Case Study 4 - Motivation Motivation Tips for Tough Times With company cutbacks, layoffs, and economic uncertainty weighing heavily on everybody, it's no wonder some employees are dragging their feet into work. But according to Steven Stein, Toronto-based psychologist and entrepreneur, there are ways to lift and maintain motivation, even in tough times. In Make Your Workplace Great: The 7 Keys to an Emotionally Intelligent Organization, he offers these valuable tips for motivating employees. What motivates your workers? You may be surprised to discover how small changes, such as those in job design or reporting systems, can motivate certain people. It might not take much, but the only way to discover what your employees want, and how they react to change, is to ask them. Offer ongoing feedback. No time is better than now to open up lines of communication with your employees, if you haven't already. Whether you offer feedback formally or informally, it's important to let your staff know how they are doing, where they are performing well and where there is room for improvement on a regular basis. Emphasize personal accountability. Self-management can be highly motivating, and if you're short-staffed, it can make a lot of sense, too. Most people will work much harder for their own sense of accomplishment than they will because they were told to do something. Involve everyone in decision-making. By involving workers in certain company decisions, especially those that involve them directly, you are much more likely to get support for your initiatives. And you may even get some creative input along the way: your frontline staff might have better knowledge about the impact of certain decisions that you may not be aware of. Be flexible. Time is an important commodity for people today, especially if they're taking on more work than usual. By giving your employees the opportunity to juggle their time around critical personal or family events and responsibilities, you will increase their motivation. Celebrate employee and company success. It's important to stop and recognize successes, whether individual, team, or organizational. Let everybody see that hard work is recognized and worth carrying out. Source: "Great Ideas: Motivation Tips for Tough Times," PROFIT, 4 June 2009 Questions 1. What other suggestions might you add to this list? 2. If you are employed now (or have been in the past), how has your supervisor motivated you? If you have never been employed before, how can a supervisor motivate you? 3. Apply each one of these tips to group work. How might you implement these suggestions so that group members, including yourself, are motivated to do well in the assigned work?