How can companies motivate people without spending too much?
In a recent panel discussion, we spoke to a group of human-resources experts including: Bernadette Lonergan, HR director for FUSE Marketing Group, recently named one of Canada's top 50 best small and medium employers; Jamie Danziger, vice-president of operations for IQ Partners, an international firm with integrated HR services; and Alan Kearns, career coach and founder of CareerJoy, a career coaching company in Ottawa and Toronto.
What does it take to fire people up?
Mr. Danziger: What companies need to do first is ask their people why they're not motivated or why they're feeling the way they are. Then act on the things they're told.
Ms. Lonergan: A lot of motivation is intrinsic.
You can't create a motivated person. You can help people be motivated but it's not up to the company to make motivated people. You bring that with you.
It's up to the company to create the conditions for success.
Mr. Kearns: What works is to be authentic. We can't change people, but we can certainly support them.
How does corporate culture affect motivation?
Mr. Danziger: It's a huge factor. The company needs to set the stage and create an environment where people can be motivated by their own efforts and by what's going on around them.
Culture is contagious, both positive and negative. When it's negative, such as in a culture of blame or fear, it spreads like wildfire.
Ms. Lonergan: If it's a toxic culture, then you can take the strongest person and grind them down. But sometimes it's just about cultural fit.
What if there's been a downsizing or other cutbacks?
Mr. Danziger: A strong culture allows you to survive a downsizing. You need to be transparent and talk openly about it. Do all the cuts at once so it's not death by a 1,000 paper cuts.
The key is to treat the departing employees fairly and equally important to deal with the survivors.
The fear and the workload go up plus there's uncertainty which humans don't deal with very well.
How do you motivate them again?
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Mr. Danziger: You get the group together and say, "Okay gang, here is what happened and why it happened. We're okay, but there are financial strains so we needed to do this."
Mr. Kearns: I've seen organizations trying to manage transition and keep people motivated. I think it's a myth that it costs a lot of money. ... In my previous company, we invested a lot of money on motivational techniques. There's an expectation - they took their team river rafting so we should take ours. When I look back, I think we could have done less of that and done other things. You can have smaller events that get people to come together as a group and the motivation rises up. A sense of community can come out of that.
Ms. Lonergan: We're doing two days locally instead of our out-of-town executive offsite this year, but we kept our annual summer party. Our events don't cost a lot of money. You can have a glamorous event but that doesn't necessarily buy you more than bringing in coffee for everyone unexpectedly one morning.
Mr. Danziger: I'd like to draw the distinction between recognition and rewards. Rewards cost money, but recognition is free. Too many companies overlook that. It can be anything from an informal, 'great job today' to a program where individuals get recognized. It costs zero in the financial sense, but you need strong managers to do it.
Ms. Lonergan: They just need to do it, but half of them don't.
Why not?
Ms. Lonergan: I wish someone could explain that. Motivation doesn't have to cost any money. Money is a short-term motivator, not a long-term determinant of satisfaction. The research is sky high on the power of informal feedback. But it doesn't come easily for every manager to do that or they may not recognize the impact it has, particularly on their top performers.
