One of the biggest problems of a recession is that everybody does less business, except the pawn brokers, debt collectors, and specialised accountancy firms – specialism, receivership. Things are particularly tough for training and coaching companies because, along with marketing and It, their budgets are easy to slash. So what’s the good news?
Bizarrely, perhaps counter-intuitively, there is some light in the motivational tunnel. As I go round, and my friends go round, we keep hearing the same problem from company directors. What are we going to do to motivate the staff that remain? We have had cuts, efficiencies, redundancies and the net effect on the staff who remain and who are mission critical is devastating. How can we refuel and refire their batteries?
This is a great question. Such company directors know that skill alone does not lead to high performance The missing alchemical element is motivation. So, although it hardly needs saying, let’s say it: training is not the answer. Change management via advanced motivational tools such as Motivational Maps is.
I was conducting a two and a half hour seminar for HR managers in business in London last week. What really took their fancy was – in my opinion – the moment after I had explained the Map, then the team Map, and so we got on to ‘Reward Strategies’ – the specifics we do, the ideas we target on individuals within the company. And I showed them a sheet of paper that I had created for a client with 70 staff.
Their challenge to me had been: find three ways to reward each of the 9 motivational types for £15 or less – as £15 was the team leaders maximum budget for each member of staff. Now that is an astonishing, and highly cost effective, strategy. I saw them tightly gripping their sheets to take away!
Let’s, then, stay motivated during and through this recession. How? By thinking of real ways to get our mission critical staff fully on board.
The Mapping Motivation Series 