Motivation Reflective Journal

1) I expected to learn about motivating employees to perform well on the job.

2) I actually learned in this unit how to retain employees and encourage their best work through motivating them. The basic formula is this: as a manager you are to find out what your employees want and find a way to give it to them. There are many different ways to motivate employees. The obvious answer is money. All employees love a pay-raise. Although, money has not been shown to be a long-term motivator. The best ways to motivate employees can be through personalized notes, public and private recognition, gift baskets, movie tickets, or assigning them to be in charge of short-term projects (shows you trust them). Employees will know if gifts and recognition are genuine or not. It is important to truly get to know your employees in a personal way, so when the recognition is given, they will appreciate it more.

With consistent praise and recognition, employees will be more willing to stay at a company and perform their best work. They will love coming to work—which creates an positive work environment. Also, they will admire you as their manager for taking a personal interest in them and their efforts.

3) For the team discussion, I enjoyed creating a 7-Step Plan for motivating employees. It seemed difficult at first, since the employees seemed to already have all the financial incentive they could possibly desire. It makes sense to me that creating an uplifting and positive work environment, where employees feel included, needed, and rewarded, would be what would retain them. If they enjoy and love coming to work, they are more likely to stay as a long-term employee. This is what I kept in mind while creating my plan.

4) I plan to refer back to these websites when I am in a leadership role in the future. By using these ideas, and the ones presented in the lecture, I can be a better motivator for my employees.

(http://www.choosewhat.com/starticles/how-motivate-your-employees)

(https://hbr.org/2011/01/managing-employees-in-their-tw)

(http://www.inc.com/guides/hr/20776.html)

5) I enjoyed learning about motivation. Sadly, I could relate to the Gallup Employee Opinion Survey. I feel like there was so much going on in the Emergency Room that it was easy to be forgotten for all you contribute during your shift. If our manager presented more employee recognition, especially verbally and personally, I think there would be increased employee retention and less turnover.

I also really liked the idea of a gift basket given to employees. When hiring them, the manager can present them with a form that states, “My favorite [color, candy bar, drink, actor, movie, dessert, car, etc] is ________.” Then the gift basket can be compiled for them and given to them later for a job well-done. That would mean tons to me!