Make My Day
“I stood there and explained the company values, which some of them had helped to articulate. I asked for questions but most of them just looked blank. I got the impression that, though I tried not to, I was speaking a different language. How can I motivate people whose main interest is home time?”
Not an uncommon experience, I'm sure. We all know, or know of, people who live to work and also people who work to live. Some of them probably don't much care about developing themselves at work or the company values. They just want to come in, do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay and go home again. And what's wrong with that?
International Survey Research published a report of an international study on employee commitment in 2002, based on feedback from 362,950 employees from 40 organisations. The study showed that between 1999 and 2001, organisations that had highly committed employees outperformed low commitment organisations by more than 5% difference in change in operating margin.
They measured commitment by the extent to which an employee expressed an intention to stay with their employer and the extent to which they would recommend their employer to friends as a good place to work. They also found that UK organisations lagged behind most international comparators on employee commitment.
This is just one example of many studies in the UK and around the world that demonstrate the impact of employee commitment on business success.
So, if the problem is lack of commitment, what's the solution? We know from several sources that commitment is linked with job satisfaction over time. We also know that job satisfaction comes from three main conditions: feeling appropriately rewarded for one's efforts; having the opportunity to grow and develop; and feeling a sense of belonging to one's organisation (what's good for the firm is good for me).
Based on this knowledge, progressive organisations have expended time and expense trying to build employee commitment. They have developed mission, vision and values statements so that employees know not only where the organisation is headed but also what it means to “stand for”. They have developed systems to reward contribution. They have invested in team development, cross-functional projects and employee communications programmes. But as we saw at the start of this article, the results are often disappointing.
Could it be that there are people who can't be motivated to take more of an interest? I'm sure the answer is yes, but very few. I go along with whoever said that when you hire a pair of arms and legs you get a free brain – if you make an effort to use it.
At fe 3 consulting, we believe there are two underlying issues. First, many managers wrongly believe that it's part of their job to motivate their people. This is wrong because it locates motivation outside the individual: it suggests that it's something that someone can do to someone else. The reality is that I have to do it to myself. Managers should get out of the way by creating the climate in which their people can find and use their own motivation.
Second, compounding the first issue, managers all too often assume that their people are motivated in the same way that they themselves are motivated. They believe you should do as you would be done by. Laudable as the aim might be, it doesn't work. To create the climate for motivation, you have to do as they would be done by.
So, if organisations want to do this, where do they start? At the risk of stating the obvious, they have to start by asking the people whose commitment they need. This is much less simple than it may appear - it takes skill and patience. In an era of disposable employees, organisations need to build trust. Trust that their interest is genuine and that something may actually change for the better.
If the organisation is typical of many where people management policies are driven by legal compliance and managerial control, they also need patience. Our advice is to start small, maybe with something as simple as a suggestion scheme. Leaders and managers can use this to demonstrate that they are prepared to listen and to act on what they hear.
And instead of communicating about the organisation's values, they should take a close look at their behaviour and make sure that they are demonstrating the values in action, not just words. Not only for the good of their reputation but also for the bonus 5%.