- October 29, 2019
- Posted by: HPI Admin
- Categories: Leadership, Power Ideas
As explored in an earlier “Power Idea”, the basic motivations for all people are virtually embedded into our DNA. We’re all motivated to secure food, water, shelter, warmth when it’s cold, safety and security from predators (human & animal). However, once our basic needs are secured, each of us has different motivators that influence the rest of our lives.
These same needs must still be acknowledged, understood and effectively managed as the world gets smaller with ‘globalization’, becomes more diverse with every younger ‘work teams’ coming from many different cultures, societal norms and religious views.
As expert Klaus Schwab, puts it, “the changes are so profound that, from a perspective of human history, there has never been a time of greater promise or potential peril.” So how do we fulfill this great promise?
By harnessing human talent in new & innovative ways like it never has been before.
The task for leadership is to be pro-active, accurately identifying and clearly understanding where their organization is right now. No covering up soft-spots. All areas of the organization must be scrutinized and a clear understanding of where improvement is needed must be laid out clearly.
Why? People the world over are the same.
• They perform best when they know exactly where they are, where the organization wants to go, and then are provided the tools to get there.
Key areas to focus on which benefit the people working in the organizations include:
Easy (but secure) Access to Data. In today’s world it is imperative that work teams are able to quickly access real-time data. Then, the teams need to be able to communicate their findings & recommendations to management equally quickly. Managements’ task is to then likewise quickly respond to the team, not leave them hanging out & waiting weeks for an answer.
• People the world over build and maintain productive momentum when their recommendations are answered promptly & clearly.
On-Going Training. Many companies make the mistake of confusing the word ‘training’ with the word, ‘introduction’. These companies think that telling employees about a new software tool and then demonstrating it one time, is ‘training’. This is NOT training.
Dale S. Beach defines training as ‘the organized procedure by which people learn knowledge and/or skill for a definite purpose’.
Training is a series of instructions and exercises which provide learning activities
for the employee, whereby they can acquire and apply the knowledge & skills necessary to productively use the new tool.
Training never ends. Why? People the world over are the same.
• They perform best when they are required to regularly review the skills & usage of the tools required to perform their tasks.
• Repeated training embeds the knowledge while at the same time allowing the employee to build self-confidence that they know what they need to do and how to do it.
On-Going Appraisals. For an organization to truly get to the next level, the organization is well served to develop a culture of curiosity and of risk-taking.
When employees are confident they know the goals, have quick response from management, are trained to be experts in their jobs, then regular, on-going appraisals are excellent tools for providing timely feedback and motivation.
Today’s younger workforce is used to communicating instantaneously. They give & receive feedback quickly. Setting up regular reviews not only provides guidance and ‘course corrections’ on projects or tasks, it also provides immediate opportunities for supervisors to provide kudos.
Why is this important?
• People the world over like to know that they’re doing what’s expected.
And, people the world over appreciate a pat-on-the-back or other recognition that they’re work is on track.
HPISolutions has tools to help you & your organization gain a better understanding of your “driving forces” as your motivators.