WHAT MATTERS MOST TO YOUR PEOPLE? HINT: IT AIN’T MONEY

I have been a people geek since I was 15. I joined a youth organisation and was fortunate enough to rapidly get promoted to be their leader and suddenly found myself with responsibility for 100 other teenagers. I needed to help onboard, develop, coach, assess, engage, retain and manage the members; along with setting the annual plan, project manage camps, train for competitions – and make sure no one was injured. In some ways, I was operating as a part-time CEO or GM for a small organisation – a great privilege and an amazing learning curve.

Wanting to help the team be successful, I started reading books on leadership, organisational design, performance and motivation by authors such as Herzberg, McGregor and Maslow. They were much more fascinating and significantly more useful in preparing me for the world of work than the schoolbooks I was supposed to be studying…

So what did I learn then? and what have I learned since?

An example is Herzberg’s two factor theory in the mid-1960’s builds on Maslow’s hierarchy theory for motivation. He suggested that one set of factors lead to job satisfaction (motivating factors); and another set exists which whilst they do not in themselves improve job satisfaction, their absence leads to dissatisfaction (hygiene factors). Motivating factors are those relating to a sense of responsibility, achievement, recognition, job content, autonomy and ultimately a sense of fulfillment. Hygiene factors are the basic level needs ie. safe and decent working environment, salary and benefits that meet a minimum standard, the organisational bureaucracy, whether systems and processes work effectively etc.

Because these factors operate independently, it is possible to have a fulfilling job and a great boss who trusts you and offers regular feedback; but if the IT system rarely works or it takes 12 conversations, 3 forms and 6 months to get a simple decision made, dissatisfaction will creep in. Thus, by pulling on different levers, organisations can impact motivation and engagement, ideally having both High Hygiene and High Motivation factors so employees are engaged, productive and have few complaints.

Having spent my career since then focusing on all things people, leadership, engagement and culture; and working with everyone from truck drivers, graduates and PA’s to analysts and executives earning $2m+ per year, I have found that people tend to be motivated by fairly similar things (regardless of their generational grouping and other demographics, by the way).

In simple terms, assuming the basic hygiene factors are in place and applied fairly:

• Do I know how my performance is measured and how successfully I am meeting expectations ie. am I competent? Am I getting regular feedback and coaching?;
• Do I know where I am going and how can I get there ie. what are my career development objectives and is there support to achieve them?;
• Do I enjoy what I am doing and feel respected and trusted for my contribution to organisational success ie. does my work and I matter?;
• Do I like, trust and respect the people I spend time with (my boss, team, peers, leaders, customers); and
• Does my organisation have a purpose I believe in and am proud of ie. do I care about what we are trying to achieve?

In modern times there is much discussion regarding the ‘war for talent’, high wages, evolving employee and societal expectations, the changing nature of work, erosion of the employment relationship and traditional power structures along with increasing complexity, technology and information overload.

CEOs we speak with regularly cite people and culture as their greatest organisational challenge: in terms of retaining, developing, engaging and attracting talented individuals and teams. Equally, highly skilled (and paid) employees place more emphasis on motivating factors such as culture, leadership, development and growth opportunities; rather than day-to- day concerns like pay and work-life balance.

Given the rise of automation, offshoring and chatbots to complete mundane, routine work; employee motivation, capability and engagement is more critical than ever as the workforce needs to apply greater intelligence and interpersonal skills to their work to achieve outcomes. Smaller workforces also mean flatter structures so employees need to have greater capability to exercise judgement and initiative with autonomy.

Equally, employees need to accept a new career path which develops breadth of knowledge, relationships and experience rather than a traditional status-based,ladder-style career and accompanying salary rises – and organisation’s leaders and systems needs to recognise and reward these new careers accordingly.

Coupled with broader societal changes means the majority of employees now have greater expectations and a desire to contribute beyond a paycheck. Organisations are expected to have a sense of community with purpose-driven, values-based leadership that operate with integrity. This is increasingly important given there often seems to be a new example of organisations not meeting these ideals – and people tend to respond by voting with their feet as employees and boycotting / deleting their apps as customers.

It turns out that the essence of those 1960’s theories still hold true today, even if we call it something that seems a bit more sophisticated and shiny.

Given this context, smart leaders and HR professionals today are spending time focusing on and redesigning the employee experience as a means to win the ‘war for talent’ by addressing these issues to make work an enjoyable and rewarding experience. They acknowledge that people now have other income sourcing options and society has a wider acceptance of what a ‘successful career’ in an uncertain economy looks like as to no longer need to be on a traditional ladder- style path with a blue chip organisation. They can be Uber drivers, rent their home on Airbnb, do freelance specialist work from Bali, run a side hustle or two and work either part or full-time.

Given money and a traditional career path is no longer the motivating factor and the power balance is changing, my closing question for you is:

What is your organisation doing to shape the employee experience to win the ‘war for talent’ and achieve great performance?

We would love to hear about your own thoughts and experiences! Please CLICK HERE

 

Kelly is a senior HR professional with significant local and international experience across the natural resources, technology, telecommunications, financial and professional services sectors. Motivated by finding, developing, mentoring and advocating for inspiring and impactful HR leaders who are innovative, engaging and future-oriented business professionals.

Her guiding philosophy around search and selection is to build long-term business partnering relationships with clients and gain a deep understanding of their culture and drivers for success to ensure the best possible talent is sourced. Equally, she enjoys developing a small, but high quality community of awesome HR leaders who genuinely add value to the business and she is proud to represent.  

Kelly holds a Masters of Strategic Human Resources (Distinction) from Monash University, along with multiple academic awards.