Katherine Wiid of Recrion writes:
If you ask 100 people what motivates them at work, it’s unlikely that all of their answers will be the same. If you want to recruit people who will fit your culture and job requirements, you need to understand what really attracts people to a given job and organisation.
We’re all wired differently and we all need different things from our jobs to remain motivated – some of us might be thrilled by the chance to assist other teams within the same organisation, others will respond better to solitary work.
Unfortunately, not all Recruiting and Line Managers quite ‘get’ this.
In my experience, managers will tend to hire people and motivate someone based on what they themselves find motivational – rather than taking the time to find out what really drives their prospective employee.
My advice? Listen to what your candidates and employees are saying…
In a blog I wrote about the importance of language in the recruitment process, I shared ways of using a candidate’s own (exact) words when asking interview follow-up questions. In this way you can elicit unconscious responses, build rapport and get a glimpse into their real motivations and attitudes towards work.
These same principles can be applied to your existing employees; language is such a simple way of, firstly, understanding what motivates them and, secondly, using this knowledge to maximise their working performance.
Here are three simple ways to help you hire and inspire staff:
- Be selective when giving positive reinforcement – regular feedback and positive reinforcement will appeal to someone with an ‘external’ pattern, who naturally looks for outside feedback. Unlike someone with an ‘internal’ pattern relies on their own standards and methods of evaluating their own performance. This means that it is important to know who needs feedback / reinforcement and takes it on board and who evaluates feedback based on their own standards. Otherwise you may make no impact at all on their decision to accept your job or their on their ongoing performance. (Find out more about how the Language and Behavioural (LAB) Profile can determine how people are wired at work)
- Setting work-related goals doesn't work for everyone – only 40% of people are motivated to achieve and move ‘towards’ goals. The other 40% of employees are motivated by preventing bad things happening, so are unlikely to be motivated by targets unless there are negative consequences for not achieving them. Then there are 20% who are in the middle of these patterns who will respond to goals and negative consequences. Understanding the language your candidates and staff use and decoding it using the LAB Profile will help you to use the right influencing language for each employee to produce the best possible results.
- Restructuring jobs – This is a good way of freshening things up and keeping employees motivated. Once you understand what an individual’s motivational triggers are you can adapt their job content to include more of the things they are highly motivated to do. Such a simple yet effective way to retain top talent.
Could knowing how you need your candidates to be wired help increase your recruitment accuracy and staff retention? Find out more about the LAB Profile today and how tuning in could keep your staff from turning off.
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