Work and Fun

A poor company culture can not be solved by the HR department planning and executing a bowling day or an Office Olympics picnic. Creating fun is relative to the associate’s perception of the company, and more importantly, to their job. I’m not stating these actives are not fun, but they can have little influence on associate motivation. The concept is great, as it shows the company, on a global scale, they appreciate and reward those who contribute to their success.

This blog post is about drilling down to the individual associate. I see too many times where upper and middle management are oblivious to their direct reports feelings. Yes, I used the word “feelings”. Associates are human beings and possess emotions. The greatest of these at work is appreciation and appreciation is displayed by recognition and recognition leads to motivation and motivation leads to productivity. You get the picture.

My question to today’s managers, many of whom are young and/or first time managers, is “Are you in touch with your reports feelings about their job?” This leads to further review:

• How do you communicate? If you believe knowledge is power, do you share information or believe you need to use it to protect your own position?
• Do you disseminate timely performance factors, positive or negative?
• How often do you meet with your reports, individually and collectively?
• Do you know their significant other’s name?
• Do you know their birthday, without HR reminding you? Studies show that a person’s birthday is one of their most valued days.
• Are you consistently learning to be a better manager?
• If you manage managers, are you equipping them to improve their people skills?

HR should augment a positive company culture. Managers must be tuned to individual associate motivation, which varies person-to-person. If your feel your job is not fun, then no corporate event will change it.

There are managers out there that should not be managers. Just because you are skilled at your given vocation, doesn’t mean you can manage people with or without these same skill sets. Do management schools still teach the Peter Principle? I have seen managers with only one report. Where this exists in my company structure influence, I eliminate this arrangement. Supervising one person is a poor situation. This creates a conundrum for the manager-associate relationship to either be friends or enemies. A worse case is when it’s a “working” manager scenario. You both have the same function, but one is privileged and only associate animosity can result. Unfortunately, this is more common than you may realize.

One last thought. Corporate sponsored events should take place during the workday. People have their work life and their personal life. Making an evening or weekend event, will impose “force company socialization.” It devalues the company’s goal to show appreciation. People may, and do have, work friends, but let them decide when to socialize outside the workplace. This is not the company’s role.

What are your motivation techniques?