
Let me explain...
Did you know that only about 26% of your team are what is called 'engaged'? They are the active part of the 80/20 rule. They love their jobs, they produce 80% of the profitability and despite sometimes being aware of their 'star status' they justify their place on the leaderboard with results day in and day out.
Then you have the 55% 'not engaged' staff. These guys go to work because they have a job. It pays okay money and saves them having to think too hard about why they don't swap careers and companies. These guys will go with the flow and turn up as requested and need to know that the company appreciates their efforts on a regular basis. The range of engagement here is very wide but they are all still basically 'on board'.
Then you have the19% 'actively disengaged'. These guys don't know and don't care. They turn up but would rather be anywhere else. They've given up on buyng into the company ethos and demand a wage for getting away with as little work as possible. They will physically steal anything they can take whether it's sick days, pens or removeable software. They are toxic and won't be changed by anything you do. The problem is that they are mainly hidden and you won't know who they are. They don't ask questions because they no longer care about your answers. They must be removed as soon as possible before they infect others.
And they do infect others.
The engaged staff can see them a mile off and feels the company's credibility disappear when each toxic member 'gets away with murder'. When the biggest hitters on your sales team move to another job, it probbaly wasn't about the money. It was that the company's stance (your stance) on poisonous individuals let them down. Why should they continue to work so hard when so many freeloaders get away with doing nothing?
That's why they leave.
Another surprise is that when someone keeps asking annoying questions and taking up your time by needing re-affirming statements, they are not actually trouble makers, they are wondering how they fit in as 'not engaged' or 'engaged' staff. They need clarification before they step up. If they didn't care, they wouldn't say anything at all.
So where does that leave us?
You may be surprised to learn the countries with the highest level of employee disengagement in the world are Japan and Singapore. Everyone is so used to having a 'go to work' ethic, they feel soul-less and trapped. Fascinating isn't it?
So as a manager what can you do to turn your team around?
How can you retain the best staff and trim the dead wood without crippling the company?
Simply show you care.
Get an expert in to show you how it's done.
Do not threaten staff with fear and punishment. They will appear to become engaged but you lose all goodwill, crediblity and when they actually leave, it will be with revenge in mind.
Also, despite what you may have thought, money isn't the answer to this problem. Cash related bonuses only have a short term boost because people start to just expect it and when it stops coming they feel you cheated them.
Instead you train them. Make them better than they were before joining the company. Get a motivational speaker in, conduct workshops on work-life balance and give them all the skills they will need to succeed for ever.
Are you encouraging them to leave? In part, this is true, but staff will leave anyway. The magic is that when they do leave a comapny that cares, they tell others and even find a replacement for themselves before they go.
The actively disengaged will go very quickly and then you can replace them with bright, enthusiastic and engaged newcomers who hit the floor running and never slow down.
If you don't do this you are currently losing a small fortune in negative productivity. To put this in perspective, the United States wastes about 350 billion dollars which are paid out to people who hate their jobs. That is close to the national spend on education or defence (or it was before the recession). If just 5% were to be relocated to jobs they loved, the dynamics shift by 70 billion dollars which allows a lot of reinvestment.
Imagine how those figures would apply to you.
Get an expert in now. Find a Life Designer with a proven track record in getting results and knows what makes people tick. Look for a great entertainer with qualifications in NLP (neuro linguistic programming), coaching and even hypnotherapy.
