Bosses have it tough, much tougher than the employees they manage.
They have to lead, teach, motivate, advise, and occasional discipline their staff – their family – and do so in such a way as to still maintain that boss-employee relationship instead of delving into that questionable world of boss-but-friend awkwardness that can occasionally rear its ugly head.
“Awesomeness” Motivational Poster
And when it comes to motivating employees, many bosses would be surprised to see that MONEY AND BENEFITS ARE NOT WHAT MOTIVATES EMPLOYEES MOST.
No, according to a recent survey from Kaisen Consulting – theTOP TEN WORKPLACE MOTIVATORS(as listed by staffers) were the following:
- Achievement
- Working with others
- Recognition
- Helping others
- Varied and interesting work
- Financial reward
- Good working atmosphere
- Empowerment
- Solving problems
- Physical environment
As the report itself points out, there is a huge gap in response levels between the first three items on this list and everything else. “Recognition” garnered a 44% response rate, and “Helping others” had a 16% response. If you are a manager looking to really make your employees happy, it would be most beneficial to you go really concentrate on #1, #2, and #3 on the above list before attacking the other seven items that can lead to employee happiness.
Oh sure, there are differences depending on the respondents’ age groups, gender, and managerial level – but we’ll let you read the linked report for those details.
As for theTOP TEN WORST WORKPLACE MOTIVATORS, far and above – the number 1 worst motivator named was a “Negative Experience with Colleagues”. The others were, in descending order:
- Lack of recognition
- Politics
- Failure
- Stress
- Boring work
- Barriers to performance
- Lack of support
- Bad boss
- Lack of direction
The report also wanted to point out that there is not a one-to-one relationship between motivators and demotivators. Removing “failure” does not automatically mean that “achievement” is met.
So if you really want to be the Best Manager Ever, what are some of the conclusions that this report provides?
- Working relationships are critically important
- Teambuilding matters
- Recognition is significantly important; positive feedback should be encouraged and given freely