There is a world of difference between the “administration of things” and the “management of people”. Managing people is about the management of people’s motivation, to make them more willing to behave in a way that supports the organization. It is about the performance of the organization.
Good motivation management changes the business relationship between employees and employer. It changes it from doing as little as possible for the pay, to the person wanting to do as much as possible.
Of course, people come in all shapes and sizes, all varieties of willingness. It is true that an unwilling person can be made willing through good management. Sadly, the reverse is also true and much more prevalent.
Money is often regarded as the prime, if not only, reason why people work. My experience is that this is not true. We all need to eat and feel fairly paid but motivating through money leads to constant dialogue about money.
Money is a problem though, because it comes in three different flavours. There is the salary. It goes into the bank, flows out through direct debit and there is only the most tenuous link to work. It goes unnoticed until there is a deficiency.
Secondly there is money as a measure of success. The better you perform in your job the bigger bonus you get. Those competitive salespeople are typical examples. If you have trained your people to respond to money bonuses, then how do you expect them to behave?
Look for non-monetary rewards as an alternative. Beware the small minority of people who need the monetary bonus as a motivator – they may all be on your Board or in your sales team!
Thirdly there is money as the key to a life change. Certainly, I would see a million-pound bonus as a life changing amount. The motivator here is the life change, not the money. Not many of us work in organizations that do that.
Instead of over-paying people, what alternatives exist to make them willing to work?
Recognition is the prime motivator. Don’t we all yearn for someone to notice when we have done a good job? Don’t we want people to notice when I mess up? At least someone is then showing an interest!
Achievement is a big motivator and certainly supports the organization. You must make this possible, visible, and provide timely feedback to reinforce the positive behaviour. People want to be able to contribute more.
The standard management language of money ensures people do the minimum acceptable work.
The work itself is a good motivational tool. Just be careful that you don’t leave that ambitious person in that demanding job forever. The job that was demanding a couple of years ago is now simple. Keep a close eye on job descriptions and always aim to stretch people. That applies in recruitment too!
How do you develop people? Do you advertise all opportunities internally? Do you tell people why they don’t get promotion? Do you put training in place to overcome these blockages? If you want people to do their best for the organization then the organization must do its best for the people.
If you get people interested in their work, then delegating responsibility is both a necessity and a boon.
We live in a time where managers are stressed with too much to do, yet their people are stressed through boring, mundane work. The answer is obvious.
But you need to have people motivated before you can delegate. You also need to manage the control measures effectively. It is difficult to combine a light touch with sufficient control.
All of these motivating factors have to be delivered through the supervision and management. Make sure they know what they are doing and motivated themselves.
The biggest de-motivator is often company policy: the rules and regulations. If you want your people to work outside the box so should the organization.
You shouldn’t expect people to change overnight when you use these motivation management techniques.
People are sceptical, aren’t we? We listen politely to what we are told and then watch to see what happens. You need to be consistent and coherent for months to make behaviour changes.
Of course, you can choose not to follow this advice. You can give good pay in exchange for the minimum work you can get done.
Alternatively, you can give fair pay and get much more work done. The more people enjoy their work the more work they want to do. The choice is yours….
You have the choice until your manager discovers you manage your people to deliver the minimum acceptable work.
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