Why self-motivational skills are essential in the workplace and how to deliver them

Let’s start with the first question: why is self-motivation important in the workplace? There are many, varied and often quite complicated reasons why self-motivation matters, depending on where you do your research and what you believe. But the Army Cadets sum it up nicely: “It’s simple – motivated employees are better employees”.

When leading a team, having a pulse on what constitutes self-motivation, how it helps support positive personal and business outcomes, and how to help deliver it, is key.

Why? Because self-motivated employees don’t just want to fulfil their contractual obligations, they “work harder and deliver higher quality outputs,” continues the Army Cadets article. “They are more likely to be on time consistently, to be loyal to a company and to inspire their colleagues. Employees who have a high level of self-motivation also don’t need as many incentives; they are good at motivating themselves.”

It goes without saying how vital all these aspects are to business. And when you consider that a mere eight per cent of British employees are engaged at work, according to Gallup’s World Poll (2016), the need for employers to focus on motivation is clear: the UK workforce needs an energy and passion boost.

What is self-motivation?

We’re self-motivated when we’re confident that what we’re doing is in our best interests: that it serves a purpose in our lives – perhaps because it helps us as individuals, as part of a team or a company, or because it helps our family, community or environment.

According to an article in Psychology Today, we’re ultimately motivated by three components:

knowing where we fit in – our piece of the puzzle
being competent in what we do
being autonomous to some degree.

How to deliver self-motivational skills

Before looking at the tools needed, it’s important to take a step back and focus on company culture, says Luke Prankard, account manager at total wellbeing provider LifeWorks by Morneau Shepell, one of Generali UK’s wellbeing investment matching partners. “We encourage employers to first look at what the culture is like in the organisation: how do you ensure that employees are aligned to the business objectives, are engaged across the business and empowered to support themselves?

“At the recent Total Wellbeing Keynote, the evidence is clear that the financial performance of highly engaged organisations is 44 per cent higher than those with low engagement; due to decreased absenteeism and increased productivity.

“To support employees to maintain their motivation and productivity, we must help them focus on their total wellbeing – across physical, emotional, social and financial wellbeing – giving employees the personalised support they need, when they need it: effectively removing any potential blockers to motivation.

“When a company culture is clearly defined, then we can look at what tools employers can use to ensure that whatever life throws at employees, they’re resilient.”

Essential tools

After defining company culture, improving management skills and capabilities represents a key element in improving motivation in the workplace.

It’s well documented that traditional approaches to people management in the UK need to change to reflect the shift in employee expectations. This necessitates a move away from an outdated performance management mentality to one that prioritises employee development.

As a very basic assessment of your management practices, ask – do the members of your teams know:

Where they fit in? Or are they just told to do things?
How to continue growing within their position?

Improving culture and management practices have a positive knock-on effect on everything else that supports motivation: regular feedback and recognition, flexibility, a positive and supporting environment, ongoing opportunities for learning and growth, plus resources and support to help employees manage stress.

The latter represents an area that can be focused on straightaway, simply by encouraging employees to make use of the resources that will, in most cases, already be available to them to help manage stress and build resilience.

Remind employees to make use of resources such as: employee assistance programmes – the educational resources available and support on things like smoking cessation and weight management, as well as telephonic or face-to-face counselling; health and wellness courses available through work or outside of work; plus resources such as health and work/life assessments.

The author is Darren Michel, assistant manager - claims & medical underwriting, Generali UK Employee Benefits.

This article was provided by Generali UK Employee Benefits.