Motivating employees is simply moving them in a direction that best fits the company’s needs. In this context, the word “motivating” is an action verb while in reality, motivating is not an active but rather passive endeavor. It is accomplished by putting systems, policies, and actions in place that provides a positive direction for the employees.
A 10-year-old Harvard Business Review study clearly reveals the real issues surrounding employee motivation. Despite it’s age, the information remains pertinent today. This study was conducted with 1,200 employees from several Fortune 500 corporations across the U.S. A very interesting aspect of this study was the attention given not only to positive motivation, but to what de-motivates employees as well. There were 18 topics addressed listing the amount of positive and negative motivation each created.
Seven of them ranked much higher than the others.
This slideshow highlights these seven motivation factors.
Earl King is the founder of King Productions International, a commercial HVAC contracting sales consulting firm based in Texas. He speaks to associations and HVAC trade groups, and consults with commercial contractors across the country. E-mail Earl at: [email protected] or call him at 515/321-2426.