Begin in the Beginning
To create a work place that is energized and motivated, the company must first hire well. Hiring well is the foundation upon which a motivating environment is built. As Lou Holtz once said, “Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.” If we consider the opposite of that—it is adding people who are motivated. Hiring can be the most positive or the most destructive influence on the team’s motivation. Do not underestimate the impact on the rest of the team when a poor hire is made.
I have met managers from a variety of organizations who were not skilled in interviewing and hiring. An organization is only as good as the quality of the candidates and the quality of the hiring process. If an environment is going to be one where employees are motivated, then the quality of the people hired is critical. Here are a few tips for making sure the “right” candidates get hired:
• Conduct multiple interviews. The process of interviewing should consist of several interviews:
1. A screening interview over the phone
2. An initial interview
3. A second interview
4. A final interview
By conducting multiple interviews, you end up knowing the candidate better and finding out what they are really like as a person. The candidate should also be interviewed by several people in the organization so that the manager gets different perspectives about them.
• Look for a cultural fit. There absolutely must be a cultural fit in addition to the competency fit. Research has shown that lack of cultural fit causes more employees to not last in a job than their inability to do the job. Managers must overlook the temptation to hire on the basis of competency and ignore the cultural aspects. For example, an IT expert who is a technical genius, but treats people with disrespect, is not a good trade-off.
• Get Human Resources involved. It is important to have Human Resources involvement, but they should not make the final hiring decision. The final decision should be up to the hiring manager. I have worked with organizations in the past where HR did the interviewing and the hiring, and managers were then “stuck” with an employee who didn’t fit their needs. Managers should insist on having the final say in the process.
• Always recruit. Managers should always network and should always be on the look out for viable candidates both inside and outside the organization. The best approach is to make a file of viable candidates before they are needed. Then when the need arises, the manager contacts the people in the file who are viable.
• Know they are the best they will be. When candidates are being interviewed, they are at their very best. They are the best they will ever be dressed, and the best they will ever present themselves. A common mistake made by hiring managers is that they think they can change the negative characteristics of a candidate after they are hired. This is as absurd as someone changing their spouse after they get married.
• Have knock-out questions. It is advisable to have knockout questions—questions that would eliminate the candidate if they gave a “no” answer to a question. For example, I was the hiring manager for a corporate university, and one of my knock-out questions was about continuous learning. I felt very strongly that we shouldn’t hire a candidate as a training manager if they weren’t willing to learn themselves. I would ask a few questions about reading, training, classes, etc. This gave me the ability to determine if they were a learner or not. Managers must decide on the qualities that are absolutely not negotiable and use these qualities as the basis of knock-out questions. These questions should be woven into the interview. The candidate should never know that these are knock-out questions; knowing the nature of the questions could influence their answers.
To find candidates who are a good fit in terms of enthusiasm, use open-ended interview questions as listed below:
• So tell me about yourself…
• What is the best job you have ever had and why?
• What is important to you in the work place?
• Who has had an influence on your career? Why?
• Do you do any reading? What do you read?
• What book has had the most influence on you in the last five years?
• Who has been the best boss you have reported to? Why?
• The worst boss? Why?
• How would you describe yourself?
• How would the team of people you work with describe you?
• What do you stand for?
• Who are your role models?
• What have you learned in the past year?
• What professional organizations do you belong to? Why?
• What does enthusiasm mean to you?
• Describe your personality.
• How do you get along with others?
This list of questions should provide managers with a baseline for determining the candidate’s level of enthusiasm. These questions should obviously be mixed with questions about experience and job skills. The idea is to look for both competency and culture.
The New Hire
The best way to ensure that employees understand the purpose of what they do is to start from the beginning, when they are hired. This is an overlooked and underused concept. Many managers I have worked with in the past used the “frying pan into the fire” concept: throw them into the work with no explanation, training, understanding, or concept of what they are doing and why. Most people reading this book have had similar experiences.
We should not overlook the critical first days of a new employee’s work life when we can lay the foundation of their belief and have a huge impact on their perception of us and the company. Keep this in mind: If we want them to be motivated, we have to create an environment from day one that does that. The first and most important element once a new employee starts is orientation.
Orientation is when a new employee is first exposed to the organization’s mission, vision, and values. Orientation should be delivered by a professional who can convey the values of the company’s vision. I am sure there are small organizations that might say, “Well, we are small, and we don’t conduct orientation.” I think small companies become successful by acting like big companies. It is crucial for new employees to be properly oriented, and this is especially important in small companies because each employee can have a meaningful direct impact. Orientation sets the stage.
There might be organizations that don’t have mission, value, or vision statements. If that is the case, how does the organization know where it is going? How will it know when it gets there? Is there a long-term plan that can be shared instead of mission, vision, and values? Not having a written cohesive statement of what your company stands for and where it is going is dangerous.
At orientation, the employee should learn all about the company, what it stands for, and what kinds of qualities and actions are valued. There is no doubt that oriented employees are more knowledgeable, and knowledgeable employees are more motivated.
Orientation also has several advantages. It
• Gets employees motivated
• Helps employees feel appreciated early in their first week
• Converts belief in favor of the company
• Builds excitement about the company
• Gets everyone on the same page
• Instills values and culture
Once the formal general orientation is complete, it is up to the manager to give them a specific overview to help them understand the purpose of their individual work. There are several factors in making sure that new employees understand the purpose of their work:
1. Provide job descriptions. Managers and supervisors should make sure there is a job description for every job. I have worked with and for many organizations that didn’t have job descriptions or if they did they were never shared. It is amazing that companies can succeed without the employees knowing the tasks they are expected to perform. If there are no job descriptions, there can be no accountability, measurement, or sense of knowing if the employee is doing what they are “supposed to do.” If the organization doesn’t have job descriptions, then it is the manager’s responsibility to write them for each job under him/her. The task is onerous and very time consuming, but the results in productivity can be significant and the employees feel better about their work. If job descriptions need to be created, it is always good policy to partner with the Human Resources Department, but if the organization is small, a manager can build the job descriptions. I once had an employee who met with me on her first day. We reviewed the job description and discussed it at length. She said, “It is so nice to know exactly what I am supposed to do from day one.” She went on to explain that she had worked at several companies and had never been provided with a job description. The motivating value of people knowing what they are supposed to do is tremendous.
2. Provide it in writing. All job descriptions should be in writing and available to everyone. There are certain legal reasons why this makes sense, but I am not a lawyer. From a clarity perspective, it makes sense to have a written description because it helps eliminate any ambiguity. There is no question that when details are given verbally, there is too much room for interpretation. People in general are bad listeners or have perceptions in their minds that are so strong that they hear what they want to hear. Written job descriptions will eliminate problems and miscommunication.
3. Explain the purpose. Every employee should have their job explained to them by their supervisor verbally as part of detailed discussions during the interview, orientation, and periodic reviews. It is tremendously motivating to employees when they understand the purpose of their role. Let’s take the example of a receptionist at a firm. Some would say the role of a receptionist is not that important. It would be possible for a receptionist to start feeling that their job was not important and to feel less motivated. A skilled manager would explain the role of the receptionist. They would also make sure that the receptionist understood that their role was vitally important to the firm because they were the first contact with the client—what a truly important role! Many managers don’t explain the roles to each employee because they don’t have time, they are busy, and a whole host of other “reasons.” As the old Fram oil filter ad campaign used to proclaim: “You can pay me now or pay me later.” An investment in communication up front will save the manager significant time and trouble later.
4. Talk about the interrelation. Each employee should understand how their job relates to the other jobs on the team. In many organizations, employees have no idea what the other employees in their department actually do on a day-to-day basis. Additionally, employees should understand how their work interrelates with the other departments in the company. I have attended many meetings where Customer Service was blaming Sales, Sales was blaming Marketing, Marketing was blaming Order Entry, and the blame went on and on. Clearly this was a case of one department not understanding the purpose of the other departments. This results in classic “we versus them” scenarios in the same organization—which in theory has the same objectives. At times, employees need to be reminded that the same logo is on all their checks. A good analogy that can work well is that of a wagon wheel: The round part of the wheel is the entire company and the spokes are each department. Clearly each spoke on that wheel is equally important. What happens if one spoke breaks in a wagon wheel? Probably not much, but if more than one breaks or starts to malfunction, the entire wheel falls apart. Most employees find that analogy useful.
5. Review the mission/credo/values, etc. If a company has a mission statement, credo, or values statement, it should be known by every employee and should be in writing and posted everywhere. A good example of this working well is the Ritz Carlton. At Ritz Carlton, every employee understands the mission of Ritz Carlton. I was walking in a downtown area and stopped in a Ritz Carlton because it was in a beautifully restored building. The door was opened for me, and as I was looking around, one of the door men greeted me warmly and said, “Hello sir. Have you seen our ballroom?” I told him that I wasn’t even a guest at the hotel. He smiled and said, “Well you must see our ballroom because you will come back and someday will be a guest.” He was practicing one of the key tenants of Ritz Carlton’s overall philosophy: “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” Companies like Ritz Carlton, Starbucks, and Jet Blue Airlines inherently understand that the power of the employees knowing and understanding the mission/credo is that they provide better customer service because they are more motivated: They feel like they are part of a greater good. It gets back to Herzberg’s hygiene factors; one of them is policy administration and the company. When they are not met, it leads to job dissatisfaction, but when they are met, it leads to increased satisfaction. There are many companies where they have a mission/credo, but no one knows that it exists. What is the sense of having a mission/credo if it is under lock and key? It is the manager’s job to make sure that all employees in their department know the mission/credo of the company and that it is given in writing and posted proudly where all can see it on display. It answers the question: why are we doing this work every day?
The company you are working for might be new or small-to mid-sized. It is possible that your company doesn’t have a mission statement. One word of caution: This can be a very arduous task and requires some expertise. If the task seems too overwhelming, contact a local professional who can help sort through the development of a mission statement for the firm.
6. Explain the team mission. If the company has a mission/credo, then the manager of each department should have a way of translating the mission to the team. Let’s take an example: Starbucks’ mission statement is “Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.” They then go on to outline six guiding principles: (1) Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity, (2) embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business, (3) apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting, and fresh delivery of our coffee, (4) develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all the time, (5) contribute positively to our communities and our environment, (6) recognize profitability is essential to our future success. A savvy manager will lay the six principles out on the table and say to the team, “How can our team drive these principles? How can we contribute to number one? Number two?” Once all these questions are discussed, a team mission statement can be crafted. Then the members of the team will understand their purpose and more importantly how their purpose relates to the larger picture.
7. Document the team mission. Once the team mission is crafted, it should be in writing and posted proudly. On a regular basis, behaviors that are aligned with the company and team mission should be recognized and reinforced.
8. Communicate the mission. The mission/credo of the company and the team should be part of communications verbally, in writing, and in meetings. At meetings, the agenda should include a portion of that meeting to highlight the mission credo. I once worked for a company that had a credo. At every meeting, the credo was read out loud and with reverence. The repetition of the message is essential to ensure that people understand it, but more importantly start applying it to their daily work. Make the mission/credo so ingrained in the employees’ minds that they get excited about it and start articulating the message.
Taking these steps with each new employee will have an incredible impact on that employee’s motivation. They will feel valued, appreciated, informed, and more confident. The most important aspect is this: because they are more motivated, they will be more productive and more enthusiastic, and stay with the organization longer.