Okay, as Leaders we are constantly looking for ways to motivate our team members for high performance. And, most of us are still aware of budgetary constraints brought to us by the Great Recession.
Yes, budgets are still tight and were established for this year using last years financial results and projections, therefore there is little room for financial rewards or big bonuses for our high performers or to engage team members with the possibility of any financial rewards.
So what do we do without any financial rewards – which managers believe is the number one method to engage their people for higher levels of performance. Well, research indicts there are a number of methods available to reward outstanding performance – even without any financial inducements.
Here is a list of 24 ways to reward your individual performers using non-financial rewards…
The eagle gently coaxed her offspring toward the edge of the nest. Her heart quivered with conflicting emotions as she felt their resistance to her persistent nudging. “Why does the thrill of soaring have to begin with the fear of falling?” she thought. This ageless question was still unanswered for her.
Every accomplishment starts with a decision. We each decide what needs to be done relative to our lives, our jobs, our families, and our communities. Our goal should be to maximize the investment of everything we do. Choice controls our destiny, not chance. Ken Blanchard refers to this as “getting the highest return on life.”
For many years Theory Y has been seen as the primary success motivational style. As stated in a previous post, Douglas McGregor set up motivational theory styles according to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
The two most prominent management theories are Theory X and Theory Y. In an earlier post we looked at the lesser-known Theory Z.
Douglas McGregor coined the two phrases in the 1950’s. McGregor was a psychologist who taught at MIT and served as President of Antioch College. McGregor drew his motivational theories from the work of Abraham Maslow and was intent on proving that Theory X assumptions led to ineffective management as well as lower productivity of workers.
I just read a great article by Robert Kiyosaki in the September 2010 issue of Success Magazine. His article is written on the Law of Compensation and offers some great advice via personal stories. Mr. Kiyosaki is the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, which is a phenomenal book!
Mr. Kiyosaki reminds us of two very succinct success mantras:
How sweet it is to get to a place of comfort and just coast. Really? Is it really sweet? Human beings are goal-oriented creatures. By nature, we need to stretch our minds and our bodies!
This does not mean we are intended to set the world on fire or never rest our minds. We are happier, however, when we are not standing in one place for too long.
So what is Self-Actualization? Maslow described it this way: “What a man can be, he must be. It refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially.”
Maslow’s Key Characteristics of Self-Actualization:
Better yet, let’s turn that around. We have been looking at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs this week. One way for the CEO or company owner to make certain his or her company receives high marks from the customers is to make certain the company receives high marks from the employees! Simply stated… your employees will offer the same service and attitude that you mirror to them in their work.
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs led to his book, Motivation and Personality. Much has since been researched and written about Maslow’s theory on motivation but his work still remains intact and is used in studying motivation today. Much of the motivational studies relate to workplace motivation.
Most people are familiar with Maslow’s pyramid of needs, but less known is that he further broke the needs down into two groups of needs. They are:
Deficiency Needs- also known as D- Needs
Growth Needs- also known as “being needs” or B- Needs
