Staff Motivation Snapshot

I would like to share my team’s honor on earning the company’s performance award on 5th August 2008 for achieving ISO 27001 Information Security Management System in IC Design Centre and IP Servicing Centre in Feb 2008. The following statement in press release is summarized our contribution.

“Intellectual property in technological advances is the hallmark of innovation. Achieving this milestone of complying with the ISO 27001 standard, from infrastructure design to operation level at ICDC and IPSC, is the solid proof of our effective and robust security measures in place to protect customer’s IP. The increased protection of information and intellectual property demonstrated by compliance with this standard complements Hong Kong’s legal protection of intellectual property while reinforcing Hong Kong’s position as a leader in IP protection within Asia” said Ir. S.W. Cheung, Vice President of Business Development and Technology.

After obtained staff performance award, I would like to discuss about staff motivation.
It is obviously that unmotivated staff is more than just lazy staff. They are usually not proactive and are afraid to make decisions.
Why?
"The more you work, the more mistakes you make. So don't do anything unless you have to. And even then, do as little as possible."

The following items could be the reasons:
· Office politics
· Repetitive, simple tasks all the time
· Unclear instruction
· Organizational vision, mission and values not clearly communicated
· Vague and contradicting instructions
· Unnecessary rules
· Unproductive meetings
· Unfairness
· Lack of information
· Discouraging responses
· Tolerance of poor performance
· Over-control
· No recognition of achievements by the community

Sometime, people claimed: "That guy is dead wood. He is on maxi. Nothing we can do about him." But I believed: “Everybody can be motivated, the question is how.”

There are four common factors of motivation including “Worthwhile Work”, “The Power of Acknowledgement”, “Your Personal Credibility” and “Working Through People”.

Worthwhile Work:
People are motivated because they know that their work is worthwhile or when they experience their work as meaningful.
The Power of Acknowledgement:
Motivation comes from an act of recognition, a word of encouragement, or a sense of respect. It is the power of acknowledgement that brings enthusiasm to worthwhile work.
Your Personal Credibility:
Supervisors must provide a stimulating and open environment in which their employees feel comfortable to make suggestions. They should work with their employees to refine a rough idea or even draft a totally new suggestion for improvement.
Working Through People:
The basic principle underpinning motivation is that if staff are managed effectively, they will seek to give of their best voluntarily without the need for control through rules and sanctions - they will eventually be self-managing.


The staff performance award is one of staff recognition schemes. It covers two of the four motivation factors, which are Worthwhile Work and The Power of Acknowledgement. In my experience, as a supervisor, he must understand his staff’s ability and know his staff concerns. How does he link up such concerns into job objectives? Supervisor should fill the gap of his staff work performance and reduce the gap through effective training.


My certificate of performance recognition

For more information on staff motivation, please visit http://www.csb.gov.hk/hkgcsb/hrm/e-motivation/e-purpose.htm.