Motivating Employees Podcast - Summary and What I Learned:

Summary:
I wanted to listen to this podcast to learn more about how to motivate employees and how
this could be done in both individual and group settings. This podcast episode is called
Motivating Employees and is from the Podcast titled Dear HBR, which stands for Harvard
Business Review. The hosts of this podcast are Alison Beard and Dan McGinn who give advice
to those who write in about their workplace dilemmas. This episode featured special guest
Richard Boyatzis, who is a professor at Case Western Reserve University (a private, nonprofit
college in Cleveland, Ohio) and is the author of over 150 books and articles on behavior changes,
competencies, leadership, and emotional intelligence. In this episode, the hosts and special guest
answered 3 questions from viewers who wrote in about issues they were experiencing in work on
the topic of motivating employees. I found this podcast so helpful because it gave answers and
suggestions for real world examples of what management looks like and the struggles managers
face on a day-to-day basis.

What I Learned:
I learned a lot from this podcast about how to motivate employees. What I really liked
about this podcast is that the narrarotrs talked about stiautons from real life and this gave me a
new and interesting perspective on the difficulties that come with being a manager. This podcast
was 30 minutes long and they answered 3 different letters with questions in the podcast spending
about 10 minutes on each. All 3 situations were unique and thus I learned new things about
motivation and managing employees from each situation. I will summarize what I learned from
each of the 3 scenarios that were discussed in the podcast.
From the first question about how to motivate all employees in a more volunteer based
organization, there were many things I learned. I learned about how about 76% of employees in
America say they are unsatisfied with their job and don’t really have motivation about the job.
The narrators talk about how it is the responsibility to the leaders and managers to engage and
energize the people that work for me. We need to build engagement by agreeing upon and
affirming the purpose of the organization, why the work they do is important, and how they see
the impact of the company. Ask yourself questions such as, “What is the purpose of the
organization? What are our values? Why do we exist as an organization? How do we contribute
to society?” Answering all of these questions, communicating them to all employees, and then
constantly reaffirming this helps people to feel more connected and motivated. In addition, find
fun ways to keep people engaged such as sharing stories from their work about how they see
their impact in the community.
From the first question about losing valuable and competent employees to other job
opportunities, I learned about the damaging nature of trying to utilize high potential programs.
These are programs where companies focus on their “best” employees and those who they see as
having the most potential. They tend to develop these individuals with new skills and
experiences, which makes other employees feel like “chopped liver”. Instead, we need to
develop programs that allow all employees to have the chance for development and advancement
which leads to greater motivation and determination among employees when they see they have
an opportunity for upward movement in the company. Also, the skills that are commonly
associated with high potential employees often do not consider characteristics such as social
skills, drive, values, curiosity, insight, and determination. We need to start valuing these
characteristics more when trying to motivate employees.
From the third question posed in the podcast about how to deal with strain manager
employee relationships, I learned about the importance of empathy. We need to have open and
honest conversations to find out what motivates employees, how they are feeling, and why they
may be resistant to change. When managers can work on these issues with their employees, there
are more chances to develop better working relationships and motivate employees to do their job
well. A lot of motivation for employees comes from the quality of their workplace relationships.
So, if we want to help motivate employees, we need to make sure we have a supporting and
inviting atmosphere to develop relationships and motivate based on common goals and ideals.