Now that you have recruited and selected the people you want, retaining and motivating them is the next challenge you face to help your business be successful. When looking at either of these topics, it is useful to recall Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs (physiological needs, security needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualizing needs). For purposes of this chapter, the first of Maslow's needs will be labeled "basic needs" and the last two will be called "growth and development needs." These human needs have been categorized this way so that they can be aligned to the subjects of this chapter — retention and motivation.
Basic Needs
To retain employees, you must meet their basic needs, both in terms of their familial obligations as well as the workplace environment. In the context of the employer/employee relationship, those basic needs are:
-
Pay and Job Security
that allow the employees to meet their familial and social obligations, like providing food and a comfortable and secure place to live -
Benefits
that provide the opportunity to care for and spend time with family, whether it is time-off for sickness, holidays, or vacation; the ability to work from home under difficult circumstances; flexible hours; or childcare or parent-care arrangements -
HR and other policies
that treat people in a basically acceptable and equal manner in the context of the workplace -
Working Conditions
that allow employees to do their jobs in a reasonable manner, meaning that they have the personal capacity, comfortable space, and the necessary tools, equipment, training and information that they need to perform their role in the work process -
Working Relationships
with you, their peers and subordinates that are sufficiently cordial and friendly so as not to create an unworkable or uncomfortable environment for the employees.
At one time or another, all of these items have been the prime reason individuals have chosen to vote with their feet and leave a company. Do a self-diagnosis by asking yourself the question, "Are we as a company meeting the basic needs of our employees?" The answer is usually fairly obvious. If you, as the owner, don't know off the top of your head, you won't have to wait long before your people let you know they have a problem. Further, if you do determine that you have a problem in any of the basic need subsets, what you have to do to fix the problem is also fairly self-evident. Consequently, we won't spend any more time on the basic needs subject. Suffice it to say: If you don't meet your employees' basic needs, you will not retain their services.
Growth and Development Needs
Now, let's talk about growth and development needs, or, as Maslow called them, the esteem and self-actualizing needs. Mastering meeting the growth and development needs will help your business move from "good" to "great." In order to reach that potential, your employees will need to be motivated.
The first lesson that you as a small business owner must learn is that you cannot motivate any of your employees. Motivation is something people do for themselves. All you can do is provide an environment in which it becomes possible for your employees to fulfill their growth and development needs (as they experience those needs internally). What motivates you, the boss, probably won't motivate the people that work for you.
You cannot motivate your people and what motivates you will not necessarily motivate them. There is no easy fix to the conundrum of motivation. To be an effective motivator, you must find out from your people, one-on-one, what motivates them and then become their "personal trainer" to help them devise their own plan (and make their own personal commitments) to achieve that plan.
If you can embody the following attributes, you'll start to become a better motivator:
- Being a good listener
- Genuinely caring for people
- Publicly praising people
- Truly wanting people to be successful
- Being honest about how people are doing
- Preparing people well
- Acting enthusiastic about the business
- Giving people responsibility and letting them do things their way as long as the desired results are achieved
- Being trustworthy and approachable
If you establish a consistent track record of genuine respect and caring, your employees will reciprocate by being long-term, high-contributing employees. And never forget that you cannot talk your way out of something you have behaved yourself into. If you try that, your employees will watch everything you do and listen to much less of what you say.
To motivate an employee, you have to create a setting and the opportunity for the employee to satisfy his/her pressing "growth & development need" and it will be different for each employee. In general, and in Maslowvian terms, to feel good about themselves, your people must have their need for self-esteem met by their own accomplishment accompanied by your public recognition of what they have achieved. That's how motivation happens.