In this article, you will get an unalloyed account of how corporate executives at two organizations motivate their employees and inspire them to be the best version of themselves. Employee motivation plays a big role in the growth of an organization. Read on.
Jibu's Queen Kaze
Everyone at some point needs some words of encouragement. There comes a time when our morale begins to flicker and we find ourselves in some weird funk. A good manager knows when an employee is derailing or performing subpar — like in the movie, Southpaw, when the protagonist’s pugilist career was starting to take a nosedive. And it took some deep personal work coupled with support and encouragement from his coach to bring him back on track.
The executives featured in this article are thoroughbred professionals who have successfully managed diverse teams; grounded in motivating and re-energizing flailing employees. We interviewed Ndambuki Mutie, a senior lead at M-Kopa; who shares insights into how he inspires his team and keeps them in high spirits. And lastly is the Global HR Manager at Jibu – Queen Kaze who shares practical tips on how she routinely gets the pulse of her subjects to ensure peak productivity always.
Ndambuki Mutie, Senior Lead, Employee Experience & Asst HRBP, M-Kopa shares his thoughts on employee motivation.
Why do you believe motivating employees is important?
Motivating employees is an integral part of any business as it will directly impact the overall business performance by its employees putting their best foot forward at work. There is also a trickle-down effect on the business in attracting great talent that wants to be associated with companies where employees are motivated.
What has worked for your company?
1. Onboarding experience:
Through our great onboarding experience, our great hires are equipped from the get-go with whatever they would need i.e., getting their work equipment before their start date, meetings with different departments that they will be working closely with, and having in place expectations already set in place to avoid any confusion. This has ultimately had a positive impact on reducing our attrition rate amongst new hires.
2. An agile employee engagement culture:
COVID-19 taught us the need to change how we do things we were used to doing. It presented great opportunities where we had most of the workforce working remotely and there was a great need to keep our employees engaged. We have been able to carry out surveys twice a year where we get to have a view of how engaged the workforce is and actions that the leadership can take to ensure that the engagement scores are high.
3. Our focus on feedback:
Feedback is very crucial in any organization that wants to keep highly motivated employees. We are constantly looking for ways to foster feedback in our day-to-day lives through feedback tools we have implemented where employees give feedback constantly. We have also put in place different initiatives such as “The Manager Spotlight” where the team members give feedback to our different managers as a way of breaking down the barriers between managers and team members as we believe that feedback should cut across the whole organization.
4. Our incentive schemes:
We have different avenues for recognizing our employees such as through the competitive bonus scheme in the organization. Employees who embody the M-KOPA values of Umiliki, Uwazi, and Maendeleo are usually nominated for our MKOPA Spot Award where they are awarded for their impact within the organization. We have also encouraged different departments to come up with ways of motivating their employees within these departments just so that we have a wholesome way of keeping our employees motivated.
Queen Kaze, Global HR Manager, Jibu shares how she performs employee motivation and how it has panned out.
Why do you believe motivating employees is important?
When an employee feels valued, they are more motivated to continue performing at their highest levels. Employee motivation comes in different ways. It could be tangible rewards such as salary, promotion, and bonus incentives. It can also be intangible like mentoring, personal development, work environment (friendly and exposing employees to large learning)
I strongly believe that both ways will help companies to attract and keep talents.
Every year at Jibu, we collect feedback from our employees to review how engaged or satisfied they are with the company.
What has worked for your company?
1. Learning new aspects of business skills:
Jibu employees gain hands-on experience and practical skills through their exposure to their senior managers who set them up for leadership or entrepreneurial roles in the future.
2. Multinational Workplace culture:
Jibu is a multinational corporation working across multiple countries. Jibu promotes its culture in a family atmosphere with an emphasis on ownership, creativity, and innovation.
3. Employee Development plans:
Jibu has understood that its greatest asset is “employees”. Therefore, to reflect on the dynamic world and ensure a mutually enriching relationship Jibu empowers its employees with personal and professional growth.
4. Option of ownership shares with employees:
Jibu employees are given a real sense of ownership in the success of the business through the shareholders' program.
So there you have it. We hope you’ve picked up a thing or two about motivating your workforce and keeping ‘em in top mental shape. You can adapt their strategies and see where it leads.
Related: Have an underperforming employee? These 10 things can help spike performance
