Hundred Tips for a Better Management (Aga Khan Foundation, 1993, 70 p.) Motivating staff 68. To get the most from your staff, learn what motivates them ''People are the most important resources of an organisation. 69. How to motivate others þ no tricks involved58 70. People do better when they are given a chance to achieve 71. Use rewards, not threats59 72. Perseverance leads to success 73. Give praise where praise is due

Hundred Tips for a Better Management (Aga Khan Foundation, 1993, 70 p.)

Motivating staff

68. To get the most from your staff, learn what motivates them ''People are the most important resources of an organisation.

Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.(Tom Peters, Management Expert.)

Unlike non-human resources, such as equipment and finances, people want to participate and be motivated. While we take great care of equipment and money, people are often neglected and thus fail to perform at their optimal capacity."⁵⁷

Thus it is important for a manager to understand what motivates people to work. Never believe that financial compensation is the only factor that motivates people. Rather, people are motivated by their need for such intangibles as achievement, recognition, interesting work, or responsibility.

You can address those needs and thus motivate your staff to do things well by:

• Providing challenging and interesting work assignments that push them to achieve.
• Allowing staff to make more of their own decisions and to feel more responsible for their own work.
• Acknowledging good performance by awarding plaques or certificates, by giving public recognition at meetings, or by promoting him/her to a position of increased responsibility.
• Often, a simple and genuine "thank you" may be enough.

69. How to motivate others þ no tricks involved58

There is no secret trick to motivating staff to do good work. Most people will work hard if you, the manager, take an interest in them and their work and help them to do well. Tell people what they ought to be doing, how to do it, what standards you expect, and when you expect it to be done. Be fair enough to spend time talking to people. Tell them how they are doing, listen to their problems, think about their future, and help them succeed. Above all, give them recognition, control and challenges.

70. People do better when they are given a chance to achieve

Achievement is one of the things that motivates people. It allows a person to gain confidence and so become a better employee. People need to have a sense of progression and growth, an opportunity to use their skills and abilities, else they, and your organisation, will not improve. Fostering an atmosphere in which people can achieve calls for delegation. By doing so, you as the manager will learn who can work effectively and handle responsibility and you will find where people's particular talents lie.

Men and women want to do a good job, and if they are provided the proper environment, they will do so. (Bill Hewlett, founder Hewlett-Packard)

71. Use rewards, not threats59

Don't ever use threats to motivate your staff. Threats produce fear and resentment, and can lead to complaining, criticising, spreading of gossip, absenteeism, wasting of time, carelessness, even sabotage. Rewards can motivate. These rewards can be external, such as money and recognition, or internal, such as self-esteem and job satisfaction.

Here's a simple system for using rewards to motivate staff:

1. Describe the staff's current behaviour.
2. Describe the desired change.
3. Allow the staff person to practice the new behaviour.
4. Reinforce the new behaviour.
5. Reward the new behaviour.
6. Money is only one possible reward. There are many others that cost almost nothing. Recognition is important to everyone. Try one or more of these: wall plaque, commendation, article in local newspaper, take the staff person to lunch, cake ceremony, a pat on the back and a "thank you."

72. Perseverance leads to success

Many things contribute to good management, but one of the vital elements that brings success is persistence:

If you have tried to do something and failed,
you are vastly better off
than if you had tried to do nothing
and succeeded.
(Anonymous)

Perseverance is possible when staff have a good dose of :
Self-regard
Positive attitude
Effective communication.
Determination to get the job done
(adapted from Jean-Paul Heldt, MSI))

Perseverance is more prevailing than violence;
and many things which cannot be overcome together,
yield themselves when taken little by little.
Plutarch Perseverance is the yeast that makes the bread rise.
(Anonymous)

Success is measured
not so much by the position
that one has reached in life
as by the obstacles
which he has overcome
while trying to succeed.
(Booker T. Washington)

Diligence is a great teacher. (Arabic proverb)

Even a dead body rises to the surface (Haitian saying)

73. Give praise where praise is due

Giving recognition to people assures them that their work is noticed and appreciated. Praise makes people feel good. It also makes them want to do a better job - so they can get more praise!