The previous company that I worked for experienced a fairly radical change in environment in the space of 2 years. A sudden growth spurt, as well as a corporate transformation, were the key factors in this change. This is a hard task for any leader to manage and as one can expect it raised challenging situations.
Some of the noticeable negative side affects of this change were a decrease in motivation of employees and an increase in staff churn. It is often difficult to immediately see the direct cause of these issues but a process that I have been through recently, reviewing the root of motivation, and further reading, has definitely improved my understanding.
There are loads of theories out there that lend different ideas to the driving force behind motivation. We tested one of these on a course at FTI, Hertzberg’s two factor theory. The two factors are divided into the categories of motivational and hygiene factors.
Hertzbergs Two Factor theory
In our class of 20 we each ranked the factors individually by order of personal priority and then collated results. The top 5 results are as follows:
- Recognition
- Achievement
- Work itself
- Growth
- Salary
Interesting results considering that we represent a cross section of ages (25 – 42) and business sectors across Cape Town. One would always assume that salary would come out on top, but this is not so.
So what do these results say? Recognition, achievement, work itself and growth in a work environment are all functions of management. As managers we appraise our team members, recognising their achievements, rewarding and assigning further work that plays to their strengths. Well, in theory, that is what we should do. In retrospect I now realise the shortcomings of our approach to managing the changing environment at my previous company. The negative side affect being staff churn.
Some further reading that I have done confirms that, in fact, management is at the heart of motivation and company churn – Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman authors of First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently – write “People leave managers not companies, so much money has been thrown at the challenge of keeping good people – in the form of better pay, better perks and better training -when, in the end, turnover is mostly a manager issue.”
In conclusion: the message is clear – If companies can focus resources and attention to ensuring that recognition, achievement, work itself, growth, and employees’ salaries are maintained at a satisfactory levels then staff will remain motivated and not think to leave and move elsewhere. Personally I am not a fan of formulas that magically lead to success. I feel that these factors are great in theory but only learned through practice and making loads of mistakes along the way. How else do people learn…?
Reading:
