The ideal workplace is usually defined as providing decent pay and fair physical working conditions. All of these are important, but in the long run, employee satisfaction and loyalty are mainly determined by the workplace atmosphere and company culture. Part of this is that our employees are happy to come to work, have good relationships with each other and do work that makes them feel useful and valued.
As a leader, regular feedback and positive reinforcement, we can do a lot to increase employee engagement. In many cases, someone will leave a well-paying job for a company with a more modest income because they feel they have not been valued enough and have not had the motivation at work.
Recognition as a retention force
According to Zsuzsanna Lege, the professional manager of the Lege Artist Adult Education Institute, there is no such thing as an unmotivated employee, the key is personalised forms of motivation lies in finding.
Success-oriented people are motivated by continuous progress and feedback, while another group of workers are driven by teamwork and a common cause, power-seekers by the opportunity to control, and perfectionists by the excitement of a job well done.
To motivate effectively, managers need to tailor feedback to individual needs.
A lack of recognition can kill the enthusiasm of even the most hard-working, enthusiastic person. (Profession.hu) In addition, it is also important to assign subordinates to tasks in which they can show their strengths. So if consistently positive feedbackthey grow in confidence and self-esteem, and over time we can give them more and more to do.
Also the development of individual responsibility has a performance-enhancing effect, because this is how we reassure our workers that they are not just a part of the dust, but key people who are needed.
Employee motivation - only personalised
We need to know our employees in order to know how to express our appreciation in the most meaningful way. Some people appreciate being thanked for their outstanding performance in front of others, while others are embarrassed by public praise and can find it stressful.
According to psychologist Mária Lehoczky, effective feedback has a positive effect, i.e. it supports personal development, it is immediate and concrete. It never qualifies the whole personality, but is related to the behaviour in a given situation.
The more we assess the performance of our colleagues, and let them know "what we like about what they do, the more they will repeat that particular thing, so that it will take the place of what we consider undesirable, even if we do not specifically engage in it." (Forbes.com)
Recognise your employee's love language!
In their book "The 5 Languages of Workplace Recognition", New York Times bestselling authors Gary Chapman and Paul White five motivational toolsare put in our hands: words of appreciation, quality time, gifts, favours, physical touch.
The "love language" was conceived by Chapman primarily to improve communication between couples, but it is also a system for other types of human relationships, such as is an excellent tool for improving communication in the workplace. If we know our employees well, we can express our appreciation in the language of love to which they are most receptive, and which they need most.
For those whose primary love is quality time, it's nice to have a little quality time with their boss, for example during an appreciative chat or lunch. Others feel appreciated by favours or gifts. For them, a helping hand in a difficult situation or a small thoughtful gesture is of particular importance.
Research shows that the most important workplace love language is recognition, which increases the effectiveness of the whole organisation by promoting personal and professional development.
What next?
Having discussed the importance of recognition, it is also important to bear in mind that it matters how and how often we use the power of positive feedback. Excessive praise loses its power and becomes comical after a while. Likewise, general feedback unrelated to specific performance is damaging because it can be perceived by the employee as empty flattery.
If the whole group has worked together to achieve success, it is worth rewarding the whole team, not just one or two people, as this creates a sense of exclusion and discrimination in others.
As a leader, we can take advantage of recognition even when the expected success has not yet been achieved, but employees are visibly struggling. A few words of encouragement and constructive encouragement can be enough to push them through the setbacks.
