When I was still in the call center industry as a product support specialist the term motivation is always posted in every corner of the wall. I wondered at first on why we need motivation with this kind of job? Three months after deployment I already knew the answer to that question but the issue about motivation doesn’t stop there because it came to a moment that it created commotion within our group.
Our team is composed of 10 agents and 1 team captain and we belong to 1 Operations Manager (OM) Group which is headed by an operations manager that handles 5 other teams excluding us. Every time we start our shift we felt uneasy and belong to the minority because we didn’t feel that we are cradled by our OM group. Our team get all the negative comments most of the time from our OM and often get ignored every time we got achievements. That was OK for us because we do have a very strong bonding within our team because our team captain made it sure that we always give the best and get rewarded after. With that kind of attitude we get used of the cold treatment from our OM and come to the office carrying the happy thoughts from the team as our main motivation. Then a single incident lead to a confrontation between the group and our OM because it totally made us feel that our existence is no longer needed. During the close door meeting we were asked by our OM on what is our problem with the group? Majority of us answered “No” because we didn’t make a big deal out of the situation it just so happen that our ego were already violated publicly. Then we are asked “what motivates us?” I answered, the people I worked with motivates me because if I work in an unfriendly environment I easily get bored and it gives me low productivity rate. Most of us answered money but for me it’s always my last factor in motivating me to work because from the very start I already knew how much will I receive so if I don’t see it enough for my needs then I am free to decline the offer. Then another question came, “Is it necessary to give a reward to employees who was able to hit the targets?” most of us answered “yes”. Then he started lecturing about his way of handling his group to help us understand the situation.
Our OM is not used to cuddling his group because only believes that if you deliver your targets and provide good number of customer satisfaction is enough for an agent to survive a day. He doesn’t need extra effort just to impress him because all he wants is enough. When it comes to rewarding his subordinates, he doesn’t do that regularly unless you give an extraordinary performance. The salary is enough motivation for an employee to give his best. With all of these explanations the group is still not convince to ease what we felt during that time. This topic becomes a great venue to analyze what should be the essence of motivating the group and to discover its limitations.
What do we mean by motivation? [1]It's been defined as a predisposition to behave in a purposeful manner to achieve specific, unmet needs and the will to achieve, and the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals. And why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival. Motivated employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces, and to be effective, managers need to understand that and do something about it. But according to Frederick Herzberg’s research that the things that make people satisfied and motivated on the job are different in kind from the things that make them dissatisfied. Ask workers what makes them unhappy at work, and you'll hear them talk about insufficient pay or an uncomfortable work environment, or "stupid" regulations and policies that are restraining or the lack of job flexibility and freedom. So environmental factors can be demotivating, but even if managed brilliantly, fixing these factors won't motivate people to work harder or smarter. In our case, the OM lack in getting to know his agents just to know the degree of motivation they needed although a salary should be the main motivating factor but human nature later on craves on recognitions that boost their self esteem and level of importance in a group and that can’t be provided by a big salary.
To help me improve and prevent that situation from happening, let us use [2]Dave Worman's "20 Ways to Motivate Your Employees without Raising Their Pay" and give inputs to its description. These ways are effective given that compensations are well managed and the main objective of the firm is to contradict the “more money more happy employees.”
1. Recognition/Attention. There are employees that will surely exceed the expectations of the managers and these are considered as bonus to the group because this will leave a mark especially if that employee is consistent with his performance. A simple “KUDOS!” may do just to relay a message to that employee that his performance was being recognized and well appreciated. The sad thing is that a manager seldom receives recognition from their bosses due to a different level of expectations but let this achievement be enough for you to smile and be thankful.
2. Applause. This is a very common way of physically showing that the public recognized and appreciated your job well done. The person that receives it feels special and will strategize to improve more.
3. One-on-One Coaching. I went through several one-on-one coaching before just to remind me my matrix to show if my performance is improving or not. This is one of the awkward times because you are facing your manager to talk about individual performance. But the good thing is you will able to feel his sincerity and willingness to reach out for any help that I might need.
4. Training. Every time I attended trainings, I can feel that the company is preparing something for my promotion. Or if not it will make me feel that the company wants me to grow by gaining additional knowledge.
5. Career Path. The main ingredient of doing your job well is setting a goal on where you want to be in a certain period of time. In my case, I did not dream of becoming a manager or to level up as an agent because I was so happy with my position. Aside from that I did not find the job of the manager as exciting and challenging at all because you are give too many tasks with a little compensation.
6. Job Titles. When you talk about job titles you are tapping the self-esteem of people. How someone feels about the way they are perceived in the workforce is a critical component to overall attitude and morale. Picture a social gathering that includes some of your staff. The subject of work inevitably comes up. Will your people be proud, or embarrassed, to share their title and workplace? The importance of feeling proud of who you are and what you do is monumental.
7. Good Work Environment. What I love with the working environment on why I lasted more than 3 years is that I never felt that I was working at that time. I build strong friendship with my teammates and went through different journeys which made my character better. The pressure that is brought by work easily eased out due to the support of the team.
8. On-the-Spot Praise. This too is associated with recognition but the key here is timing. When there is a reason for praising someone don't put it off for any reason! Promptness equals effectiveness. Praise people when the achievement is fresh on everyone's mind.
9. Leadership Roles. Give your people leadership roles to reward their performance and also to help you identify future promotable people. Most people are stimulated by leadership roles even in spot appearances. Every quarter, the team captains do several assessments to check who among the agents qualified for either early regularization or promotion. Even if an employee is a great asset to the team but once it’s time for him to step up he should be given that opportunity.
10. Team Spirit. As much as possible we document each moment with the group by taking pictures and videos because we all know that we are not going to be working together forever.
11. Executive Recognition. This is the secret weapon. And like any secret weapon, timing is most critical. If this is used too often the value is diminished. And if it is used only for special occasions and rare achievements the value is escalated. This usually happens during the year-end party wherein chosen employee will be given recognition for their exemplary performance.
12. Social Gatherings. The human resource department facilitates parties twice every quarter just to give break to the exhausted employees. Some managers sponsor barbeque parties or beach parties depending on the overall performance of the group.
13. Casual Dress Day. One of the most anticipated moments is what we call “dress-down” period wherein we can get rid of our formal attires and be in our most comfortable outfits. This usually happens during summertime and Halloween where we dress according to the celebration.
14. Time Off. During Christmas and back-to-school season, the team needs to dress up in themed costume to win a prize. Our team was able to bagged 1st place during the mad hat contest. That was the most fulfilling moment because due to our team effort we gained a reward.
15. Outside Seminars. The company doesn’t impose seminars outside the site because what they do is that they give that responsibility to the training department to re-echo it to the deserving employees.
16. Additional Responsibility. There are definitely employees in your organization who are begging for and can handle additional responsibility. The job of the managers is to identify who they are and if possible match responsibilities to their strengths and desires.
17. Theme Contests. The grandest theme contest that the company have is during the year-end party. There are different kinds of themes that I participated like masquerade, Hollywood and Havana. This comes with lots of prized and gadgets plus non-stop party.
18. Stress Management. Aside from technical trainings, the company also give lifestyle seminars to get rid of negative energies that affect the employee. I’ve joined a lot of stress management courses and it was so good because we got lay down while doing the seminar.
19. Pizza/Popcorn/Cookie Days. These are what we call comfort foods or treats literal to comfort the employees not because they did something excellent but just because they stick with your team.
20. Gags and Gimmicks. This happens during outdoor team buildings wherein the team or the OM group will just have all night long party mostly at the beach. For me this is the most effective way of getting to know your team because everything is set casually.
Based on the 20 ways of how to motivate the employees, it only shows that a manager must not just have critical mind but a mind of a clown. A clown might be carrying personal issues but the funny make up encourages everyone to lighten up the load that they are carrying. A manager must be the first person that a team member must give his trust to build transparency within the group. If at least 50% of these ways were implemented before the incident happened, there might be a bigger chance that it was prevented. The good this is that the manager and the team met half way to compliment and work harmoniously. That experience gave me an idea that handling a group might be difficult if you build walls in between. It is good to set limitation but make sure that they can still see you on the other side.
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