by Cathy Jameson
Just as you are the CEO of your practice, I am the CEO of a company. So, like you, part of my leadership involves acknowledging and motivating my team. Sometimes I acknowledge my team in front of an audience as I lecture. Sometimes I offer a financial bonus for exceptional work over and above the normal call of duty. In other cases, I allow time off. I often make personal telephone calls and write personal notes to team members, sincerely recognizing their value and my gratitude. When the entire firm gathers together, accolades are often given to team members in front of their peers.
Which “reward” was most effective? If your answer was “all of them would be effective” or “it depends on the person and the situation,” you would be right on both accounts.
Each member of your team is motivated in his or her own unique way. Some things are motivational to one person, but may not be motivational to another. Depending on life circumstances, different motivators are more powerful at certain times of a person’s life than at others. The critical element for the leader of a team is to know what motivates the members of the team and to be appropriately responsive. How do you find out what motivates the members of your team? Ask, watch, and listen!
Is there a difference between motivation and reward?
Motivation is intrinsic; it comes from within. Neither you nor I can motivate our team members to perform more excellently. The desire to do so must come from within their own being. The environment of your organization will set the tone for intrinsic motivation. Are you leading by being a role model of the values you hold in esteem? Are your systems conducive to excellence or are they consistently breeding chaos, miscommunication and extra work? Are they supportive of individual team members? Are people struggling within the systems or even resisting the systems so much that their own creativity and productivity are hindered? The environment must be conducive to excellence so that people can flourish.
A study done by Lawrence Lindahl found that employees and employers had different perceptions about motivators. Money was not the top motivator from the viewpoint of the employee. However, employers thought this was the strongest of all motivators. Sure, money is imperative. Without money, a person will probably never move off the lowest level of need fulfillment — Maslow’s “safety needs” category. People will do their jobs for what they are paid, but when it comes to going over and above the call of duty, other factors will become more significant.
Are you thinking, “Cathy, you and your coaches say that money isn’t the top motivator, but all I seem to hear from my team is that they want more money. What’s the deal?”
If your team members are constantly asking for more money or nearly accusing you of being greedy, then it’s likely that there are internal issues involved. If your work environment is not positive; if people do not look forward to coming to work; if team members do not look forward to being with you and with their teammates, then money will become more important. “If I am not going to enjoy being here, at least I had better be paid well.” Look at your work environment. Talk about the environment to your team members. How can you make your workplace more enjoyable? Together, work on this. No matter how much money people make, they will not stay long in a place where they are not content in their work. So nurturing this positive environment is definitely worth the effort.
Dr. Gerald Graham once reported the top five incentives of people in the workplace to be, in order:
- Personal thanks from a manager
- Written thanks from a manager
- Promotion for performance (increases in salary or financial rewards included)
- Public praise
- Morale-building meetings
Dr. Graham’s study of 1,500 employees reported that these top incentives were seldom received. Employees thought 58% seldom ever received personal thanks from their managers, 76% seldom received written thanks from their managers, 78% seldom, if ever, received promotions or financial rewards based on performance; 81% seldom if ever received public praise in the workplace and 92% seldom if ever participated in morale-building meetings. Dr. Graham concluded from his study, “It appears that the techniques that have the greatest motivational impact are practiced the least, even though they are easier and less expensive.”
In some practices, the only way a person is thanked is with money: bonuses, extra cash for completion of a project, money for reaching a goal, etc. All of these financial rewards are fine. However, don’t forget that money rewards soon become expected. Expectations will almost always rise with each financial reward. Be careful not to send the message to your employees that unless they get a cash reward, their contributions to the practice are not valuable. Remember, you will never get the best effort from employees just by paying them more. Excellent salaries, benefit packages, and financial incentives are important. Certainly, if the money employees receive for their jobs is not commensurate with their workloads, productivity, responsibility and their impact on the practice, then that can become a demotivator!
How you treat your employees — your team members — is critical to whether or not they come to work motivated, energized, and committed to the practice. The doctor, as the ultimate leader of the practice, sets the tone for how people are treated within the organization. However, everyone must treat each teammate with mutual respect, admiration and kindness, no matter what that person’s role in the practice. There isn’t anyone who is more important than anyone else. Without each person carrying out his or her responsibilities, the practice cannot thrive. Each team member can have a powerful impact on the atmosphere of the practice. Make the effort to work on healthy relationships with and among team members.
In summary , here are some considerations for immediate implementation to creating a motivating environment.
1. Positive reinforcement. Dr. Ken Blanchard says: “Catch people doing something right.” When you recognize someone for work well done, no matter how small the task, their confidence, as well as their motivation, will increase.
2. Start with one thing — no matter how small. Think about one thing you can do, such as writing a thank you note to a team member; making a call in the evening to thank someone for the extra effort he or she put forth on a particular patient; thanking someone in a team meeting — outloud; buying lunch for the team when you reach a particular goal, no matter how large or small the goal.
3. Involve your team in developing a motivational atmosphere. Get together to share ideas about the practice. Also, find a time to ask your own team members what motivates them. Once you determine the motivators, take the next critical step — design a plan of action to put your ideas to work. Evaluate your progress along the path.
4. Take the lid off a person’s work responsibilities. Diligently work on discovering the talents of your team members and developing position responsibilities that allow a person be creative as well as productive.
5. Communication is the bottom line to your success, whether the success of your practice or the success of your relationships with your team members. Schedule time for communication — both individual and team time. Also, make sure that the communication systems in your practice are smooth-flowing and informative. People in today’s workforce want to be included in knowing what’s going on in the practice. A person cannot work toward the accomplishment of a goal unless he/she knows what the goal is and the progress that has been made toward that goal. Keep people informed and involved. They want to be included.
6. Be results-oriented rather than activity-focused. Define what needs to be accomplished, have systems in place in the practice, develop monitors for the measurement of the success of a system, then step back and let employees manage their responsibilities. Certainly, together with the team member, you will evaluate progress and success or areas that need improvement, but do not hover over a person while he or she works. People today want their independence.
7. Give team members a chance to learn and grow — right there in your practice! Have coaches come to your practice for enhanced learning. Go to continuing- education courses. Consider going to CE that is directly related to dentistry, as well as attending some motivational, communication, or leadership courses. Expand the experience of each team member and have those team members bring new information back to the practice.
8. Celebrate the victories, even the tiny ones. Know that each small step is critical to the accomplishment of even the largest of goals. Instead of being discouraged because something isn’t completely done, pause a moment and think about the things you have or are presently doing that are moving you toward that goal.
