The 5 Feelings That Motivate Employees to Be Productive and Do Their Best Work

People do their best work when their jobs consistently make them feel these five things.

EXPERT OPINION BY MARCEL SCHWANTES, INC. CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, EXECUTIVE COACH, SPEAKER, AND AUTHOR @MARCELSCHWANTES

As a leadership coach, I often struggle to pinpoint that “one thing” leaders need to start doing more of to really get a grasp on their people issues. If I talk to 10 leaders, I will get 10 different complaints that keep them up at night.

So, I can talk or write about motivation, talent strategy, onboarding, performance management, and retention until I’m blue in the face. But none of that will mean anything if your employees aren’t having a good experience.

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Over the last thirty years or so, Gallup

Over the last thirty years or so, Gallup has been talking a good game about “employee engagement.” It’s their thing. But even they now acknowledge that it’s how employees experience their work that drives high engagement. The experience is made up of the extreme positive feelings you want to create in their work that will move the needle on engagement.

Should the focus now be on the employee experience? Well, a company can offer good pay, flexible schedules, and an impressive benefits package, yet still give people a lousy daily experience. I have seen it happen more times than I can count. Hiring leaders point to the cool perks and flexible work arrangements while employees later point to the manager who second-guesses every decision, ignores their ideas, and makes Monday morning feel like a funeral proceeding.

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So what’s the big idea behind the employee experience? It’s emotional before it is operational. Your systems and policies matter, but employees decide how much of themselves to bring to work, largely based on what the workplace teaches them to feel.

In his recent book Design Love In: How

In his recent book Design Love In: How to Unleash the Most Powerful Force in Business, researcher Marcus Buckingham describes leaders as “experience-makers.” Every meeting, decision, email, assignment, and conversation creates an experience that influences what people do next. Culture, in that sense, is the accumulation of those everyday experiences.

So what do the best employee experiences consistently create? Since we are in a feelings economy where emotions matter more than ever, I believe your workforce has to experience five feelings, backed by research.

Source: www.inc.com