Essay: Role of the Leader in relation to motivation

Personal Overview
My experience is a motivated team will always be much more focused and generally productive which will in turn ensure the goals and targets of the organisation are achieved. It’s very important therefore that a leader is fully aware of what will motivate and drive his or her team members to facilitate the process. Motivation is a very individual thing and different things motivate people in different ways. Generally a leader will have a direct influence on certain areas compared to some others those that can be influenced need to be used in the best way possible to motivate a team. As an individual we are all driven by different desires. Some are motivated by financial incentives some by materialistic items.  Your focus and motivation will change throughout your working life.
Team Motivation V Individual Motivation
The task of motivating a team can be one of the biggest challenges any business will experience whether it be large or small.
Motivation can be defined as the driving force behind all the actions of an individual. Motivation is normally based on your individual emotions and achievements and personal goals.
When working as a team each member must show very similar levels of motivation, energy and commitment to reach the common goal or target they wish to achieve. If you have a team of ten and only 90% of the team are focused and just 10% or an individual not being focused it can easily bring the motivation of the whole team down and because of this affect productivity in a detrimental way.
It is extremely important and you must make sure both at individual level and at team level the motivation is good as this will ultimately affect the company’s profit and loss.
There are different forms of motivation including extrinsic, intrinsic, physiological, and achievement motivation. There are also more negative forms of motivation. Achievement motivation can be defined as the need for success or the attainment of excellence. Individuals will satisfy their needs through different means, and are driven to succeed for varying reasons both internal and external.
Motivation is the basic drive for all of our actions. Motivation refers to the dynamics of our behaviour, which involves our needs, desires, and ambitions in life. Achievement motivation is based on reaching success and achieving all of our aspirations in life. Achievement goals can affect the way a person performs a task and represent a desire to show competence (Harackiewicz, Barron, Carter, Lehto, & Elliot, 1997). Motivation is important because it affects our lives every day. All of our behaviours, actions, thoughts, and beliefs are influenced by our inner drive to succeed.
Workplace Motivation the Positives v Negatives
Within my company OHL International we use three main forms of motivation for staff and these are as follows.
The annual company family fun day which includes Bouncy castles a football match or Cricket and various stalls that are for the whole family to enjoy not just the employees.
Although this does work well for staff to meet and put faces to the voices and also generates a competitive side from each site it does have a negative side.
This is because the company has numerous sites in the UK and therefore may find attendance is restricted due to the travel expense from each site and if your family attend then possible cost for accommodation. After having analysed this I still believe this is a good motivational tool for our business.
We then have a monthly scheme which is the Five Star Nomination Awards which anyone from Supervisor upward can nominate a member of his or her team.
The Nominator must explain why the said member of the team deserves a Star award nomination and give good evidence for the nomination. This may be anything from a member of staff saving the business or client money. It may also be that the said member of staff has done exceptionally well on a pick rate of personal KPI’s or has gone the extra mile.
The down side to this is that the nominator has to spend time completing all the forms and this can be very time consuming. Once all documentation is done it is then sent to America for it to be reviewed and the appropriate award given whether it’s monetary or just a certificate of recognition. This however has to be an ongoing scheme as staff will lose faith in the system if it is not seen to be being used.
The third method is the annual company bonus which is monetary and is broken down into three areas. Individual performance, Company performance, Site performance each part represent a percentage of the staff’s annual salary.
This is one of the biggest motivational tools within our business as it has been unheard of to not receive a bonus of some description at all levels. Junior staff can receive up to 3 weeks salary as a bonus and Management dependant on grade varies from 5% up to 15%. This is generally paid in December’s salary which is always a welcome bonus for junior staff.
If there is a negative side to this it is that if you are unfortunate to receive any form of disciplinary during the calendar year you forfeit your whole bonus irrespective of level.
Role of the Leader in relation to motivation
Leadership goes far beyond just being a member of the management team within a business or organisation. It involves using the resources the organisation has and any rules that the organisation wishes you to follow.
Leadership sometimes will involve driving through new processes and procedures and changes or initiatives which will no doubt be unpopular with various team members. I’m sure most have experienced both sides of the coin through personal knowledge and experiences in your working life.
Depending on the level of authority that is used by the leader and also the amount of free reign the team members have within the organisation.
What the leader needs to do is to create the teamwork structure and encourage the team to take responsibility for some decision making.
The key is using the right approach which will vary dependant on your working environment and culture that your organisation allows. When team members are involved in the decision making process they are more likely to take ownership and in general be more committed. A good example of this is a company Health and Safety committee where staff can see the positives of decision making with very clear results.
In my experience a good leader will always be able to motivate team members.
This can be shown in many ways
‘ Good communication
‘ Passion for what they do
‘ Be a good role model for the company goals and targets
‘ Clarifying objectives
‘ By clearly informing team members of the benefits to all
‘ By not just talking but by actions taken
Motivational leadership involves getting the right balance between the above.