“HOW TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES” AFFECT CHANGE NOW!!
By: Lisa Jones
Tags: Human Resources, Leadership Coaching, How To Motivate Employees, Workplace Culture, Leadership

Multi-Generational Work Team

It amazed me! I recently discovered what leaders put most often in google search engines. “How to motivate employees.” many years ago, I led a Fortune 400 team at 28 yrs old, motivating my team was a struggle. My age alone did not motivate them. Having led successful multi-million dollar teams for over 25 years, qualifies me on the subject, along with recently being fired. It allowed time to be retrospective. I have insight and answers on this subject matter. You should be able to deploy these three principles immediately.

Corporate America appears to be struggling. All of the HR diversity training, anti-harassment seminars, personality assessments, and technology have not resolved our unmotivated employee issue. We have not figured out how to extract this Pink Elephant from our boardrooms. Corporate America is throwing an abundant amount of dollars and resources to deal with this opportunity. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for human resource managers is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations at a rate of 22 percent between now and 2022? It is expected this field will create 13,600 new jobs. What is the cause? The cause is our Diverse, Multi-Generational workforce of the 21st century.

How to speak a language that inspires each group equally is the challenge we leaders face. Hats off to Human Resources to make sure we all stay on course. In my opinion, we have missed one thing The Leader that lives with the team culture daily. The Middle Manager is the direct “Change Agent.” There is a lot expected of us Middle Managers (those that lead teams/squads). We are required to motivate teams and tasked to keep our clientele joyfully engaged. Not to mention, the constant change and demands from our corporate offices. Our team leads are the most overworked. The downward flow from Corporate VP’s to the upward stream we swim to keep up the pace. Frequently, leaving coach-motivation on the side of the shore for survival.

Investing dollars in our People Leaders (Middle Managers) is the lowest hanging fruit with the most significant dividends for motivation. We spend dollars on sending our executives fact-finding on trips around the world. A heavy emphasis put upon first-line employees is needed; they are part of the hero package, which is wise. We give them training certifications, bonuses, and well-deserved motivation. But often, the hero in the middle manager is an afterthought. Instead of coming to terms with the fact that they are the glue to motivating employees and the workplace environment, we say things like; We cannot afford to have our Middle managers off-site. An immediate culture shift and motivation would happen in your organization if someone would focus on appreciating the man or woman in the middle by investing user-friendly resources to make them a coaching culture change agent.

Now is the time, to motivate more than ever before in HISTORY! We have FIVE generations working together; Traditionalist (1922–1946), Baby Boomers (1946–1966) Generation X (1967–1979), Millenials (1980–1995), and Generation Z (1997–2012). We can quickly picture the commonality of thought between a Traditionalist vs. a Millenial. What inspires one may do nothing for the other. They may have two different world views and work ethics. A strong Human Resouce department can train us on what’s relevant to each group. To learn how to appreciate them.

Most workplace eco-systems have failed to figure out how to bring us all together. The culture that leads us, still divides us, not only in the workplace but in our society — divided into age groups, human gender identification, race, and religion. Therefore, we have quite a bit of strategy to employ. It is a challenge we can not afford to ignore. We are losing 300 billion dollars per year to an unmotivated workforce every year.

2020 is supposedly the Year of Clarity. I have a start to the answer!! It was given to us by our parents. Most parents told us to use our manners and to be courteous. Ask yourself this question? How do we align with our teams to motivate them? Do we know our team members? Have we taken the time to put a process in place to know who works with us? What is each team member’s personality make-up? How does that individual prefer to celebrate? Here is a simple formula that would start to heighten the motivation levels in your organization immediately, “first seek to understand then to be understood.”

Being in corporate culture, you have witnessed what I call “sameness hiring and promotion” or not “What you know its who you know’, this practice is still celebrated. Just like in High School, only the cool guys got to hang out with the cool cheerleaders. If you were different, no one asked you to join you sat with you at lunch by yourself. If you’re in the “It” crowd, promotion follows, leaving skill-set behind. We must change, there are enough workplace-shootings, and bullying, to cause us to pause and plan to take this matter seriously. A principle most parental figures taught us to be courtesy, and some showed us inclusion. I can hear my mother saying, “Now, Lisa, be nice.”

After years of team-management, I get rewarded by those I led in the past and by those I coach currently. The seal of your leadership is spoken best by your team. Former team members continue to send messages about my inspirational leadership.

These are three (3) of the twelve Daily habits for Middle Management leaders and/or anyone in Leadership.

1.) GREATEST AMONG US IS THE SERVANT OF ALL

As an Inspirational Leader, you understand that you serve your team. Your team is not there to serve you. Our team is our customer. We want them to have a great experience while getting their jobs done.

2.) CHOOSE YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY…

I have successfully separated employees from companies by giving them hope for their future by the words I spoke. There is a way to say everything. Words do hurt; it is possible to say you don’t like something without saying, “You Hate It!” Terms of unappreciation could crush someone who is struggling with their esteem. It could be something’s going wrong in their personal life. Be Courteous, Be Kind.

3.) TELL AND SHOW APPRECIATION

Some leaders struggle with communicating the words of Appreciation. These are the same leaders who say “they don’t express themselves emotionally”, because of how they grew up. I find this problematic in the role of middle management. At the end of every day, you should start from the lowest to the highest in pay scale in showing Appreciation by saying, “ Thank you” as well as communicating Appreciation of the individual’s day of contribution.

“Who has time for that, you ask? For me, it’ s as crucial as collecting my paycheck.”

Our Company housekeeper and I enjoyed appreciating each other every morning. Janet and I would have a conversation about our children, family, and the day ahead. I thanked her 1st every day and appreciated what she accomplished in her workday. She aimed to do an excellent job because I appreciated her efforts.

Alignment with personalities and daily Appreciation will keep individuals motivated through company transitions. This practice alone can be employed today and can shift your employee’s attitudes immediately.