Some use e-mail to broadcast a -Thought For The Day". Others try gag gifts or cash bonuses. And some companies motivate their employees with full-blown career planning.
Regardless of your approach, IT managers must strike a delicate balance when trying to motivate staff. On one side is the effective, encouraging, humanistic kind of supervisor who wants to engage and coach. On the other end is the company man whose warmed-over affirmations diminish him to little more than a corporate cheerleader.
IT executives and managers from companies of all sizes say they rely on a variety of techniques and approaches to help motivate their people, make the workplace a little more human, and encourage the best possible resultsâ€"an especially challenging duty in the stark backdrop of the current economy.
Here are a number of proven, long-term motivational techniques that you can use to stem the tide of bad morale and resignations.
Looking toward the future
It's shortsighted to try to motivate staff and offer encouragement only in tough times like these, according to one large enterprise. -We've concentrated on building a culture of caring and recognition on an ongoing basis. So even when times are tough, there's no need to turn it on or off because of the trust that you've demonstrated and built over time," says Stephanie Hampton, a spokeswoman for Host Marriott Corp. -In good times, it's great to have those things, but in bad times it's even more important."
And IT management also needs to consider what will happen with a disgruntled workforce when the economy starts to improve. -The number one reason people leave jobs is a bad manager or a lack of opportunityâ€"it's rarely about money and almost always about quality of life," says Marc Pramuk, senior analyst for human resources and staffing services at International Data Corp.
In fact, according to Pramuk, one of the biggest personnel issues that companies are concerned with is the impact of an economic recovery on turnover. As in other large industry sectors such as financial services and healthcare, IT professionals have skills that transfer easily to other employers. That makes it all the more important to move now to improve retention and keep employees motivated.
Bring out your best
Karen Martus, IT operations manager for Eastern Mountain Sports, says that rewards with a light touch have proven effective for her. After a recent challenging project was completed, Martus gave an employee a t-shirt depicting a beaver sitting on a pile of wood, inscribed with -One Dam Project After Another."
Carfax Inc, the online car buying and vehicle search Web site based in the US, has instituted a -Stars" program, which, unlike many motivational initiatives, works by employees nominating one another for actions or efforts that fed corporate objectives. Carfax CTO David Silversmith says that results such as better sales, improved response times, or greater investment returns can earn employees recognition in the program. The Carfax Stars are then posted on the company intranet and featured prominently on 50-inch plasma screens at company locations in Virginia and Missouri.
-In prior years, we did a lot of on-the-spot bonuses or impromptu lunches, but it got hard to maintain, especially as managers turned over or were traveling," Silversmith says. -The Stars program works well and is self-sustaining because it's peer recognition, which is often better than manager recognition."
-Time for us to talk"
Many IT staff want more than prizes or recognitionâ€"they want advancement, promotion, and new opportunities. But for most staff, there aren't any new IT jobs inside an enterprise, even if the manager wanted to promote them. That scenario might seem bleak, but that's actually the best time to start a conversation about career planning, with an eye toward creating a longer-term action plan. And most IT managers agree that the conversation must be ongoingâ€"it can't be a one-time event if it's really going to produce good results.
-That conversation will initially result in a certain amount of skepticism from employees because it's new," says IDC's Pramuk. -But by having that conversation, you're preparing the employee for when the opportunity does arise, [so that he or she is] plug-and-play and ready to hit the ground running."
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