The dichotomy between words and actions will erode trust in the manager – and the organization
Creating a Winning Team:
How Management Can Inspire Purpose In Our Employees.
"The dichotomy between words and actions will erode trust in the manager
– and the organization."
In the last seconds of a close-scoring basketball game, the coach will huddle his players and draw up a play designed to result in a winning shot and victory. If just one teammate is disengaged, though, the play can go awry and the team fall short of accomplishing its purpose.
Like that team, a business needs a purpose and each employee needs to be inspired by and contributing to that purpose, If everyone in an organization feels good about the work they do and is committed to the organization’s purpose, then you’re likely to see good results.
But if workers aren’t engaged, their productivity can suffer and the company as a whole may pay the price.
For years, many companies chased quarterly earnings and ignored any overarching purpose beyond keeping shareholders happy. Yet to survive and thrive in today’s world, businesses need to think about more than just “shareholder value.
Current polls show that more 70 percent of American workers report feeling either not engaged or actively disengaged in their jobs – meaning they no longer have the necessary motivation for performance excellence, whether they have remained in their current organizations for 20 – 30 years throughout the economic changes or were laid off or left to seek better opportunity.
Watching co workers get hours cut, and seeing that management does not care, Listening to Dept heads stating that this is the worst that it has ever been and completely downplaying the role of management and specific managers and worrying about one's own job has adversely affected many even formerly enthusiastic employees, reducing emotional connection and trust and creating a stressful work environment.
Employers cannot mandate motivation with mission statements. True motivation comes from understanding and satisfying employees' workplace needs and creating a passion for excellence among people who want their organization to succeed because they feel connected emotionally to it. With proper motivation and guidance, and by assigning team members jobs they are passionate about, you can enhance the performance dynamic in our workplace.
Motivation and Trust Trust is the foundation for such motivation. Management can build trust in their workplace relationships through open communication, collaboration and prioritizing the needs of all workers in the organization. Such a process requires a combination of tools, such as employee surveys and behavioral assessments, that provide objective insights about the diverse styles and expectations of the organization's team members.
Motivation and Communication The team dynamic is important because it reflects what many organizations learned during the recession. Reconfiguring and reducing work forces has created the opportunity to retain team members who are both skilled at and committed to their jobs. Such enthusiasm means that properly motivated employees can better handle and embrace the extra work created by downsizing. Even though fewer people are doing the work, if they are now performing a function that fits perfectly with their core abilities and passion, higher pay likely will not be a primary motivator.
Clear expectations also are essential to communication and trust. These expectations must be two-way. Instead of simply telling employees what is expected of them, employers should initiate a dialogue about how employees see their roles in a particular project, how they would help improve a team or what they would suggest to meet a difficult commitment to a customer. With such dialogue, a manager's behavior must be authentic in order to engage trust. If a manager emphasizes that diligence and detailed planning are essential to getting the job done, but in reality operates using whim and indecision, no one will be fooled.
Instead, company leaders need to manage from the perspective of “stakeholder value,” and stakeholders include everyone who impacts the company or is impacted by it, from customers to suppliers to communities, and employees who are among the key stakeholders.
Imagine if you could get employees to look at their jobs as something with a purpose that goes beyond just earning a paycheck, that could result in a more engaged workforce, better productivity and perhaps less turnover.
In fact, studies have shown that the Millennial generation especially seek purpose in their jobs and are quick to switch employers if they don’t find it.
But once the company comes up with a purpose, how does it get employee buy-in?
It starts at the top. It’s not enough that employees find the purpose inspiring. The leader of the company has to be inspired because the leader will cause others to be inspired. Ultimately, it’s important that the entire management team be on board and enthusiastic.
Make sure the purpose is clear and meaningful. Company leaders must find a common purpose that’s broad enough to be meaningful and important to employees. In the absence of a clear organizational purpose, people focus on their individual goals and may perceive different purposes for the same organization.
Discard what doesn’t fit. Identify company activities that aren’t aligned with the purpose and remove or transform them.
Purpose isn’t an idea that only lives in a strategic plan or on a website, It lives in the daily operation of a business and in the ongoing communications with stakeholders. It lives as the internal compass for keeping a complicated organization with many competing interests on course.
The first step in developing a powerful strategy is to be clear about why your organization is in business; that is, what purpose does it serve?
