Monday, April 27, 2009

Motivating Geeks... And non-Geeks

Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's two factor theory both say the same thing:

You need to get the basics right before you can expect your staff to be motivated.

If workers are scared of losing their job or frightened of not being able to buy food for their children, they aren't going to be motivated.

When people get annoyed at their unresponsive PC and tediously slow compile times they aren't going to be motivated.

It won't help if they're in pain because their desk or seating area is wrong. Or if the temperature is sweaty-forehead-hot or freezing-nose-cold.

When there is excessive noise they won't concentrate, and won't care.

If bullying occurs or workers feel undervalued they'll just not bother.

Pay attention to the little things. Ask your staff what they need and what they want, and you'll be well on your way to a motivated workforce.

Motivating Geeks... And non-Geeks Part II

1 comment:

Tom Gaulton said...

Its amazing how often these things are overlooked. A slow PC will cause

1. Slower work, because the PC is slow.
2. Slower work, because the user is demotivated.
3. Slower work, because the user will forget what it was they were testing/searching for in the first place.

Which is more cost effective, spending £300 on new software/hardware, or having a £30K p/a programmer watching a progress bar for hours every day?