Everyone has things that motivate them and what motivates one person might not motivate another. Clearly you want people in company you can be motivate in a way that increases your sales and profits. If you have some people who are not working in harmony with this objective, you have several choices:
1. Ignore the problems and accept the fact that some people work ethic is not in sync with yours
2. Improve your staff performance, letting them know what you expect and training them as necessary to achieve your goals
3. If you are unable to succeed, re-staff the organization with those people who are motivated so the company grow and make more money.
For any company to be successful you can’t have people doing what meets their personal needs but not those of the company. Some people will do as little as possible and avoid responsibility. This is called a government mentality; keep your head down, don’t make waves or cause trouble by raising the bar for other in the organization. For companies with a poor supply of candidates due poor working conditions, requiring just a minimal skill, only able to afford to pay minimum wages are happy to find anyone happy just have a job. In this case one is satisfied with whomever they get to start with. They can improve their lot by trading up when possible and playing on the fact that these folk are just happy a job and that will have to be motivation enough for them to demand minimal expectations, such as reporting to work on time, not causing trouble, etc.
Most businesses can demand more of the people they hire and letting those who set a poor or perform at minimal level stay on, brings down the performance of the entire team. It is therefore important to find quality people and set high standards and those (who after your best efforts) can’t or unwilling to improve are then replaced. The question is how do you motivate these people? For some it is time off if they meet their goals, for other it is recognition or promotion, for most people it is earning more money, consistent with the results that they deliver. This translates into a “win-win” comp plan, where those who deliver the most are most amply rewarded. Some people need help to accomplish this. This is done by having capable mangers able to motivate their staff by telling them what they are responsible for achieving they how they are expected to do to achieving this and training them as necessary. After one has tried everything and results don’t improve the employee and the organization need to part company. The ex-employee can get a new start and the company can hire a better fit.
We will next talk about avoiding illegal and unethical activities.
We welcome your questions as to the challenges you face in order to grow.
To see all articles in this series please go to http://optimal-mgt.com/blog.
Optimal Management is the premier management consulting company to the staffing industry. We act as mentors to owners and managers to maximize their sales, profits and value of their company. We become an extension of our clients operations and are there for all of their staffing and business needs, from sales, marketing and compensation plans, to finance, M&A, general management and everything in between.
