Motivation. It has been studied and addressed by thousands of successful leaders across many civilizations, many centuries. There is almost universal agreement on the core principles that enable it to flourish — e.g., create a clear vision, establish effective communication, expect the best, lead by example, and others.
And yet, the topic continues to resonate with managers and leaders. (It comes up often in our seminars, discussions with clients, and research into management practices.) I've concluded that we can never quite know enough about this subject.
One thing is certain — leaders in organizations that maintain the highest levels of motivation take it seriously. They know that having employees who are "engaged" and enthusiastic is essential to achieving the highest levels of success. They would likely agree with the German polymath Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832), who once said, "Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything." Recent studies further bolster these views — e.g., Gallup finds higher levels of productivity and profitability in companies with engaged employees (see Numbers, Notes and Notables).
But beyond understanding the importance of the issue, what else do successful leaders have in common with regard to motivation? From our observation in working with customer contact centers around the world, these are the some of the most important and universal drivers of motivation:
People respond to a clear, compelling mission. A prerequisite to creating a motivating environment is to address the whys — why does the group, team, call center, and organization exist? What is it trying to achieve? What’s in it for customers? For employees? A clear focus that is consistently reinforced by the leader is key to pulling people in, aligning objectives and motivating action.
It's what we do — not what we say we want to do — that matters. There are countless organizations that codify and post their values, but then encourage an entirely different set of behaviors by their policies and actions. For example, building customer relationships may be the stated objective, but lack of staffing resources, or standards that stress volume-oriented production, may represent perceived — or very real — conflict in the messages being sent. When it comes to influence, actions always win out over words.
Effective communication cultivates trust and motivation. Communication creates meaning and direction for people. When good communication is lacking, the symptoms are predictable: conflicting objectives, unclear values, misunderstandings, lack of coordination, confusion, low morale and employees doing the bare minimum required. Effective leaders are predisposed to keeping their people in the know. They actively share both good news...and bad.
Listening encourages buy-in and support. There is a common myth that great leaders create compelling visions from gifted perspectives or inner creativity that others don’t posses. But those who have studied leadership point out that, in fact, the visions of some of history’s greatest leaders often came from others. Further, when people have a stake in an idea, they tend to work much harder to bring about its success.
People tend to live up to expectations. Think of your own development over the years. Those coaches, teachers or business leaders who believed in us and expected the most weren't the easiest on us. And they often weren't the kind to win popularity contests. But they believed in us. And we reached a little deeper to live up to those expectations.
Sincere recognition goes a long way. In study after study, participants say that a powerful motivator is personalized and sincere recognition from their managers. In other words, being recognized for a job well done. (Easier said than done, of course: you’ve got to really know what’s going on from top to bottom get it right… but isn’t that a part of leadership, anyway?)
Accurate resource planning is essential. Yep, in the time-driven call center environment this matters — a lot. We've simply got to have "the right people in the right places at the right times, doing the right things." When that doesn't happen, bad things happen: queues build, callers get unhappy, and occupancy goes through the roof. It's stressful. And, if chronic, it zaps motivation and drains the fun out of the environment.
As a leader, who you are as a person is more important than the techniques you use. The reality is, we trust and perform for leaders who are predictable on matters of principle, and who make their positions known. Convictions, sense of fairness, consistency of behavior and stated values, belief in the capabilities of people — these things have much more impact than any motivational approach ever could.
Customer contact centers are made up of myriad personalities, goals, skills, and needs. That's why off-the-shelf motivational prescriptions or formulas eventually fail. But you can trust the principles that never change. In short, be consistent and relentlessly focused on the values that matter and on achieving the call center's mission. Encourage involvement and work hard to establish good channels of communication. And expect and demand the best from people. Good things will follow.
Please drop me a note with your stories, comments, feedback… I’d love to hear from you.
Brad Cleveland
President, ICMI
As president of ICMI, Brad Cleveland has delivered keynotes, executive briefings and consulting services in over 50 countries. ICMI is part of the CMP family of companies, a global leader in business information services with offices around the world. Brad can be reached at bradc@icmi.com.
