Great Expectations

How to create work environments that engage and motivate employees

By Andrea Hill

If you’re like most people, you’re feeling trepidation as we head into this new year. Will it be a fourth year of challenging-to-deal-with changes, or will we experience a bit of deserved calm after the storm? Prognostication is risky work, but there’s one thing we can all reasonably anticipate: The employer-employee compact has changed for good, and the work of engaging, motivating, and retaining employees will continue to demand our attention this year and in the future.

The nature of employment was bound to change; the pandemic simply accelerated it. Since the early 2000s, technology has been making it easier for individuals to launch new businesses or freelance, while employers simultaneously whittled away at employee benefits. So, we arrive in 2023 faced with a more empowered workforce that is highly selective about where they will work, with greater expectations about workplace flexibility, and with confidence that if they don’t like the experience in one company, they can find another company that suits them better.

And this can be good for everyone.

In most cases, broken or insufficient processes are at the heart of dysfunction, and the people-problems that show up are a symptom of
underlying issues.

For one thing, companies that invest in creating environments that engage and motivate employees consistently perform better than companies that do not. Secondly, business owners looking for ways to differentiate can capitalize on this opportunity to both compete for talent and to have a positive and powerful story to share with customers.

But many business owners aren’t sure where to start. I recommend starting with this: Foosball tables, free snack bars, nap areas, and karaoke Fridays are all fun perks, but none of them will lead to genuine employee motivation and commitment. What most employees want is to know that the time they spend at work is valued and of value. So, let’s review a few things every business owner can do to meet those expectations.

Dysfunction Is a Turnoff

People want to work for effective companies and capable employers. When processes are outdated or inefficient, when communications never make it to the people that need them, when departments are in conflict with or actively avoid one another, when some people are allowed to behave in inappropriate ways, motivation plummets and employees disengage. That’s literally the opposite of what you need.

Does this mean you need a staff psychologist? I’ll leave that up to you. What I can say is this: First you solve the process, then you solve the people. In most cases, broken or insufficient processes are at the heart of dysfunction, and the people-problems that show up are a symptom of underlying issues (I’m not talking about that guy who keeps stealing other people’s lunches—you still need to talk to him).

Here are some things you can do to weed out company dysfunction and empower your teams in the process:

1. Set specific goals and objectives for each functional area, and make sure they align with your strategic goals. When your expectations for each functional area are clear, your staff can focus on the work that is most important to the company.
2. Clarify roles and responsibilities. If you use a traditional organizational chart, update it and make sure it’s available to your staff. The organizational chart’s purpose is for more than illustrating who reports to whom; it’s also useful for understanding who is responsible for what. Of course, there are other methods you can use that work just as well—and are arguably better for small businesses with multitasking employees. You can create a chart of functions that details all the work of your company and illustrates who is responsible for each type of work. A chart of functions can help you quickly see which areas are overstaffed, which are bottlenecked, and which are not being attended to at all.
3. Use KPIs and measurements to guide performance. Telling someone to “work faster” or to “stop making mistakes” will never work as well as defining the number of orders to pick and pack in a day, the number of flasks to cast per week, or the acceptable quality reject rate percentage. KPIs and measurements also make it possible for managers to be fairer in their assessments of employees.
4. Standardize and document all processes. The work of process documentation detects process inefficiencies, reveals opportunities to introduce new tools or technologies, and aligns everyone involved in the process with doing it the same, correct way. Make sure employees are involved in the process documentation. This will make the documentation more accurate and also helps build commitment to process standardization and improvements.

Be Specific with Recognition

Management guru Tom Peters introduced the concept of Management by Walking Around (MBWA) in the 1980s. As a theory, it’s sound. The idea is that if executives are present in their operations, keeping an ear to the ground, they will have a better take on the pulse of the business than if they are holed up in an office. Unfortunately, many managers interpret MBWA in the literal sense. What does this have to do with recognition?

The most powerful form of recognition is specific and timely. The only way to offer specific and timely recognition is to be present, to observe. A heartfelt “Thank you for your quick thinking when you realized there was something wrong with the tumbler today. You saved us a lot of time and aggravation,” matters more to most people than any “Thanks for being here” or annual award ceremony.

Words Don’t Count, Behaviors Do

Make a list of what employees should understand or do to help your company succeed. Then make a second list for yourself and your managers of how you could convey each item on that list through behaviors rather than words. The behaviors that impact the bottom line are more complex than simply showing up on time or not talking on a mobile device during work. They have to do with production (set measurements), accuracy (review and standardize processes), quality (analyze origins of errors), and effectiveness (invest in tools and technologies).

Executive and manager behaviors speak volumes to employees, and when those behaviors clearly influence the direction and effectiveness of the company, employee motivation and engagement are never far behind.