HOW TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES?

My will or your will

Based on the research, 4 out of 10 employees do not feel supervisor supports growth.  This is a challenge to an organization on how to motivate employees because some employees are more motivated when they know that by staying with the company they will have an opportunity to grow.  Yet when business is slow, organizations are very quick to cut training.  Some research shows that only half of all employees feel that they are given the opportunity to learn skills on their job.

Small organization like mine does not have enough budget compared to larger organizations. They have finances to spend on incentives and team-building exercises.   In small organizations often required fulfilling more than just one position because small organizations cannot afford additional employees for various areas of expertise.  They need employees who can multi-task in order to remain efficient in their operations.

Here are some ideas to challenge some employers to motivate their employees:

Tell me my role, tell me what to do, and give me the rules

It is called clear directions. Give the employees parameters so they can work within broad outlines.   Clarifying the expectations up front can help employees from feeling disillusioned further down the line. Let them know what their core role will be but also discuss other areas of the business that they may be required to help out in from time to time. Share some of your passion for the business as well as the vision that you have for its growth and how they fit into that. 

I remember this idea when my employer hired me, they asked these questions:

·      

          What do you know about our organization?

·         Why do you want to work for us?

·         Please give me your definition   of the position for which you are being interviewed.

·         How long would it take you to make a meaningful contribution to our institution?

·         How long would you stay with us?

After such questions, the employer discussed about the organization that I have to spend my life with.  He also stated my job descriptions, rules and regulations of the school, limitations and of course the compensation.  They hired me; I signed the contract agreements within given time. Therefore, from the start, I and the school agreed on what we had tackled during the interview and signing of contract.

I worked in line with my responsibilities, line of expertise, signed agreements but what happened now was different.  There are things that I have to work contrast to the contract and agreements I signed.   I have to work out of my scheduled time and no extra pay.  But sometimes if I am not busy I tendered my service to them.

DISCIPLINE MY COWORKER WHO IS OUT OF LINE.

Hold people accountable in a way that is fair but makes everyone cognizant of what is and is not acceptable.   Employers should be fair in treating all of his employees. 

GET ME EXCITED

Just get us excited. YES, excitement makes employees like us happy to work.   Recently, in my organization, the management announced that we will be having an increase of salary. We have to prepare and update our records to HR for promotions and increase of salaries.  That excitement leads us to work and planned to stay more years in the organization. I think so.

DON’T FORGET TO PRAISE ME

Motivate employees by leveraging their strengths, not harping on their weaknesses.  During some meetings with school president, she actually announced some employees who passed bar exams, finished another degree, and so on.  Because of that, we see that our management recognized our achievements and abilities.

DON’T SCARE ME

Employees really don’t need to know about everything about the employers.  Employees must respect and trust the management.  Employers avoid from losing their temper during meetings. Fairness and consistency are important mainstays.

IMPRESS ME

Strong leaders impress their staffs in a variety of ways.  Yes, some are great examples of management, but others are bold and courageous, and still others are creative and smart.  Strong leaders bring strength to an organization by providing a characteristic that other doesn’t have and the company sorely needs. But some pretending to be leaders are assuming they know something which later on realized that they don’t know what they are doing and similar with my organization right now.

GIVE ME SOME AUTONOMY

Give them something interesting to work on.  Trust them with opportunity. Like the trust that my program head gave me.  He appointed me as ICT Club Moderator.  He thinks that I am capable for that position. I worked according also to my position.

SET ME UP TO WIN

Nobody wants to fail.  Indecisive leaders who keep people in the wrong roles, set unrealistic goals, keep unproductive team leaders, or change direction unfairly just frustrate everybody and make people feel defeated.

For me, my employer should work out on things that will help us to motivate ourselves. To believe that in the organization where we are in is a venue for success, satisfaction and hope for a brighter future.  Through this I think no one will fall out of control. I should try also to feel that my work is more than just a job. To sum it up, motivation is a free will. We can motivate ourselves to go on with life and of course motivation from outside forces will really help us through.

Passive-Aggressive Organization

Keep what is Good Fix What is wrong

After the discussions on this topic, I was stunned with some of my classmate’s examples about their organizations that they are passive-aggressive organizations. If their organizations are passive-aggressive and they are big organizations what more my organization is trying the best to be recognized.    A passive aggressive organization is one in which employees feel free to do as they see for because there are hardly unpleasant consequences. If the organization is an unhealthy it suffers from “either too much control at the top or too little.”  Those with too much control stifle innovation and action.  In my organization, we have this IT week which is a tradition every year to celebrate.  2 months before we proposed a plan for that event, like we have many activities for students and many more.  We are aggressive to pursue the plan but a month before the scheduled date; the management disapproved the said activity because of the upcoming foundation day.   Because of that, we are aggressive to continue what was the tradition so we re-planned. At least one day of celebration is enough to us because for us it is a tradition and at least all IT students have time to have extra-curricular activities in school. But again it was disapproved by from the management because for them, the foundation day is more important than our IT week.  We have no choice but to celebrate and our department was passive for that. On other words, discouragement, lack of focus on the event, management‘s words and actions do not add up.  The output, it was the unsuccessful foundation day for IT department. 

How do we need to build a better organization and reverse entropy and restore an organization to robust health and profitability? Using this Organizational DNA will understand the idiosyncratic characteristics of an organization.  Like DNA of living organisms, the DNA of living organizations consists of four basic building blocks, which combine and recombine to express distinct identities or personalities. Unlike human DNA, organizational DNA can be modified.

Source  http://orgdna.com/downloads/RESULTS_TOC_Ch1.pdf

Organization’s DNA strongly influences each individual’s behaviour.  Organizational behaviour is about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations.  It interprets the relationship in terms of whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social society.   They have the goals of achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives.

HUMAN OBJECTIVES

In my organization, I have this program head which always have what we call ‘attitude’.  He was always reprimand by his actions toward his subordinates.  Because there are many cases that we asked his permission and he said yes to it.   But in case of incidents that he confronted by the management, he forgot what we have asked for him. In tagalog, “hugas kamay”.   So in this case, we are questioned by the management.  This program head’s objective is psychological satisfaction and we his subordinates are passive to this attitude.

ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES

As an instructor of this institution, I am aggressive to follow these organizational objectives 

i.      In consonance with the national development goals, PCT endeavours to provide relevant education in answer to the needs of the community; offers various non-degree, technical and baccalaureate degree courses to meet the needs of its heterogeneous clientele; and provides quality skills training with balance emphasis on technical, academic and professional aspect anchored on significant Filipino values.

ii.     PCT is committed to provide quality technical and educational opportunities to any individual, regardless of sex, age, race, religion and economic status at a minimal and affordable cost.

iii.    PCT is likewise committed to help the government by pursuing and establishing financial

assistance to deserving students to complete short yet employable and in-demand               

technical courses.

iv.  Cognizant of these commitments, PCT strives to develop the skills and abilities of individuals through its resources to become efficient, disciplined members of the community; and to achieve technological and professional excellence thereby contributing to the development of their respective communities.

SOCIAL OBJECTIVES

I was appointed by the program head as an IT Club Moderator.  My main goal which I think it will help the ICT students to be more socialized especially outside the campus.  I suggested to the management that the IT students should explore outside activities to the other IT students from the other schools.  I initially registered myself first and followed by my institution to join the PSITE 11.  I have the right to recommend to the management that we have to register all ICT students to PSITS.  This opportunity grabbed by the management because they also believe on what my objectives is.  This is my legacy before I leave this organization.

My organization encountered these because of:

Unclear scope of authority

            It’s not clear who makes decisions, leading to dropped balls and to second-guessing or interference from higher-ups.  I experienced this when this Program Development and Accreditation Head called a meeting that he wanted us to implement some rules to our class.    He emphasized that our program head will lead this implementation but after the meeting we are expecting some distribution of tasks.  Suddenly, this PDA head approached me that I will be the one who will lead my department.  I was shocked aside from I have another responsibilities I “lat-angan” my program head.  How can I handle this situation? I should follow the levelling of respect and responsibilities.

Misleading goals

            Incentives that are not aligned with overall objectives or not aligned with other goals across the organization. I will relate this same experienced mentioned above. I don’t follow what my program head gave me because I believe that the tasks that the PDA head gave were approved by the school president.   When this program head of mine knows about this he gave me a memo which will lead to unrespect to his level. 

Agreement  without cooperation

            “Everyone agrees, but nothing changes”. Plans, suggestions, agreements are major changes and this change is not a problem, but implementing these changes is next to impossible.   I think why our  PDA head gave me this opportunity to lead because this program head have many pending plans and still accepting tasks which until now no actions and have not yet implemented.

Recognizing the problem is relatively easy but correcting it will have many processes to do.  The best thing to do with this is to follow the six steps in transforming the organization which I think my organization love to embrace this:

1.    Recognize the problem

2.    Bring in new blood

3.    Leave no building block in unturned

4.    Make decisions  and make them stick

5.    Spread the work – and the data

6.    Match motivators to contribution

ORGANIZING FOR EMPOWERMENT

Practice the change or change the practice

Organizing? It means shaping, forming and uniting. Empowerment?  It means permission, consent and authorization. Organizing for empowerment is like shaping somebody to be someone someday.

When this topic started I was thinking about my organization on how they organized and empowered us as their employees. Some management builds powerful organizations that empower employees to become leaders.  Some organizations also encourage their people in creating change for the better self and of course the impact they acquired after empowering themselves. But above all of these there are things to consider in terms of personal and financial aspects.

A main objective of employee empowerment is to let employees heard in decision making about work-related matters. The decision-making ranges from giving suggestions to exercising power over management decisions. Through these, it can strengthen motivation, greater sense of accomplishment and a feeling of importance.

Employees are demanded to follow the custom of the company and it continues from years to years. Some companies find it hard to change their customary maybe because it really entails more researches and studies to really come up with new and effective rules and system.  As we evolve, many things are needed to be replaced, removed, and changed. Change is the only constant thing in this world. It really affects almost everyone in the organization. To site an example, in the organization where I am in now, continued the same system and practices without considering whether they were left behind by other schools. They disregard any suggestions, offers, comments and the reality because they consider first how much they will spend to pursue such suggestions. Some of us trying to exert efforts to improve our respective departments but the management asks first “how much?” rather than “what is it?” so it promotes discouragement among us employees.

I was wondering if this organization will still at this stand, can it compete to other schools?. They keep on telling us to be empowered but how, if even the management does not permit us to function on our own and assured us that they are always on our back. This will lead us to many unfulfilled plans and wasted proposals.

I have observed with our Organizational Chart that the owner of the school is also the manager. For my point of view, these are hard positions for a single person. The levelling of all employees was reasonable but the distribution of tasks is questionable. Many of us don’t know why we are doing these works where in fact we are not in the position to do it. Some tasks were pending because of this system.

Our Organizational Chart:

 

Every name written in this organizational chart plays important role in an organization. Likewise, be aware of every single duties and responsibilities. But now, we practice the motto “mind your own business” how sad to be in an organization like this. We are like all bosses in one company. No definite rules as guidance and no specific task to be responsible with.

I can’t change the practice of the organization in a minute but I can practice change on my own. I will continue to live with integrity and lead by example. I will gain the trust of my boss, co-teacher and students. I will enhance my skills and abilities by joining seminars and conferences; through these acts of change maybe I can be a loud echo of betterment.

THE WHO?

Choosing between The Lion and The Bee

 

cartoon-clipart.blogspot.com

cartoon-clipart.blogspot.com

    The Lion is the LEADER                   and                 the bee is the MANAGER. 

The first topic that day was an ice breaker after Earthquake intensity 3 attacked us (when RSG reprimanded us). :) The last topic we had last year was all about managers and leaders. The full version was discussed by the amazing sharer, MR. D.R. when he represented it with two animals- the bee and the lion. 

 

From the first differentiation of the two, I must say that I am a manager because I take impersonal and have a passive outlook but I can also be a leader because I sometimes take personal things and have an active outlook. So the differentiation questioned my standing as a teacher and a business woman. As we go on, many definitions were discussed, like managers are avoiding risk while leaders are seeking risk. 

This time I was more confused because I am one of the managers of our business and actually we are taking risks. We invested additional products without assurance whether it will click or not. From this, I think we are leaders not managers because we seek risk and not avoiding it.

In relation to others: Managers are weighing on how decisions are made rather than what decisions to make while leaders only focused on substance of events and divisions. Sense of self: Managers are perpetuating, strengthening and they feel they are really part of the organization while leaders only struggle to profoundly alter human and economic relationships and feel separate from the organization.  

As one of the managers of a small business, we still consider the feelings of the employees even though we have contracts to follow but still the HEART overrules our mind. Same thing as an instructor, in terms of deadlines I usually give them extensions as considerations and less deduction. 

To wrap things up, it is hard to choose between the two representations because we can be both in any ways and in any forms.

CHANGE WE NEED, CHANGE WE MUST?!

CHANGE?  That was the first word boggled my mind that day.  Do I really have to change and is it really a must?  I remembered this controversial slogan during the local election.  It struck me huh? What it really meant to me as a student and as an instructor.  

As we welcomed this New Year, I thought it would be as smooth as I hoped for.  BUT the CHANGE I need wasn’t materialized. I should be punctual all the time whether in class and meetings. It is not comfy to let others wait for you for long hours, though I can even 6 hours or more as long as you promised to come.  

Being late? Well actually am on our first day of class of RSG. I arrived 15 minutes early for our second class but 1 hour and 45 minutes late on our first class. I was so professionally unprofessional because we had our professor waiting.   

Being tardy accepts no excuses 

                                      – CBB

Does change really applicable to all? I have this organization now where all people presumed to be happy and satisfied but the truth is they grumble a lot. Why is it that this organization doesn’t change their present management? Or do we have to adopt to adapt?

Recall: When this org hired me, I was overwhelmed with the position being offered, so I thought it would be the right org for me. When they told me to have my demo, they wanted me to use the conventional way of teaching (manila paper or Betamax?). I am applying as IT Instructor not General Education Instructor, so why go conventional if I can innovate? IT changes rapidly, as well as its ways of teaching. We goal our students to be on TREND and not be left behind, and they are our assets.

Few months after, I realized that the org I am with is not that stable; they still need improvements and change of approach.

As a Club Moderator, I initiated some strategy for them to be more productive through joining another org outside the school like PSITE. This strategy was unusual for them and it was a big leap to be expected. The org is not ready for change in any forms, how can we produce competitive students if we ourselves are not also competitive? So we need change and it is a must.

A Listener

11:30am  - I just listened and comprehended what Mr. Fac had presented. He discussed about Strategic Planning Model by Matt Evans.  The first question he asked was “What is Strategic Planning?” No one answered his question, so he rephrased it to “WHAT IS PLAN?” still everybody was in ignored mode so he gave these words, “if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail and be proactive about the future”. 

Strategic Planning is to improve the performance of an organization.  Then, we are asked to differentiate between a manager and a leader. Which among the two is a teacher?  In my own perception a Teacher is a manager.  Because a teacher manages students what they are going to learn in the subject and have to set their lessons according to their enrolled subject.  Mr Fac pointed us, that Teacher should be a Leader not a Manager.  On a second thought, he was right because teacher should be a good leader not a manager to students.

Mr. Fac also identified each Model of Strategic Planning (ABCDE) A for Assessment, B for Baseline, C for Component, D for down to specifics and last E for evaluate. He also classified the STEP analysis.   We also discussed (SWOT) S for Strengths, W for Weaknesses, O for Opportunities and T for Threats. The SWOT is the tool for evaluating an organization.

We were challenged to share in the class about VMGO of our school.  But we were stunned, because I knew no one had memorized it word by word. Yet I believe that we learned it within our hearts and actions are louder than words. So we ended our class with a challenge to memorize our school’s Vision, Mission, Goal and Objectives. 

Sick but still kicking!

I woke up early this  morning but I was not in my good suit (mood).  My sister told me: “MURA ka og magkasakit?,mao mag inum ka og MURAg tambal para MURA  ka og maayo.”, hmmm…(That was a good shot to me..hehe). I was so tired but my eagerness to go to school was my inspiration to stand from my crib and prepare.  Joanna Grace Malvas called me that our Professor was already in our room so I rushed a taxi going to school. But still I arrived late.

9:00am – I was surprised that there was an equation on the board, was that a math equation? (thinking)  I asked Zirdge Llego what am I supposed to do?. And he said, I should give the best answer on the given equation on the board. I was once a Math student so I guess  I knew  the answer and it was (1) one. But they told me that was not the right answer.  So ako gipaandar ang akong gamayng utok  (think again) and still stick with my answer.  While waiting for my name to be called, I was surprised and stunned when Mr. Fac told us that for those students who came late should have their presentation in front. Heow! When Zirdge Llego’s had his turn, he made a terrific presentation and Mr. Fac decided to stop the presentation there. Thank God, because I have no talent to share, take note: on the spot <wink>) I was glad because I was not called but still I have to introduce myself, but instead of introducing I unconsciously uttered this line: ”Sorry Sir, I was late because I am not feeling well” and Mr. Fac replied “Oh, better yet you go home and rest”. I was shocked of what happened because honestly I was excited to meet Mr. Fac and met my friends again but He said I supposed not to go to school if I am not feeling well I left the room and took some medicines and vitamins in my bag so that I will be okay for the second subject because I knew if I will missed one day I will be left behind .