Companies should pay more attention to remotivation

Even the most motivated employeeís inspiration starts to fade as tough work issues loom into sharper focus.

And, for the long serving staff member who has seen it all before and is even deflated about their job, maintaining motivation is even harder.

Graham Povey, Managing Director of Capital Incentives and Motivation and one of Britainís leading motivation scheme experts, calls this motivational decline. He says: Companies are paying too little attention to motivational decline. It is costing the country millions of pounds each year through the under-performance of their greatest asset - their staff.

It is human nature and a factor of working life. But it is an issue that needs more attention than it receives. Companies need to invest more in remotivation - maintaining and rebuilding motivation, picking up the flagging momentum of their staff - if they want to get the best out of their staff. Sometimes, the company profit share scheme just isnít enough.

Many companies already do. Successful incentive and motivation schemes usually include several, often highly creative, communications techniques to remind participants regularly of the rewards that they can earn. They might send clever mailers or teasers which provide a taste of what can be won if targets or goals are achieved or issue frequent updates on how individuals are performing - there are many ways.

But far more companies make little specific effort at remotivation -.

So how can a company minimise motivational decline and remotivate its team?

Graham Povey advises

1. RESEARCH

The few companies that research in advance before developing a motivation programme for their staff are often surprised by the results. Too often managers presume that they know or rely on repeating last yearís successful scheme. Why not ask the staff themselves, especially the long-serving employees, what would motivate them?

2. ASK INDIVIDUALS TO SET THEIR OWN TARGETS

If you ask managers or perhaps a sales team to do this, this often results in figures greater than their boss would have asked for. This is particularly valuable because the motivation and commitment to achieving the target is greater because the figures are ímineí not íyoursí. They become íoursí.

3. MAKE AWARDS FREQUENTLY

Many organisations create staff motivation schemes with once a year rewards.
Interest can be revived by shortening the payout horizon with interim rewards. The award values need not to be huge, but the motivation value of having frequent winners is.

4. HAVE A íMOST IMPROVEDí AWARD

A long serving participant who performs steadily but rarely hits the headlines can be re-motivated by the opportunity to qualify for an award in the next period, based on improvement.

5. FREQUENT COMMUNICATION

There has to be constant communication via a variety of routes to generate excitement, including teasers, league tables, progress charts, and these should sometimes be sent to home addresses.

6. HAVE AN EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH

This again creates an opportunity to reward an average employee and boost his or her morale. It could be based on criteria that change each month, such as; Greatest number of orders taken. Greatest number of new accounts opened Most consistent performance so that different winners qualify each time.

Graham Povey says: Remotivation applies to virtually all of us, as employers or employees. If companies, through motivation schemes or simply through looking more closely at staff morale, paid it greater attention, staff performance would improve immensely.