Employee motivation: Experts blog on biggest motivation mistakes as new book is launched

Date: 18/10/2011

Scott Keller and Carolyn Dewar blog on the top four mistakes made in employee motivation for the Harvard Business Review as new book, Beyond Performance: How great organizations build ultimate competitive advantage, is released.

Keller and Dewar say there are five things which motivate an employee; society, the customer, the company, the team and me, and most employers only appeal to one of these, thus alienating 80 per cent of people who are motivated by the other factors.

Small incentives and recognition gifts are better than big bonuses as unexpected and thoughtful gifts create a relationship which does not occur through the purely transactional nature of financial bonuses.

Ask questions which allow the employee to reach their own conclusions as they are more likely to be committed to seeing a resolution by nearly five to one if they have developed the answer for themselves.

Don't ignore any problems but in order to motivate employees make sure you highlight the good things which have been achieved and demonstrate how they can be extended in order to solve other issues, the experts say.

Staff motivation is important to help businesses attain their corporate goals, retain staff and create a more productive workforce.
 

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