Motivation

I learned a little something about motivation at the OK HR Conference last week from Olympic Gold medalist and motivational speaker, Peter Vidmar.  At a lot of conferences, you hear great pearls of wisdom from amazing keynote speakers that are a true inspiration for the day or even the week, but then it fades...

Why does it fade? Because life is busy!  It is hectic.  Take my Monday for example... after a 3 day conference at the end of last week, I came back to a MOUNTAIN of paperwork.  In fact, I couldn't find a clear spot anywhere on my desk nor on any of the chairs in my office.  If you have one of those jobs like mine where the work waits for you and doesn't just keep going when you're gone... you know what I mean.  Vacations come with guilty pleasure knowing that you'll be making up for all that time off when you get back. 

However, Peter Vidmar said a few things that are sticking with me through the paperwork mountains I'm tackling this week.  His story about his long grueling work outs where he just kept visualizing and imagining he was in those final moments where it all came down to the wire and was what he had been working towards, that got me thinking.  In HR, we have to do that every day too.  Every hire, every disciplinary action, every promotion, training, payroll, benefit enrollment, I-9 and termination has the potential to be great for the company or disastrous, ending in litigation.  In human resource management, there is a great responsibility to always be "doing the right thing" for BOTH the employee AND the employer.  It can be like a tight rope act sometimes, but it is really important work and must be looked at with the end goals in mind.

You can't just hire or promote someone that you like at the moment... you have to think strategically about the end game.  How can that person grow that role and contribute to the mission?  If you make the wrong selection (which undoubtedly will happen from time to time) then there can be a lot of headaches for both the employer and employee.  No one wants to be in a role that they are not suited for, and interestingly enough, at the conference we heard from another great speaker, Ryan Estis, Chief Experience Officer for Ryan Estis & Associates who mentioned a statistic that stuck with me... only 20% of employees are well suited for their roles.  That explains another statistic he mentioned, that 84% of employees are planning a job move in 2011. 

Turnover costs us all.  It costs employers in terms of recruiting and training expense to fill the position, but it also costs customers as valuable job knowledge is lacking with newer staff.  When hiring or promoting HR folks have a unique challenge of finding candidates that are the right fit for the current position as well as the role that position can and should grow into.  We have to offer a position that can provide professional growth to capture and retain interest of some of the Gen X & Y crowds, and that offers stability for Boomers & the Silent Generation as well as the flexibility to meet each of the generational needs.  We are in a unique time in the history of employment where we have 4 distinct generations all in the workforce, all with very different goals & idiosyncrasies.

How do we manage all of that?  Well, many of the conference topics last week focused on the compliance aspects of employment while several attorneys discussed all of the potential legal pitfalls (and their are many) that we face in our every day decisions.  Of course, this has to be kept in mind as we make decisions, but I think on of the points Ryan Estis made last Friday helps bring all of this full circle.  Ryan stressed the importance of connecting employees with a higher purpose & an opportunity do what they love & make a difference in their job.  This engages them, and an engaged workforce is less likely to complain, less likely to fail to meet your needs and expectations, and less likely to leave.

So as you look at the paperwork piles on your desk this week, remember not to get lost in the paperwork shuffle and the compliance component.  Remember instead to engage your workforce by helping them to see the end game and motivate them by including them on the company's mission.  When you focus on the strengths of your workforce instead of the weaknesses, you will accomplish more and the paperwork mountains will become mole hills.

Have a great week!