Knowledge of Techniques for Motivating Employees

- A manager can foster a motivational environment, give encouragement, lend support, and
reward generously, and there still may exist employees who fail to respond. Even the best
coaching efforts can falter if the employee loses motivation at some point of the process.
- Motivation is influenced by both internal and external factors. Internal motivation is driven by
four factors. Feeling, thinking, doing and physiology all interact to impact motivational levels

Feelings: Feelings have a direct impact on thinking and physiology.

Thinking: Thinking inspires action. Individuals might feel good about themselves (skilled and
knowledgeable).

Doing: If, after approaching the task with confidence, individuals find the task overwhelming they will
change the way they think.

Physiology: Feelings, thinking, and doing all either directly or indirectly impacts one's physiology. In a
similar manner, physiology impacts feelings, thoughts and actions.

Motivation: Motivation is a complex and dynamic integration of feeling. thinking, doing, and physiology.
If one component of motivation changes it can impact all the others

Environment: Although a person has ultimate control of his or her feelings, thoughts, actions, and to an
extent, physiology, all of these components of motivation respond to environmental stimulus, but not
always in predictable ways.

Manager as Motivator: There are evaluation tools to assess what motivates an employee/individual
People will do what they want to do or otherwise motivated to do. Some may naturally motivated to
achieve, while others require external stimuli

Motivation is the Key to Performance: Performance is considered to be a function of ability and

motivation, thus Job Performance= Function (ability)(motivation)
There are seven areas in which the manager has a responsibility for providing motivational drivers.

These areas include:

Positive reinforcement and high expectation: Most employees will attempt to live up to their
manager's expectations. Communicate high expectations to and about employees Reinforce
performance efforts with praise and show support for employees Who are struggling. Make top
performance known publicly too others, and give development feedback privately.

Effective development and discipline: Make it a rule to develop an employee before taking disciplinary
action - if the situation allows. When development efforts have failed, or when the severity of the
situation dictates, discipline swiftly and fairly in a manner that is consistent with organizational
guidelines.

Fair treatment of all employees: Managers need to make every attempt to treat all employees in a
pleasant and equitable manner. Both favoritism and discriminatory practices can have a negative impact
on employee motivation.

Satisfaction of basic workplace needs: It is the managers responsibility to see that employees have the
resources to do the job.

Setting clear and achievable workplace goals: Performance goals must be high, yet realistic

Restructuring jobs to reduce inefficiencies: Periodically the structure of a job needs to be evaluated to
ensure that the job is designed to be done in the most efficient way possible.

Provide rewards based on Job Performance: Meaningful rewards are earned, not given.
Typical - Performance Management Techniques
- The nature of performance measurement has changed over the past decades. Below some ideas
around this topic, this is a typical outline/guideline which could be amended as per requirement
le project etc. or in such a way to improve the performance to meet the project objective.

1. Establishing Performance Goals

a. Strategic Planning:
aligning employee goals to both company and the project
b. Task and Job analysis:
Identify the tasks and task sequences needed to perform the job
standardize tasks by writing performance standards for each task
c. Job Descriptions:
Define roles and responsibilities with each role within the project
d. Competencies:
Describe the knowledge, skills, abilities and awareness needed to perform assigned roles and
responsibilities.
e. Goal setting with employees:
Describe actions with a measurable end result in written statements.
Include employees setting performance goals to stimulate understanding, acceptance and
involvement.

2. Performance Plans

- The performance plan describes the desired results, how the results tie back to the
organizations result, weighting of results, how results will be measured and what standards are
used to evaluate results
- Developing plan is most often the responsibility of the manager the plan should be developed as
much as possible with employee participation.

3. Observations and Feedback

- Once performance plans are implemented, employees start to perform the assign tasks
- The manager observes performance, tracks progress, and notices both desired and undesired
outcomes. The manager should then provide feedback that is designed to be either reinforcing
or developmental. All communication in this regard should be documented.

4. Evaluating Performance
 - Employee performance should be conducted on a regular basis in line with company policy.
Traditionally, performance evaluations (also known as performance appraisals) are completed
quarterly, semi-annually or annually.
- Performance appraisals rate the behavior and competencies demonstrated by employees while
performing assigned tasks.

5. Rewarding Performance

- Normally when noticed during formal evaluation that an employee's performance has exceeded
expectations, reward the employee to reinforce and celebrate high achievements.

6. Recognizing Performance Problems

- If performance problems, shortfalls, or deficiencies are noted during the performance

evaluation, these then need to be documented along with strategies to improve.
- The goal must be to develop employees to a point where they are performing in a desired an
expected manner.

7. Performance Development Plan

- The performance plan is the document used to record performance deficiencies and offer
development feedback.