Posted by Harry Hertz, the Baldrige Cheermudgeon
Recently, I read a blog posting about the “Myths of Motivation.” The point of the post is 
that motivating employees takes some time and energy and is not formulaic; one size does not fit all. The author then discusses four misconceptions about employee motivation:
- It is all up to the boss. No it isn’t! You can’t force employees to be motivated, but you can encourage them to be self-motivated by creating the appropriate environment.
- You know exactly what your employees want. No you don’t! Each employee is unique and what motivates each of them might not be the same that motivates you.
- Job satisfaction = motivation. No it isn’t! Satisfaction and engagement are not equivalent. You need an alignment between organizational goals and personal goals. Then you achieve engagement and motivation because your employee now identifies with the organization. How often have we heard, “It’s a job; I am satisfied.”
- All you need is cash. No, not true! People want fair and adequate compensation, but beyond that they want to identify with their job and organization. They want to learn. They want a work culture that makes them look forward to coming to work and contributing.
Is any of this surprising? It certainly isn’t if you have been using the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence as a management systems framework. Workforce motivation has been a part of the Baldrige Criteria for many years and in 2007 we started a focus on workforce engagement, recognizing that workforce satisfaction alone did not lead to engagement and loyalty.
Some of the key concepts in workforce engagement that are included in the Baldrige Criteria include:
- How do senior leaders communicate with and engage the entire workforce? How do they encourage frank, two-way conversation?
- How do you determine key elements that affect workforce engagement for different workforce groups and segments?
- How do you ensure that your organizational culture benefits from the diverse ideas, cultures, and thinking of your workforce?
- How does your learning and development system support the organization’s needs and the personal development of your workforce members?
- How do you manage effective career progression for your workforce members?
- How do you analyze key business results to identify opportunities for improvement in both workforce engagement and business results?
How would your organization and its leaders answer these questions? Would their current answers lead to an engaged workforce? Let me know what you think!