View cart     Print

March 2009

The 5 minute motivator

Have you ever worked at a place where you were thanked too much for your contributions? Have you ever had a Boss that regularly gave you too many specific examples of how you have added value to the company? Truth is most employers think they are handing out enough praise and recognition to their employees and actually fear giving out more since “it might loose meaning” or “become expected”. Most employees on the other hand, feel under valued, under appreciated and feel they are recognized more often when they do something wrong rather than when they do something right! Sound familiar? This group of employees typically makes up what we call the “disgruntled majority” within most Corporations today.

So why don’t we recognize our employees more often? A typical answer to this question that we hear is: “I don’t have time to recognize”. With the economy in a tail spin, we are all busy working harder than ever trying to stay afloat – however when the going gets tough, that’s when we should recognize and celebrate our top performers even more! Remember these high achievers are also typically the very same people that have the highest need to be recognized and thanked for their efforts…and when not provided with this recognition their results suffer or worse, they start looking for an alternative job opportunity.

To be effective, recognition should be frequent, specific and timely. If these are not in place it diminishes the employee’s perception of the recognition. Recognition doesn’t have to be elaborate, time consuming or costly – In fact, a five minute acknowledgement by a superior has been shown to better motivate individuals than money, promotions, gifts, bonuses, etc. So… how can you recognize an employee with the maximum effect in 5 minutes or less? Call them at home. Preferably in the evening during the week after they are finished with dinner and sitting at home with their spouse and kids. The call may sound something like this: “Suzan, this is Bob — do you have a second? First off, no emergency here - so no worries.” At this point they will be nervous - they are thinking something blew up or they are about to be fired. You need to calm them down immediately and get them in a ‘level’ mode of thinking. “I was just going through some of my notes and I just wanted you to know how important you are to my team. Not just an acting member - you are my right-hand person. I could not accomplish half of what our team delivers without you. I just wanted to let you know that your performance makes our entire team (and me) look good. And I wanted you to know that.” Then shut up and let them absorb the acknowledgement and respond. This is important. Let them react - they might be gracious and push it off - and you will need to reiterate and place it right back in their lap. Once you are done (this call should last no longer than 5 minutes) - thank them again and hang up. What happens on their end? Immediately, their spouse asks who called - and then they get to relate what just happened to their spouse - further growing the good will you have just delivered. And it gets further cemented in their psyche as the night goes on. When they get in the next morning, they are ready to rock!