RSC Level 1 Module 5: Motivation
Step 1) Overview: A significant challenge in your role as manager or supervisor is mastering the art of motivation – the art of improving the performance of your team or department by getting your associates and subordinates to be engaged and pull together. Your ability to motivate your team is a crucial component of your skills as a manager. This module is aimed at uncovering the structure of motivation and giving you some tools to manage motivation in a professional setting. Recognize that there are at least two distinct types of work that are associated with two distinct models for motivation.
First there is simple, repetitive work that can be described by simple rules and does not require a high level of cognitive engagement or analysis on the part of the worker. With this type of work motivation is often associated with financial or economic rewards.
Second, there is complex work that demands a high level of cognitive engagement, analysis and some judgment. Here financial and economic rewards are not good drivers of motivation. Instead autonomy (the desire to be self-directed), mastery (the desire to get better at stuff) and the desire to serve a higher purpose have a direct impact on motivation.
Step 2) Action Learning: Please watch the two videos in this module.
The following video is a twelve-minute introduction to the essential ingredients of motivation when the work at hand is simple. It is a step-by-step approach to motivating your people who are doing simple repetitive work that requires low levels of analysis on the part of the worker.
The video below is an 11-minute introduction to the management of motivation in the context of complex work that requires thinking, analysis and some judgment on the part of the worker.
Step 3) Points to Ponder:
1). Describe the kind of work you are responsible for managing. Is it simple, repetitive work? Is it work that requires thinking, analysis and judgment? Is it both? Have you noticed that there is a difference between the things that motivate people who do simple work as opposed to those who do complex work? Do you feel that people who do different kinds of work need to be managed differently?
2). What are the “lessons learned” from this module about motivating people who do simple, repetitive work? Do these lessons require a change in the way you think and work? What changes (if any) did you identify and how easy (or difficult) do you anticipate this change will be?
3). What are the “lessons learned” from this module about motivating people who do complex work? Do these lessons require a change in the way you think and work? What changes (if any) did you identify and how easy (or difficult) do you anticipate this change will be?
Step 4) Interactive Discussion: After viewing Videos 1 & 2 and exploring the Points to Ponder check your calendar for the Interactive Discussion scheduled for this Module. Go to the session prepared to discuss the lessons learned with others in your Rising Star cohort. If you have any questions or need more information please send a message to dr.kamath@artesiaa.com
Step 5) Next Level: (Optional): Read the Reference: “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel H. Pink, Riverhead Books (2011), ISBN-13: 978-1594484803.