MOTIVATING AND ENERGIZING PERSONNEL

 The skill of motivating personnel has its pride of place in the skill inventory of management professionals. I still remember the overriding importance given to it , by my professor in management school and its regular appearance in presentations and semester exams. Ask any C.E.O about motivation and you would hear , " It is important to motivate every person in the organization , whether it is a worker , an officer or the top management staff."
 Though it has become an off repeated word in seminars and conferences , organizations seem to be doing little about it in real terms other than exhorting their managers to appreciate, the good work of their subordinates. There is practically no focus on motivational practices at the organization level , while at the team level it is limited to the motivation skill of the team leader. For example , in an FMCG Company "A" , the only visible motivational practices for frontline sales personnel are  :
  1. Incentives linked to sales.
  2. Involvement and training related to new product launches.
 Taking into consideration , the importance of this personnel segment to the organization , these practices are woefully inadequate.
 Management professionals seem to have understood the concept well enough , but its conversion into practice is lacking. In my interaction with managers , I have discovered a preset group of mental models regarding "motivation", which got developed during their management school days and which continue to have a potent influence on their perception , even though the validity and reliability of such mental models may be a question mark.
 
 Some of the current dominant mental models of motivation are given in fig 1
                            (Fig1)
 
 

 Based on these dominant  mental models organizations make a set of assumptions on which their policies and practices are based. These assumptions may not necessarily be true . Hence, inadvertently the inadequacies in these concepts flow to the policies and practices.
 "The old order changeth giving place to new". This truism is valid not only for people but also for concepts. With the acceleration of change in the workplace and society , the dominant perspectives and needs of personnel are going through a metamorphosis. In such a scenario , sticking to concepts of a bygone era , would at best result in impotent policies and practices . On the other hand , they might do more demage than good. Therefore , managers need to systematically reexamine the workplace in order to spot new patterns and trends.
 For devising energizing and motivational practices , this "Systematic Reexamination" should focus on Stated and Unstated dominant needs, Dominant concerns, Dominant pains , Pleasures and Prayers , Dominant Motives , Dominant Values and Dominant perspectives (fig2)
                                                     (fig2)
 This data can be collected through questionnaires and focussed interactions with the different personnel segments in the organizations. The data so collected would yield potent motives , values , perspectives, needs , concerns etc.
  These can be cross - fertilized for creating powerful motivational practices . This would be akin to,"Hitting the nail on the head", rather than , " Beating about the bush".
 A data sample collected by Company , "B" which courageously undertook this systematic reexamination is given in fig 3

                                                   (fig3)
 Stated dominant needs      Rank
  Respect   1
  Personal Growth   2
  Achievement    3
  Truth     4
  Good food    5

 Unstated dominant needs     Rank
  Own business    1
  Entertainment    2
  Social work    3
  Travelling    4
  Social needs    5
These high ranking stated & unstated dominant needs are,"Motivation Potencies",i.e. they have the potential to motivate.
 On correlating this primary data with the current dominant mental models related to "Motivation"(eg maslow),considerable concept variation and differentiation come to the fore.Thus , organizations may be trying to motivate personnel by showing them "Carrots" , while the dominant need may be for "Onions" and the dominant concern may be the," Thorny workplace". (fig4)
                                                                 Fig.4
Therefore , in order to design motivational practices , managers need to collect primary data , rather than be dependent upon their mental models.
 Company "B" cross - fertilized the data so collected , to derive motivational and energizing practices. This is exemplified below :
Cross - fertilized motivation potencies :
 
ACHIEVEMENT + PERSONAL GROWTH + TRAVELLING + ATTENDING MEETINGS +  FIELDWORK & DEMONSTRATIONS
Motivational practices designed  :
1. The sales personnel who achieve specific targets should be invited to attend sales strategy sessions at the headquarters.
2. The sales personnel who consistantly achieve set targets should be sponsored to training programmes focussed on enhancing their technical skills so that they can independently conduct  meetings / fieldwork / demonstrations.
3. The sales personnel who achieve specific targets should be sanctioned budgets for product promotion in accordance with their achievement.
Cross - fertilized motivation potencies :
RESPECT + ACHIEVEMENT + SOCIAL NEEDS
Motivational practices designed  :
1. On consistently achieving targets , sales personnel should be gifted with club memberships for a limited period of time,which get renewed only if the achievement remains consistent.
2. The salespersons who consistently achieve should be given a budget for organizing a party for their colleagues.
An unlimited number of such motivational practices can be designed based on the different permutations & combinations of the motivation potencies identified.
The motivational practices so designed would be customized to the dominant needs, concerns , values etc.of the different personnel segments in the organizations.
 This would catalyse the creation of a motivated workplace, which is essential for organizational success and renewal.