Ignition Point

Reviving productivity means lighting a fire under your employees. Here are five ways to do it.

By Karen Benjack Glatzer

As president of the Personal Care Division of Remington Products, Ann Buivid faced a dangerous one-two punch of uncertainty and sagging morale among her senior management. First, her director of wellness had to take a lengthy medical leave. “I was determined not to replace her because she was so valuable and talented,” Buivid recalls. Meanwhile, the company’s vice president of sales, a talented salesman who had been passed over for a promotion, had lost his drive and was ready to resign.

Buivid and her VP saw a unique opportunity to keep him engaged by giving him double duty as interim director of wellness – a chance for him to learn more about the business and make himself more valuable. “For the following months, we stepped into the wellness director’s job together, continued to operate the business smoothly and had it waiting for her upon her return,” says Buivid, today co-owner of Artemis Woman, a spa and beauty products company. And the VP? He didn’t complain about the extra workload. Instead, “He was so reinspired that he went on to distinguish himself as general manager of Canada, Latin America and the Eastern U.S. at Remington, and later as president of two other companies.”

Like Buivid, managers in companies of all sizes deal with wilting motivation – or worse, feelings of entitlement, arrogance or outright apathy – among employees every day. A Gallup survey of 1 million employees found that only one in four Americans is truly engaged in her work. “There is a serious problem,” says Barbara Giamanco, CEO of Talent Builders, a provider of skill development products. “No matter what research you look at, roughly 70 percent of working people are disengaged.” And this drifting workforce is expensive, costing the U.S. economy about $350 billion a year in lost productivity, according to Gallup.

Yet the simple fact is that employees, from twentysomethings to baby boomers, are eager to have their internal fire stoked. Companies can create a “retention culture,” one that engages and inspires employees as individuals, by first recognizing a problem exists, Giamanco says. “You can then create ways for employees to feel valued and have meaningful opportunities.”

Consider the following best practices, culled from management coaches and executives who’ve learned how to keep employees firing on all cylinders. 

1. Build motivation from the top down. 
A manager who wants to engage and develop talent must look to her own motivation first, experts say. That’s because employees want their managers to be role models for growth and ongoing learning. “I see so many leaders who micromanage young talent like me,” says Rebecca Moore, 24, manager for branding and advertising for AXA Equitable. “I admire my boss for doing the opposite,” she tells PINK. “I will get so much more out of this first job than my peers because my boss is willing to take on a teaching role and lead by example.”
 


Carlson Marketing, a global marketing services firm, places responsibility for employee enthusiasm squarely at the top. The company conducts an annual engagement survey throughout its ranks and holds quarterly, one-on-one meetings between managers and employees that address issues of motivation and morale. Carlson then rates its executives on a scorecard according to how well they get workers fired up, says Janet Sparkman, executive vice president. “We have been doing this engagement survey for five years, and overall our scores have increased,” she says.


2. Remember the personal touches.
 Nicole Siokis, associate partner at Bell Oaks, an executive search firm, knows firsthand that employees feel more trusting toward a manager who is open and even vulnerable around them. “They want to perform for someone who is not afraid to show their own humanness,” she says. When she was director of small business marketing for BellSouth, Siokis told her employees about her own personal and professional challenges, which helped them open up to her and made them feel more connected. As a result, they were determined to do a great job. 
 


As obvious as it may seem, remembering to say “thank you” to valuable employees is another powerful way to get personal and encourage higher performance. According to Beverly Kaye, founder and CEO of Career Systems International and co-author of Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay (Berrett-Koehler, 2005), there are lots of nontraditional ways to thank an employee that recognize her individuality and boost her enthusiasm for work. Examples include introducing her to someone in the organization with whom she shares interests, or showing concern for her health by offering a day at the spa, golf lessons or yoga classes. 

3. Learn what works by asking. 
Each individual has a different set of motivators. One may be motivated by money, another by recognition and another by challenge. One may want autonomy, while another craves input and pats on the back. According to Kaye, the easiest way managers can determine what drives a certain individual is by asking, “What can I do to keep you?” 
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Ironically, most managers do eventually ask this question – during the exit interview, when it’s too late. Asking it early in an employee’s tenure can yield valuable insight on keeping her happy and productive. “If you can’t give them what they want, tell them honestly and ask, ‘What else can I do to keep you?'” Kaye says. “Asking this question about three times will yield five to seven different things of value that you can do.”

4. Stress ownership, not followership.
 Employees want to know they’re doing more than just executing someone else’s good idea. They enjoy creating and building something they can call their own. The youngest generations, in particular, tend to have greater expectations for work, says Barri Rafferty, director of Ketchum New York. “They want a collaborative, fun environment in which they have ownership. If they birth an idea and become advocates for it, they set the tone for the workplace and become leaders.”

But ownership extends far beyond single ideas. Managers can invest in an employee’s development – for instance, by exposing her to more challenging work assignments, placing her on highly visible projects or giving her time with senior executives – so she “owns” her career in away that works best for her. 

5. Synchronize the generations.
 While Generation Y has specific preferences and demands in the workplace, the boomers on the other end of the spectrum do as well. Managers who bring the generations together often can align their strengths and passions in a way that motivates everyone.


“There are great opportunities to match boomers with Generation Y that exchange knowledge and help each group feel like they own a partnership,” Giamanco says. “Each group has a lot to share about life, learning and work.” One example is a “mentoring circle,” in which younger and older employees meet to talk through business challenges. Cross-generational dialogue also can occur in forms more natural for the younger set, such as podcasts in which boomers share their years of knowledge.



The younger employees may have more energy, the older more experience, but they all have one thing in common: the desire for a work experience that ignites the soul.


This article originally appeared in the November.December 2007 issue of PINK Magazine.