Archive | Motivation & Retention

As human beings, we all want to have a purpose. We want our lives to matter. Purpose is what allows us to discover who we really are, to put meaning in our work, and to discover our talents, skills, and sources of genuine satisfaction.

Having a highly motivated workforce is critical to compete in today’s marketplace. Managers need to provide an environment that triggers motivated behavior. Pay attention to what’s important to the person. As Will Rodgers said, “When you go fishing, you bait the hook not with what you like, but with what the fish likes.”

Employers face major challenges when they consider the increasing difficulty of finding skilled people, a younger workforce with different attitudes about work, and a growing population of older workers heading toward retirement.

If you want your organization to be a place the best and the brightest will want to work in the future, you must be careful what you do in the here and now.

Some businesses practice what I call “spaghetti management.” They pick a bunch of people, promote them to managers, then throw them on a wall like spaghetti, and see what sticks.

By not slowing down to savor successes along the way, each accomplishment becomes less fulfilling. When I have paused to savor and celebrate, life becomes richer and much more satisfying.

The greatest threat employers face is losing their best and brightest to the competition. That’s a lot of talent leaving organizations and just the beginning of what many people have described as the “perfect storm.”

Each year thousands of good people leave good jobs to take other positions that are more family friendly. This situation has fueled the dramatic rise of home-based and female-owned businesses.

Pay and benefits are important, but you have to do something different in order to attract and retain the best people. That something may equate to a fun, flexible workplace that gives them more freedom and responsibility.

Within the word “resilience” are actions we can take to reclaim our bounce-back ability.