The Engagement
Lately I see many posts on "Engagement" or on how to increase the engagement of people at work.
Most of these publications end up hinting, in one way or another, at classic formulas of human motivation at work: nothing new here.
If we translate “Motivation at Work” as “Personal Willingness to Strive to achieve a Certain Job Objective”, perhaps it would be worth remembering that - apart from a need, a clear objective and a reward for achieving that objective and in the process satisfying that need - The first and most basic condition of human motivation at work starts from two simple mental expectations:
- Expectation 1: If I try hard, can I do it Expectation 2: If I do it, will I really receive the promised reward?
Start by managing people's expectations well
If the first expectation is negative, that is, if the person does not believe that they can achieve the objective - even if they try hard - the resulting motivation will be = 0, or in other words: How motivated are you if I tell you that I will give you 14 Millions of Euros (Reward) if you run the 100 meters in 5.45 seconds (target)? - If you know the current world record in 100-meter races I assure you that your motivation - your willingness to push yourself - will be 0 despite the juicy reward: € 14 MM! simply because your expectation of achieving it - even if you try hard - is nil.
So, the first thing we should do in organizations is - apart from not setting impossible goals - increase people's confidence in their own abilities to achieve something, help them believe that they can achieve it and increase their self-confidence. Then we will talk about what tools we can use for it.
Now, even if the person is initially motivated because his expectation that if he strives he can achieve it, it is high, the motivation will still be 0 if the second expectation: “If I achieve it, will I really receive the promised reward? " It's void. Continuing with the previous example, if I am sure that even if I run the 100 meters in 5.45 seconds, you are not going to give me the promised 14 Million Euros, so why try hard? - Motivation = 0.
Therefore, the second thing we should do in organizations is keep our word and reward people who achieve their goals, just as we have promised, and not use fake carrots - they will work for you only the first time. The second, no one will trust you.
Let's see now what formulas we can use to increase Expectation 1: "If I try hard, I can do it":
The first thing we must do is "clarify the role" of the person: It is useless the effort that goes in the wrong direction. There are people who try hard to focus on the wrong sub-objectives, simply because no one has clarified their role.
The second thing we must do is train the person: They must have the necessary skills so that their effort, well focused with the clear role, yields results. For this you have to invest in training and development: adequate training, complemented by good coaching are essential aspects.
Ok, we have already covered the necessary aspects to raise the basic expectation for a good starting motivation.
Let's go with the second expectation: "If I succeed, I will receive the promised reward"
Here, the first thing to do is to make it very clear what that reward consists of and the second, to fulfill what was promised.
Do all of this and you will have laid the foundation to maximize the degree of engagement of people in your organization.
A few more things should be added, such as perceived equity in the rewards system. If I think that “so-and-so achieves lower goals than me, contributes less than me and receives higher rewards than me”, my motivation - and my commitment - will begin to “adjust” - downward - to resolve that perceived “injustice” in the level of internal equity of the system.
To avoid this, we need to have Performance Evaluation systems linked to solid and coherent Compensation systems, so that the perception of internal equity (in the organization itself) and external (with respect to the market) is high.
Do this well and you will ensure that the high motivation achieved by increasing the expectations 1 and 2 mentioned above, does not go down because of performance evaluation and compensation systems perceived as unfair and highly subjective.
Basic principles to comply
In summary, to have high motivation and commitment in the organization, you simply have to:
- Set clear, concrete, ambitious and possible goals and objectives to be achieved. Select capable people and maintain and develop that capacity. And for this, you must have supervisors who know how to exercise as coaches and leaders - and not merely as controlling bosses -, clarify the role of people and generously invest in education and development. Develop and train your entire organization in the use of systems performance management and evaluation systems that are solid, objective, consistent and shared. Linking that performance evaluation system to a compensation system that is consistent and perceived as equitable, both within the organization and with respect to the market and competitors.
The Drop-Counter
It's not that complicated, is it? Well, now comes the concept of drop-counting.
Sometimes - just sometimes - we fail - not even close - with these simple principles:
- We do not have clear, coherent, and written objectives for each role and person in the organization. We carry out rigorous selection processes and do not really incorporate the ideal people for the role to play. We have not invested in developing a style of Adequate leadership and coaching in our supervisors and managers, who behave simply as managers and controllers and not as true leaders and coaches dedicated to developing capable people. We have not optimally invested in training and development to adequately train people and increase their ability to Achievement. We promise rewards that we don't deliver. We don't have solid and objective performance evaluation systems or, we have a system, - in principle adequate - that we misuse and delay.We do not have clear systems and compensation objectives linked to performance, or we have a system - in principle adequate - that is nevertheless misused and is perceived as arbitrary, subjective and unfair or not competitive enough in the market.
In other words, we are investing in People Development with “Drop-Counting” and so what do we expect?
If you want extraordinary results in people and high degrees of commitment, you have to be generous and invest appropriately in all the points we have seen. It's that easy. If you can't or don't want to invest, that's perfectly understandable, but then don't expect high degrees of motivation and commitment.
I am talking about a universal law of reciprocity, very well expressed in the saying: "you reap what you sow." Or to put it another way, if you give people a "dropper" you will also receive a "dropper".
The CHO (Chief Happiness Officer)
And now - and once we have adequately invested in everything discussed above - if we really want to achieve exceptional performance, we must add something else, something that is no longer a matter of systems, procedures, tools and financial investment.
I am referring to taking care of people, enhancing their subjective well-being and their health - physical, emotional and mental.
A person will really give the best of himself and will adopt the highest degree of personal commitment, when in addition to everything said so far, he feels:
- Grateful to the organization and personally to her supervisor. Proud of what she does Personally valued, not just for her ability to achieve goals. Balanced in all important aspects of her life beyond work (relationships, family, health, development personal etc.) Happy
And for this, we must introduce a very important aspect and that is no longer in the sphere of "management" of people, but in pure Emotional Intelligence applied to dealing with people. Something much more basic, necessary, humane and irreplaceable: You have to treat people well and sincerely appreciate them.
We must frankly believe, deep inside ourselves - and demonstrate it in our actions every day - that people are really worth it, that people are, without question, the most precious thing we have and that we really care and that we want to take care of them (And it is not worth merely saying that of "People are our most important asset" a few times a year)
As long as we continue to see people as a "Resource" or as an "Asset", it will mean that we have not understood anything that I am sharing with you here.
To make the organization understand all this and facilitate the communication, culturalization and processes necessary for its practical implementation and applied throughout the organization, would be the main function of a new role, very necessary in organizations today and that some leading organizations already they are developing. I refer to the role of CHO (Chief Happiness Officer) to work hand in hand with the CEO.
Do you really want to raise the level of commitment of people in your organization?
Here I have left you a few basic principles to achieve it. The validity of these principles is supported and demonstrated at a scientific level by the research carried out in the area of Organizational Behavior.
The investigation makes this very clear. The challenge, as always, is for the organization to be genuinely interested, willing, prepared and able to apply these principles in practice.
I wish you have a great day today!
