Abusive Managers, Undervalued Staff, and a Formula for Increased Performance

I’m interrupting my ongoing posts on common mistakes in recognition to highlight a few recent blog posts from the HR experts in the US and the UK on motivating – and demotivating – teams.

Workforce Management Editor-in-Chief John Hollon discusses verbal abuse as a workforce strategy. In the world of recognition, screaming at your employees won’t get you far – a topic I discuss in a recent white paper on designing your company’s social architecture. In it we explore how to determine what your company’s culture is today – a culture of intimidation such as that described in John Hollon’s blog post or a culture of appreciation.

It is the culture of appreciation that is sought by 72% of staff but only received by a quarter of employees according to recent research from White Water Strategies. The analysis also concludes that “acknowledging staff achievements properly has the equivalent perceived value of a 1% pay rise.” Read more in the Employee Benefits blog.

Further benefits of developing a culture of appreciation through regular informal feedback – “a 40% rise in employee performance and a 20% increase in discretionary effort” – are discussed in Chris Legge’s HR Zone blog. Chris also offers a formula for increasing performance: Performance = Ability + Motivation + Opportunity.

Are you in a motivating or demotivating work environment today? Either way, how do you think this environment is impacting your personal performance? What is your company culture today?

Check back tomorrow for a return to the discussion on common mistakes in recognition.