Ideal Motivational Perk?

Many companies see cash as the ideal motivational perk. This is usually not the case. A recent survey from McKinsey found that three non-cash motivators rise above all other forms of incentive:

1. Praise from managers
2. Attention of leadership that takes place in one-on-one conversations
3. The chance to lead projects, teams or task forces.

Such nods and recognition topped even cash bonuses, increased base pay, and stock or stock options - the three top-ranked financial incentives, McKinsey found.

"The survey's top three nonfinancial motivators play critical roles in making employees feel that their companies value them, take their well-being seriously, and strive to create opportunities for career growth," the McKinsey report noted. "These themes recur constantly in most studies on ways to motivate and engage employees."

Rewards must be in alignment with the expectations of the organization and its people. Rewards can enhance valued employees' commitment to the organization, boost morale, motivate future efforts, reinforce positive outcomes, encourage repeat performances and help keep employees' "eye on the ball" vis a vis organizational goals. It also strengthens the connection between strategy and results.

Is Your CEO Struggling?

Long gone are the days where the executive leadership of a company can remain sequestered in their offices with an internal focus on hard metrics. Given the current economic climate, it takes far more than cost-cutting to survive. It is the CEO who understands the need for focus on the soft metrics of employee engagement that will create sustainable growth in revenue and brand equity.

Ask yourself: How many of your employees are truly passionate about your company, its values, its vision, its mission, and the role that they play within the organization? Be truthful with yourself... Conduct a harsh, critical analysis and come up with a true head count of the passionate employees within your organization.

The key to having an engaged workforce is to have a passionate workforce. And the simple truth of the matter is that no single person in the company can instill passion in the ranks like the CEO can. Despite the consensus recognition that employee engagement matters, the enormity of its impact on the company's bottom line and its capacity for innovation, still appears to be misunderstood by most CEOs.

CEOs continue to allocate considerable effort and resources toward engineering the corporate strategy, yet they seem to be unaware of what forces can prevent said strategy from being delivered successfully. Not surprisingly, employee engagement is often the critical missing factor.

It is your passionate employees that are the franchise talent (regardless of position) that you should be building around. If you can't get employees to see the light and become passionate about the company and their contribution, then seek to replace them as quickly as possible. Just as passion is a positive, contagious trait so are apathy and dissatisfaction. Passionate employees are productive, energized, committed and loyal assets. Apathetic employees quickly become disenfranchised liabilities that will hurt both productivity and morale. In today's economy, the old saying that "the only thing worse than an employee who quits and leaves is the employee who quits and stays" has never been more accurate.

To build an extraordinary company, you must light the fire in the bellies of your workforce. You must get them to feel passion about your organization and to connect with your vision. You must get your employees to engage. As a leader you need to understand that your employees not only want to be led, but they want to be led by a passionate leader.