Question 2

Create and explain three different techniques for motivating

subordinates.

You can motivate your team members externally or internally. External motivation
relates to the working environment. However, internal motivation relates the interests,
aptitudes and dreams of your team members. Here you shall find seven critical
motivational techniques to get the best out of your subordinates.

Counseling :

Counseling has a powerful, long-term impact on people and the effectiveness of the
organization. Counseling is talking with a person in a way that helps him or her solve a
problem. It involves thinking, implementing, knowing human nature, timing, sincerity,
compassion, and kindness. It involves much more that simply telling someone what to do
about a problem.

Leaders must demonstrate the following qualities in order to counsel effectively.

• Respect for employees - This includes the belief that individuals are responsible
for their own actions and ideas. It includes an awareness of a person's
individuality by recognizing their unique values, attributes, and skills. As you
attempt to develop people with counseling, you must refrain from projecting your
own values onto them.
• Self-Awareness - This quality is an understanding of yourself as a leader. The
more you are aware of your own values, needs, and biases, the less likely you will
be to project your feelings onto your employees.
• Credibility - Believability is achieved through both honesty and consistency
between both the leader's statements and actions. Credible leaders are
straightforward with their subordinates and behave in such a manner that earns the
subordinates' respect and trust.
• Empathy - or compassion entails understanding a subordinate's situation.
Empathetic leaders will be better able to help subordinates identify the situation
and then develop a plan to improve it.

The reason for counseling is to help employees develop in order to achieve organizational
goals. Sometimes, the counseling is directed by policy, and at other times, leaders should
choose to counsel to develop employees. Regardless of the nature of the counseling,
leaders should demonstrate the qualities of an effective counselor (respect, self-
awareness, credibility, and empathy) and employ the skills of good communication.

While the reason for counseling is to develop subordinates, leaders often categorize
counseling based on the topic of the session. Major categories include performance
counseling, problem counseling, and individual growth counseling (development). While
these categories help leaders to organize and focus counseling sessions, they must not be
viewed as separate and distinct types of counseling. For example a counseling session
which mainly focuses on resolving a problem may also have a great impact on improving
job performance. Another example is a counseling session that focuses on performance
may also include a discussion of opportunities for growth. Regardless of the topic of the
counseling session, you should follow the same basic format to prepare for and conduct
counseling.

Steps for counseling

1. Identify the problem. Ensure you get to the heart of the problem. Sakichi Toyoda,
the founder of Toyota, invented a technique called the Five Whys. When
confronted with a problem you ask "why" five times. By the time the fifth why is
answered, you should be at the root cause of the problem. For example:

Tom's work has not up to standards

o Why? - After discussing it with Tom it turns out he has too much of a
workload
o Why? - Tom is considered one of the experts, hence he often gets extra
work dumped on him
o Why? - Susan, the other expert, was promoted and no one else is capable
of replacing her
o Why? - We failed to train and develop the other team members
o Why? - We did not see the necessity of cross-training
2. Analyze the forces influencing the behavior. Determine which of these forces you
have control over and which of the forces the worker has control over. Determine
if the force has to be modified, eliminated, or enforced.
3. Plan, coordinate, and organize the session. Determine the best time to conduct the
session so that you will not be interrupted or forced to end too early.
4. Conduct the session using sincerity, compassion, and kindness. This does not
mean you cannot be firm or in control. Your reputation is on the line; the problem
must be solved so that your department can continue with its mission. Likewise,
you must hear the person out.
5. During the session, determine what the worker believes causes the
counterproductive behavior and what will be required to change it. Also,
determine if your initial analysis is correct.
6. Try to maintain a sense of timing of when to use directive or nondirective
counseling (see below).
7. Using all the facts, make a decision and/or a plan of action to correct the problem.
If more counseling is needed, make a firm time and date for the next session.
8. After the session and throughout a sufficient time period, evaluate the worker's
progress to ensure the problem has indeed been solved.
There are two types of counseling - directive and nondirective. In directive counseling,
the counselor identifies the problem and tells the counselee what to do about it.
Nondirective counseling means the counselee identifies the problem and determines the
solution with the help of the counselor. The counselor has to determine which of the two,
or some appropriate combination, to give for each situation. For example, "Put that
cigarette out now as this is a nonsmoking area," is a form of directive counseling. While a
form of nondirective counseling would be, "So the reason you are not effective is that
you were up late last night. What are you going to do to ensure that this does not affect
your performance again?"

Hints for counseling sessions:

• Let the person know that the behavior is undesirable, not the person.
• Let the person know that you care about him or her as a person, but that you
expect more from them.
• Do not punish employees who are unable to perform a task. Punish those who are
able to perform the task but are unwilling or unmotivated to succeed.
• Counseling sessions should be conducted in private immediately after the
undesirable behavior. Do not humiliate a person in front of others.
• Ensure that the employee understands exactly what behavior led to the counseling
or punishment.
• Do not hold a grudge. When it is over, it is over! Move on!

Performance Appraisals:

Performance Appraisals (often called reviews, evaluations, or assessments) are the

measurement of a specific range of skills, knowledge, and attitudes in relation to certain
objective standards. The ratings are based upon observations or empirical data in
relationship to a set of predefined standards. Although we sometimes make decisions
based upon our own personal feelings or gut-level instincts, appraisals must be based
upon how well a person has performed to a set standard.

The objective of performance appraisals is to help employees improve their performance

and grow as individuals so that the organization can meet its present and future goals in a
timely and cost effective manner. Is this how most organizations use them? No. They are
used for protection against lawsuits, to justify different levels of pay increases, or to
provide once-a-year feedback. In other words, a lot of managers and supervisors view
them as an additional burden required by Human Resources. When in fact, they should be
viewed as a performance tool. Just as a leader uses speaking skills to encourage the
troops and analytical skills to forecast budgets; performance appraisals should be used to
encourage great performance and create goals to improve weak competencies.

For many, the performance appraisal is tied in to their pay as a reward system.
Performance appraisals are normally given at annual or semi-annual time periods. They
need to provide specific feedback to the individual as to what competencies need
improvement:

• Skills - What areas do I need to train in?

• Knowledge - What areas do I need to learn more about?
• Attitude - Are my inner drives coinciding with the organization's goals?
• Rewards - What am I doing right so I can do more of it? (we all like pats on the
back)

Performance Appraisals do not take the place of daily feedback mechanisms. If an

individual is shocked or surprised by the evaluation that he or she has received, then you
as a leader have not performed your job. An evaluation is the overall scorecard that sums
up a person's performance over the rating period, while daily one-on-ones, meetings, and
other feedback devices are the tools that leaders use to motivate their employees on to
higher performance.

The performance appraisal or evaluation is one of the most powerful motivational tools
available to a leader. It has three main objectives:

• To measure performance fairly and objectively against job requirements. This

allows effective workers to be rewarded for their efforts and ineffective workers
to be put on the line for poor performance.
• To increase performance by identifying specific development goals. "If you don't
know where you are going, any road will take you there" - Lewis Carrol. The
appraisal allows the worker to target specific areas for job growth. In addition, it
should be a time to plan for better performance on the job.
• To develop career goals so that the worker may keep pace with the requirements
of a fast paced organization. More and more, every job in an organization
becomes more demanding with new requirements. Just because a worker is
performing effectively in her job today, does not mean she will be able to perform
effectively tomorrow. She must be allowed to grow with the job and the
organization.

A lot of people consider giving performance appraisals as being quite uncomfortable.

However, it is not the judging of people that is really uncomfortable, rather it is the
judging of bad performance that is uncomfortable. Thus, eliminate poor performance in
the first place, and performance appraisals become a lot more pleasant to give. Now of
course you are not going to eliminate poor performance completely; however, with a little
bit of planning it can be greatly reduced.

Performance has often been described as "purposeful work" -- that is, a job exists to
achieve specific and defined results. And what bad performers really do is perform "work
activities" (busy work), rather than activities that contribute to effective performance.
The first step in performance planning is to determine the results that you want the
performer to achieve. After all, workers generally want to know what they need to do,
how well you need them to do it, and how well they are actually doing it (feedback).

In addition, a worker should not walk blindly into a performance appraisal. Past
counseling sessions, feedback, and one-on-ones should give her a pretty clear
understanding of what to expect from the appraisal. If you blind-side her, you have not
done your job as a leader. Helping your team grow is not a once or twice yearly task, but
a full-time duty.

The appraisal should be a joint effort. No one knows the job better than the person
performing it. By turning the appraisal into a real discussion, rather than a lecture, the
leader may learn some insightful information that could help boost his or her
performance in the future. Before the meeting, have the worker complete her own self-
appraisal. Although you might think they will take advantage of this by giving
themselves unearned high marks, studies have shown that most workers rate themselves
more critically than the leader would have.

2- Setting of Goals

Setting of well-defined goals helps your team members to do their best. Set meaningful
and justified deadlines to get the project finished within time. You need to work at two
levels. First, set your objective. Second, divide that objective into goals and sub-goals.

If you want your employees to improve their productivity and morale, just ask
them to do it. That's easy enough. But a surprising number of managers have
trouble explaining what they want done and why. Here are a few tips from
Corperformance Inc., a San Marino, Calif.-based consulting firm specializing in
performance management, to help managers set employee goals and have them
reached.

Assign clear, specific, realistic and useful goals. Goals like "just do your best"
can't replace specific goals. The more specific your stated goals, the more
credibility you gain.

Be a positive performance role model. The single most effective way to get
employees to enthusiastically embrace your goal-setting program is for you, the
manager, to set and achieve challenging goals for yourself. Be supportive and
express confidence in your workers' ability to achieve goals. A manager's
positive expectations often set the stage for higher performance and create a
positive association among you, the performer, and his or her success.

After setting goals, employees should develop their own ways to achieve them.
Letting employees take personal responsibility for developing strategies to reach
goals makes the manager look secure. Provide specific feedback. To improve
employees' performance and develop a positive impression of yourself in their
eyes, give timely feedback about reaching the goal. You will be seen by them as
involved, informed and helpful when you offer specific knowledge of results to
your people.

Offer fair rewards for achievement. Providing appropriate levels of recognition for
your people will help you be viewed as fair. Management fairness is always
important for employee morale and satisfaction, while strengthening the goal-
setting process.

Adjust goals as new information is available. Flexibility is crucial to an effective

manager. However, changing goals too frequently can make managers appear
unfocused.

Follow up regularly on performance targets. Regularly track progress toward goal

achievement and discuss this process with your employees. A manager then will
be perceived as being on top of the situation. You run the risk of losing credibility
with your employees if you fail to follow up.

High goals demotivate; low goals motivate because they increase the likelihood of
success. Everybody wants to be successful. Nobody wants to be a failure. When people
think that they are not going to achieve success, they usually stop trying; at least they
can't fail if they don't try.

Goal setting has proved to be one of the most simple and effective motivational devices
developed for sport within the past three decades. While the concept is not new, today the
techniques for effective goal setting have been refined and clarified. Motivation is all
about having needs and striving to have those needs met. How can you enhance an
athlete's motivation?

1. Provide more time and attention to an athlete when he/she is having difficulty
learning a skill
2. Reward small gains of achievement in skill level
3. Develop other measures of achievement outside of winning
4. Show your athletes that they are important to you
5. Show your athletes that you are proud of them and excited about what they are
doing
6. Fill your athletes with self-worth

Goals give direction. They tell us what needs to be accomplished. They increase effort,
persistence and the quality of performance. Establishing goals also requires that the
athlete and coach determine techniques for how to achieve those goals.

Measurable and Specific

Effective goals are very specific and measurable. Goals stated in the form of "I want to be
the best that I can be!" or "I want to improve my performance!" are vague and difficult to
measure. It is positive sounding but difficult, if not impossible, to assess whether they
have been reached. Measurable goals must establish a baseline of performance recorded
during the past one or two weeks for them to be realistic.

Difficult, but Realistic

Effective goals are perceived as challenging, not threatening. A challenging goal is one
perceived as difficult but attainable within a reasonable amount of time and with a
reasonable amount of effort or ability. A threatening goal is one perceived as being
beyond one's current capacity. Realistic implies that judgment is involved. Goals based
upon a baseline of performance recorded during the past one or two weeks are likely to
be realistic.

Long- versus Short-Term Goals

Both long and short-term goals provide direction, but short-term goals appear to have the
greatest motivational effects. Short-term goals are more readily attainable and are
stepping stones to more distant long-term goals. Unrealistic short-term goals are easier to
recognize than unrealistic long-term goals. Unrealistic goals can then be modified before
valuable practice time has been lost.

Positive versus Negative Goal Setting

Positive goals direct what to do rather than what not to do. Negative goals direct our
attention to the errors we wish to avoid or eliminate. Positive goals also require coaches
and athletes to decide how they will reach those specific goals. Once the goal is decided,
the athlete and coach must determine specific strategies and techniques which allow that
goal to be successfully attained.

Set Priorities
Effective goals are limited in number and meaningful to the athlete. Setting a limited
number of goals requires that athletes and coaches decide what is important and
fundamental for continued development. Establishing a few, carefully selected goals also
allow athletes and coaches to keep accurate records without becoming overwhelmed with
record keeping.

Mutual Goal Setting

Goal setting becomes an effective motivational device when athletes are committed to
achieving those goals. When goals are imposed or established without significant input
from the athletes, motivation is unlikely to be enhanced.

Set Specific Time Lines

Target dates provide urgency to an athlete's efforts. Specific target dates tend to eliminate
wishful thinking and clarify what goals are realistic and which are not. Timelines are
especially valuable in high-risk sports where fear often promotes procrastination in
learning new skills.

Formal versus Informal Goal Setting

Some coaches and athletes think that goals must be set in formal meetings outside of
practice and require long periods of thoughtful evaluation before they are decided upon.
Goals are literally progressions which coaches have been using for years but are now
expressed in measurable, performance terms rather than as vague, generalized outcomes.

Team versus Individual Goals

While team goals appear to have great importance for team sports, the reality is that most
team goals can be broken down into individual roles or responsibilities. Each player must
achieve these individual roles or responsibilities for the team to function effectively.

Goal Setting Domains

When asked to set goals, athletes typically focus on the learning of new skills or
performances in competitions. A major role of the coach is to broaden the athlete's
perception of those areas, and goal setting can be an effective tool. Goals can be set to
enhance fitness, improve attendance, increase intensity, promote sportsmanship, develop
team spirit, find more free time, or establish consistency.