Motivate employees for motivators :)

We changed the entire area of our terrace in the company premises and converted it into a fully functional gymnasium, managing rights given to a branded company with personal trainers available for 18 hours (BPO). In the first month our HR Manager tried hard to get the registrations for the gymnasium, motivating employees to work out during their break time through posters, danglers & all sorts of promotional activities. However, there were just 7 registrations which included the MD and the VP.

The company decided to give it another shot and kept it functional for the next one month but there was no change, hence they decided to close the gymnasium.

What makes or breaks an initiative in an organization are people’s interests and preferences. Sometimes the HR department thinks that they are launching the best practices in their companies; however they get a major setback when the so called benchmarked best practice fails. And then they ask- “If it worked for the other company, then why not for us?”

The answer lies in the diversity of people and their choices, tastes and motivating  factors. Some will be happy with a sport/games facility in the workplace, but others who may be avid readers might want a library instead, health freaks would opt for a gymnasium.

A forum member also posted a similar story about how the HR department launches new activities and how the employees do not participate in it. Then the entire blame for its failure falls on the HR people and rightly so!

Here are some facts which will help you in introspect on the HR initiatives as you try to put yourself in their shoes and think from their perspectives before launching any new motivational/ recreational/employee engagement activity.

Employee participation: Employee turnover was becoming higher every month, and all other activities were not giving the expected results, so we implemented a system of suggestion boxes at all the floors and asked for agents/CCE opinion on what would they would want the company to do to retain them. We got almost 500 plus suggestions and out of that more than 300 employees asked for similar things- More monetary rewards or gifts. One can also demonstrate in a credible way that the program saves, the organization, money and gets all the senior management support that you need.

We started some new initiatives such as ‘Star performer’ of the week or month, punctuality award, attendance award, and many performance oriented awards and they were given ipods, LCD TV. Employees who won two consecutive awards were given pen drives, Nokia/Samsung/Sony handsets, cameras and anything else they asked for. The attrition in 2 months time came down from 17% to 6 %.

Study their behaviour: Every individual is unique, has a variety of behaviours, value system and that is why their motivational requirement also differs from each other. HR department needs to go down to their level sometimes- feel, think like employees and then start working on new initiatives. Studying the people and their interests and behavioural patterns is very important to get the profitability and performance in the long run.

Communication: To ensure employee participation, the message should be communicated to them properly. Employees are keen to know what is in store for them, so they need to be informed and showed what are the benefits of the program/activity that the company is introducing. Clear communication with well-articulated words can do wonders. Don’t let your employees feel that it is just a passing fad like many others, keep it running, teething troubles will be there but long term benefits will also keep flying. Try it. :)

Incentives: The primary approach to high work and home demands with limited discretionary time for fitness is to move to the “incentive solution”, give incentive to the people to participate on their own terms and in their own time.  Yes, some people would like to join an activity in the evening after office hours. If they want to play a game of Snooker after 7 pm to de-stress then why not, let them enjoy.

Focus Groups: Create some focus groups and re-frame the issue of participation, ask them for their opinions on relationships, connectivity, self-care, sleep, recreation, stress control, stress management, positive attitude, understanding others, communication skills, breaking monotony of work, engagement of employees and then let them decide what they feel is the best for their own teams. Composing focus groups can actually enhance the participation level for various activities which the HR alone may not be able to induce.

So, get going and increase the level of participation with small changes here and there and then measure the results, I’m sure if implemented properly these recommendations can go great guns, says an experienced HR professional.

Ciao till we meet again….. :)

more at http://www.citeman.com/14942-motivate-employees-for-motivators.html#ixzz2c83hQdd2

Attitude, Behavior and Betari Box

I was going through a query raised by a member in Citehr, and the title of the query is Attitude….

A technical person (2 years experience) who is good technically but his attitude is very bad E.g. He gives bill for petrol allowance from his home to office if he works on Sundays; we have given lots of privileges (such as no LOP.) If it is questioned he tries to put in some other bill. Even though if there is bus facility he uses only auto & claims heavily, if I question all this, he is showing in his performance.

Above all, this is poisoning other employees who are following his foot path (this need not be taught)

Since it is a growing company we as employees should help them in achieving their goal. I am not asking them to work freely, but I feel they should not cheat the company. I feel it is not fair.

The ideas are coming and going, about what to reply ….what a coincidence? Suddenly a Text message comes, which says

“Attitude is like a wrist watch…every watch may show different time than others but everyone thinks that their watch is showing the right time”

So when you and I must be thinking that our attitudes are the right ones, in fact the attitude of the third person is the correct one, unfortunately there is no right or wrong attitude, its just negative or/ and positive.

Lets try to study this problem through Betari Box and how our attitudes relates to behavior which then causes problems in the entire work environment and gives birth to conflict.

What is Betari Box?

Betari’s Box works on the understanding that we all have the ability to choose an attitude. For example, you begin your day on a very positive note; and then gradually you get into a squabble with your maid before departing for office, insentience you probably start showing the signs of negative attitude when you enter the workplace, and just behave in a manner which is downbeat,  in other words you unconsciously select an attitude.

The Betari’s Box model portrays that actually we have the knack to opt this attitude consciously.  If we truly bestow upon this notion we can begin to pick what kind of mind-set we want to demonstrate. So by implementing the appropriate attitude, you are taking full responsibility for your destiny, which in turn affects your behavior.

The model of Betari’s Box works like this:

What happened in the case mentioned above?

The technical person has been showing his negative attitude by producing fake bills and taking advantage of the situation, now this has affected his behavior, which unconsciously or consciously started affecting the attitudes of other colleagues in an organization and so their behavior is also tainted and affected.

Once this behavior progresses unknowingly it will lead to conflict which can be easily dealt with at this stage itself, the only solution to stop this circular ongoing process is to recognize that it is happening, your tone, words, body language, and gestures show how your attitude affects your behavior.

Similarly, when I send out certain signals, my behavior will affect your attitude too; for instance, the boss reaches the office in a bright mood and cheerfully greets the assistant while asking for a cup of coffee and the assistant will demonstrate the gratitude with the same exuberance, unconsciously getting affected.

To change the behavior of others, first watch the technical person’s attitude and how it affects his behavior. Then discern how his behavior affects other people. You can rupture the unconscious loop by noticing how the behavior of others makes him feel and refusing to let it affect his attitude without first censoring this process.

Remedies:

# Decide your own path by not reacting to the behavior of others in a similar manner, you have the choice to select how you want to respond, if your colleague is behaving in a certain negative manner, choose not to act in the similar fashion, just smile and get away.

# Our attitude surely makes an impact on others, so decide what kind of impact you would like to create.

# Breaking the circular cycle is completely in the hands of the owner of the attitude, whether a fight at home, less hike in the salary, whatever upsets you or brings negative thoughts, break the spell by thinking of something positive.

# So, in the case mentioned above, let’s talk to the person involved who is showing such an attitude of being indispensable and try to find out the reasons, and lets see if he is also stuck in the cycle of Betari Box…and help him out. Being empathetic plays a major role in identifying the magic charm of Betari Box.

more at http://www.citeman.com/16392-attitude-behavior-and-betari-box.html#ixzz2VnoMg35R