by Sam at Management 3.0
Employee engagement is key for organizations to thrive. Without people who are engaged and motivated, the organizations will suffer from high turnover and a lack of people invested in the outcome of the company. But there are several ways to tackle motivation, some better than others. At Management 3.0 we dedicate a lot of time in our workshops to discussing what it takes to empower and engage people.
In this blog, as we often like to do, we’ve taken a page from some insightful TED talks about what others think the secret is to keeping employees engaged.
#1: The Happy Secret to Better Work with Shawn Achor: This is a great talk where Shawn Achor, CEO of Good Think and teacher of positive psychology, explains that we might need to rethink our beliefs about what it takes to work hard and be productive. We believe we should work hard in order to be happy, says Shawn, but could we be thinking about things backwards? In this fast-moving and very funny talk, Shawn argues that, its actually happiness inspires us to be more productive.
#2: What Makes us Feel Good about Our Work? What motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn’t just money. But it’s not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress and feeling a sense of purpose. Behavioral economist, Dan Ariely, presents two eye-opening experiments that reveal our unexpected and nuanced attitudes toward meaning in our work.
#3: Why We Need to Treat our Employees as Thoughtfully as Our Customers? This is a smart talk by Diana Dosik, a partner based in the New York office of BCG where she works primarily on healthcare and organizational projects. Diana says that today’s companies know everything there is to know about their customers and will stop at nothing to ensure that their experience is pleasant and meaningful. But what if they directed some of that same energy at understanding and engaging their employees? What are the potential payoffs for a better motivated, more loyal and imaginatively innovating workforce? Diana explains how she turns the tables of customer research and experience onto employees to create smarter and better companies.
#4: The Puzzle of Motivation: Career analyst, Dan Pink, examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Al Gore’s former speech writer, Dan Pink has launched a right-brain revolution in the marketplace, this is a great talk about looking at things differently.
At Managemet 3.0 we also question the typical reward system and operate on a bonus based system. Read more about how we give bonuses!
#5: Stop Trying to Motivate Your Employees: It’s a misconception that you can motivate your employees. They’re already motivated. The key is to unleash their motivation, says Kerry Goyette, founder of Aperio Consulting Group. Goyette takes a deeper dive into motivation, how to leverage it, and the counterproductive motivations that may be holding us back from success. This is an inspiring talk that takes a different approach to engaging employees.
