Client Experience
THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION IN THE OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS
A lot of research has been done and a lot of articles have been written about motivation. How does it work, what does it mean and where does it come from?
Most theories about motivation has no empiric background, but Steven Reiss, an American Emeritus Professor for Psychology and Psychiatry at Ohio State University was able to define 16 motives that exists in all of us. His research was conducted some 20 years ago and has recently been re-evaluated by the university of Luxembourg leading to some new evidence.
The key question is: What drives human behavior? In other words: what makes you tick.
If we translate that into the operational environment of most companies today, the question become: How can you motivate your employees to both enjoy and be engaged in their daily tasks while following legislation and procedures?
It all comes down to motivation and this is most important aspect that we have incorporated in our PSQI Lead to Inspire trainings. Feedback from leaders participating in our workshops is that they have embraced and incorporated the new knowledge and learnings directly into their daily management.
This is also true for one of our projects in Oslo, Norway – The Thief – a luxury hotel three times listed on the Condé Nast Travelers Gold list. Executive Officer Jarle Moen, enrolled his operational leaders for 5 months of leadership training between November 2017 and March 2018.
First workshop was all about Self-leadership, the second one dealt with how to lead Individuals and the last was all about leading Teams. In all of these workshops, motivation was a constant subject, as behavior is triggered by intrinsic needs (our motivation to do things) and thus understanding motivation makes it easier for the leader to both predict and direct performance.
The project was a great success and now, 10 months later, I met with two of the leaders to find out about the impact from the trainings. They were still enthusiastic about the project, revealing that very rarely did they consult the workbooks. “It has just become a natural part in how we lead and motivate our staff.”
Hotel Manager Andre Julseth says: “Understanding how to motivate not only your staff but also yourself, has made a real difference. The same goes for using the model for structured feedback cycle. More so, understanding the competence levels has made me a better leader in the way that I delegate and develop my staff. I make sure that each employee is in “Flow” state, so that they can deliver high quality performances each and every day. I just use the tools, without thinking of it or going back to the workbook to find things out. It’s just there. It’s made leading much easier.”
Chief Culture Officer (HR) Claerisse Gullaksen adds that the Conflict Management tools have also been used with great success. “I have been to many trainings but these three workshops have been the best!”
When you have the knowledge and tools, motivation becomes easy and fast.
Author: Manuela Hjelseth, Country Manager for PSQI Norway.
