How do you empower employees when the employee motivation is not working?

Who is this for?

Do you want to know how to motivate your team? Are you responsible for your employee motivation and team’s performance? Are you a manager, director, influencer, trainer, or faculty? Have you determined to develop the best human resources?

This is for you if you answer yes to anyone or all of these questions!

Content

Part 1

Introduction
How do we get seriousness from employees and trainees?
What’s the program? How does it help to get results
Shall we start with a reflection of SELF?
Self – Who are you?

Part 2

Receiver – Do you speak of WHY for employee motivation when they in fact needed HOW?
1. Would you please explain what’s happening with an example?
2. How can we apply it in companies?
3. Do I need to be a good speaker to motivate others?
4. Why do you think the employee motivation is not working?
5. When do customers or employees get the motive to do something?
6. How do we frame our mindset for effective employee motivation?
7. Is it a stalemate then?
Delivery – What makes you comfortable with your folks?
1. How do you bring your employees or customers to your side?
2. How do I measure whether I am comfortable with employees?
Driver – When will I know I have Growth and Development?
1. What is MRP and how do I evaluate my worth?
2. How do I improve my MRP?
Demand – How best can I handle myself as a true professional?
1. Two magic statements
2. What are our common mistakes and how do we rectify them?
Conclusion

1. Introduction

Tailored mentoring is crucial for employee motivation and developing high potential employees. You can use this trait whether you are a leader to empower employees, a manager responsible for employee development, or a faculty to groom your trainees or even an influencer to get results from colleagues. Your actions, obviously, go beyond mere technical aspects in the employee development process. “How do you empower employees when the employee motivation is not working” is a 2 part series that dives deep into the realities of employee development.

You need deeper insights into why people do what they do. Their behavior decides your success. You also need a tailored plan to sensitively work with people to get results. Their undeniable results speak volumes!

This is Part 1 of the leading intelligence derived from the experiences of one of the renowned mentors in the industry, Mr. Umashankar, Jayaraman. He is a CEO and a facilitator with the KARNA group of companies. I am honored to have known him for years. The following are valuable snippets drawn from my interview and an interactive group seminar with him.

Let’s get started to discuss how do you empower employees when the employee’s motivation is not working?

2. How do we get seriousness from employees and trainees?

Let’s take this servicing example.

You have a habit of giving your 2 or 4 wheeler vehicles to service. Right or wrong? Yes.

I am not asking Why we are giving them for service? My question is, On what frequency basis are you giving them for service? Once in a 6 months time frame, the vehicle needs servicing. Isn’t it?

If it’s a car, it needs servicing for every 5000km or 6 months whichever is earlier. That’s important. But many people have a habit of servicing their vehicle when there is a serious breakdown. Right?

And when it has been serviced, the machine performs absolutely better. Right? We too, the so-called professionals, work like machines. Now, When was the last time you serviced yourself? When did you give yourself a service last time?

Long back. Probably when you were in college! Right?

We, the humans, need two types of services.

Physical conditioning and
Mental conditioning

We treat our physical condition when there is a serious breakdown. We go to a qualified mechanic, so-called our family doctor, with a degree of MBBS, MS, MD, Ortho, Ophthalmologist. Only when we get a breakdown do we think of treating and get the physical conditioning done.

On the other hand, mental breakdown happens every day. Do you agree? Every day, we go through some sort or level of mental breakdown. And do we put ourselves for a service? No, we don’t! That is the biggest challenge that lies in front of us.

So, today I will share a program. By the end of the program, I don’t assure you that everything will change. In fact, nothing will change. You will have the same problems when you go out of this hall. However,

Will you be in a better position to handle those problems? A sure yes.

This program has been built through a lot of research and meeting with many people in the industry. I don’t want to put it too technically. It’s mostly reflective. Clear?

Yes.

3. So, What’s the program? How does it help to get results?

Let me first start with generation X, Y and Z because this is the current trend and most professionals don’t understand this. We should understand people first.

As a professional leader, mentor, faculty, or facilitator, the following 5 employee motivation factors are important for you. Let’s call it SRDDD. S – Self, R – Receiver, D – Delivery, D – Drivers, D – Demand.

These are the 5 ways to develop high potential employees and are the core things strengths needed for any professional. A “Reflection” on yourself is crucial. Please consider that I am a facilitator today; neither a manager nor a faculty.

I am just your mirror. You imagine that you have 2 mirrors in front of you. One is standing in front of you and will speak. That’s me. Another one is on display and will not speak. That’s my screen.

My kind request for you is that you reflect on yourself. When I say something, you reflect on yourself. When I show something, you reflect on yourself. When we reflect on ourselves, we understand better where we stand.

The MIRROR is the best invention which I like. Do you agree? Can you say that you don’t have even a small mirror and have no habit of watching yourself in it? No. Right?

Whenever we find a planted mirror, our human tendency is to watch and adjust ourselves. Do you agree? Hello? If you say that you don’t have that habit then immediately go see your doctor. You might have a serious problem. Smile!

A normal human looks at himself when he finds a mirror. You will adjust even when you are crisp and fine. What does it tell us? It means that we are normal.

So, let’s work through these 5 areas (SRDDD) while you reflect on yourself.

Reflection of Self

4. Shall we start with a reflection of Self?

Reflecting on Self and taking necessary actions is one of the 5 ways to develop high potential employees. Let’s discuss 5 of its intricate components.

5. Self - Who are you?

There are 2 types of professionals. These types significantly influence employee motivation.

One set of professionals work for PASSION.

The other set of professionals work for RATION.

5.1 Passion Vs Ration. What’s the difference between the Passion and the Ration?

I would consider 3 factors to differentiate passion from the ration. Those are Time, Satisfaction, and G&D.

Time

Passionate Pros – The Time is in their control. They can handle the watch. They know when to do what.

Pros work for Ration – The Time controls them. Watch handles them. They can’t live without an alarm and hourly reminders.

Satisfaction

Passionate Pros – They work for satisfaction. When I coach, I try to satisfy myself first; because I put my heart and soul into it. I give myself to the full and I am happy.

Pros work for Ration – They try to satisfy others. You can’t satisfy everybody. It would be humanly impossible to do so across the world. But many people try to satisfy others and that’s a mistake. The people who work for perks, fall into this 2nd category.

Growth and Development

I will discuss it in later sections as its context fits well there.

Ok. You said, in the beginning, most professionals don’t understand the current trend of Gen X, Y, and Z.

You find the passion that satisfies your work and helps you control your own time.

5.2 What are Gen X, Y, and Z? How does a professional reflect “Self” on them?

Yes, look at the disconnect among multiple generations of the workforce. Today, it’s getting very difficult for us.

Why?

We, the leaders, coaches, or facilitators, are typically disconnected because most of us belong to the Y generation category.

“Generation X, the age cohort born before the 1980s but after the Baby Boomers; Generation Y, or Millennials, typically thought of as those born between 1984 and 1996; and Generation Z, those born after 1997, who are next to enter the workforce.” HBR

5.3 What do Gen X, Y, and Z need?

Gen X – They are the elder workforce. They always ask “what”. Their last part of the sentence would be “Be safe”. They are most worried about “SAFETY”.

Gen Y – They are middle-aged professionals and trapped in between X & Z. That’s most of us. We work, think and focus more on “STABILITY”

Gen Z – They are a young workforce and are most worried about SPEED. We, the Y, mostly handle this Gen Z.

5.4 How do they act?

First, I will describe X & Z followed by Y.

Gen X – Brand loyal. They are repeat buyers of the brand they like; let it be a cell phone, a recipe, or even a soap. It would be hard for anyone to change their brand.

Gen Z – The attitude of Gen X, nowadays, is all to do with convenience. For example, they prefer a job close to their home, fewer working hours, a high salary, and more perks with insignificant regard to contributing to business growth.

My answer to them would be, “Don’t worry. Start your own company. Sit there; things will happen; you can even go home when you want… just pull the shutter down.”

Interestingly convenient. Gen Y – When it comes to Gen Y, we are the most confused generation.

5.5 Have you noticed any trend in the size of the workforce in each of these generations?

Gen X – Not crowded.

When Gen X was entering the workforce, few applicants used to attend an interview for one vacancy. Each would have been interviewed for 90 mins. And, chances are more than one would have been selected.

Gen Z – Fully crowded.

Today, we may have 5000 applicants for one vacancy. That’s why the trend has been changed from Selection to Elimination now.

HR doesn’t have the power to speak to all 5000. That’s humanly impossible. They typically use 5 filters of elimination and won’t meet a candidate until the 5th round.

The usual 5 rounds of elimination and selection are,

GPA or marks
Written – Aptitude (not the Technical)
Written – Technical (by now we have only 100/5000))
Group discussion
F2F

Gen Y – We are confused whether we are crowded or not? Y is all about options. When people need advice, Gen Y is an obvious choice to approach. They will give you too many options. We (Y) are good at exploring options.

Whereas you ask Gen-X people, they only have ONE option & they try to put that option inside your mind.

The habits of my dad, myself, and my son are different. Hence, a blanket sweep strategy to manage everyone is the disconnect that doesn’t work.

Good Point.

5.6 Would you discuss the Receptiveness of each?

Gen X – They are all self-driven. They will just go ahead and do what they need to do. They have the know-how and self-reliance! They are NEED-focused and do if they needed.

For example, Gen X sticks their its TV channel.

Gen Y – Gen Y is all about Explore and Learn.

For example, Gen Y keeps changing channels. We want to compare and contrast on different channels to know their perspective. Y even reads the same news on 4 different websites or newspapers.

Gen Z – They are all about LWL (Love What they Like). Gen Z is all about Likability. If they LIKE they will do; otherwise, thank you very much! That’s it.

For example, Gen Z watches a channel only if they like it.

We(Y) will find it difficult to digest such an attitude because we are already inside corporations by the time Z started coming into the industry. Obviously, we have no clue why the employee motivation is degrading.

You understand what your employees or customers like and get on board.

5.7 How to manage these differences between the generations of the workforce?

This disconnect is a serious problem. The problem is due to GAP. The GAP that Gen X & Gen Y are facing with Gen Z.

Do you agree that we have a gap between Leaders and Employees or Coaches and Trainees?

Yes.

5.8 What is the GAP?

Is it a Communication gap? Preference gap? Mindset gap? A gap in understanding?

See, when there is a gap between the two, the relationship gets strained. Right?

There can only be 3 possible GAPs between them.

First, we call it the Goal gap. For example, we expect a technical KPI to be 7.5 and the associate/employee gets 6.5. That’s a goal gap. We don’t consider other factors such as attitude or behavior. When I don’t consider the 2nd and the 3rd gaps, I only have a Goal gap between myself and my employee.

Second, it’s an Approach gap. The associate scored only 6.5 KPI (Key Performance Indicator) out of the expected 7.5. His body language was negative. He seemed to show absolutely no employee motivation. His approach towards problem-solving was evidently poor.

Third, it is the Purpose gap. We think that the associates work with the purpose of value addition to our business. But he is coming to work for some other purpose. He/she might have been forced to work or working for a ration or salary. But we think that he/she comes here to learn and contribute.

It’s impossible to ingrain employee motivation without effectively addressing these GAPs.

5.9 How do we fix the GAP?

We are typically trained to focus on the technical work needed for the job. We don’t have a habit of patching up the GAP factors with high priority. However, this should have been our 1st duty as a facilitator or a leader.

You still think that Gen X & Gen Y people are sitting in front of you as your team or apprentices or students when in indeed those were Gen X. Now the question to all of you (Gen Y) is “Am I aligning myself with the trend?”

You change your strategy when things don’t work with a lack of employee motivation or employees are at a productivity lapse or missing the deadlines.

Let me do the straight talk without sugar-coating however hard it may sound. I have observed a pattern in all companies and universities.

What do you really produce?

Material resources? or Human resources?

We develop and produce productive human resources.

I did numerous 90-day induction programs for new hires at companies. I found them difficult to pass that furnace test. That furnace test we call an induction program. It varies from company to company.

The employment is not confirmed until hires go through the test successfully. Passing the furnace test would be tough without acceptable behavioral traits.

They must undergo rigorous training. Unless the guys have sellable behavior skills, they can’t be sold. Please understand this fact. Ok!

The offer letter briefs me on the technical side of the skills. On the selling side, we call it sampling. We were taking the samples.

These human resources are developed and produced in universities and in corporations. So, you think about whether the human resources that you produce are sellable or not. In other words, are you unleashing their strengths to be productive and fit for the organizational needs?

Fix your Goal gap, Approach gap, and Purpose gap right away!

Go to Part 2 ...

How do you empower employees when the employee motivation is not working? – Interview Part2

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How do you empower employees when the employee motivation is not working? – Interview Part1