I was with the Director of a company last week whose business is rapidly expanding. We were discussing their strategy on merging staff into their Organisation from smaller businesses they had acquired. As part of this he showed me the rewards package they offer and expressed how much better it was than their new recruits were used to.
For their market sector and size it was an excellent package. And given the majority thinking, having a strong benefits package seems a great idea for engaging and retaining your team members.
A recent article I read, posted on LinkedIn, also suggested this was the way to go. It described the rewards packages of 3 companies that both scored highly for employee engagement and consistently made various lists of “Top Companies To Work For”. One of them even ran sessions demonstrating how to put together your own great rewards package and create legions of highly engaged loyal employees.
But there is a flaw in this logic. And for those of you who been involved in finding ways of generating engagement within your Organisation, you will know that you can put together a very attractive package and yet engagement will still vary hugely amongst your employees.
I remember my very first Sales Conference. It was being held in Las Vegas – somewhere I had never been before and I was very excited to have the chance to visit. Having come from another large organisation but in a different sector and role, I thought I had made it to the big time! I was very surprised, then, to notice a real range of emotion from my colleagues. Some were as excited as me to be heading across the Pond. Whereas others ranged from non-plussed to downright annoyed at having to travel so far and spend a week away from home.
But why was this the case?
You see, the use of external motivators is a strategy based on a misunderstanding of how people create their experience. For these strategies to work our external environment would have to be the source of our feelings. And if this really was the case then every person who went on that Sales Conference would have felt the same – whether that was highly excited or downright annoyed.
But, external circumstances are not the source of our feelings. This never has been and never will be the case, as much as it may look that way.
The experience we have about anything in life, is generated within us. What’s more it naturally changes moment to moment. The feelings we experience are just a reflection of the inside out reality being created through us.
This is actually great news for Organisations whose leaders and teams operate from this understanding. Because although feelings ebb and flow, so sometimes we feel motivated and sometimes we don’t, our default setting is one of clarity, fulfilment and connection.
Employees therefore naturally exhibit the qualities that Companies are seeking when they look to employ Engagement Strategies. They just at times get lost in the noise of over thinking. People who understand the inside out nature of experience are less reactive when their feelings inevitably ebb. The know that they will naturally self correct and don’t start looking for outside reasons for why they feel that way.
But when someone doesn’t know this then they will look for a reason they feel frustrated, unfulfilled, demotivated etc.
So creating highly motivated engaged teams is never about creating the best rewards package. Instead it’s about realising the truth behind the human experience.
If you’ve gone down the usual route and aren’t seeing the results you want then perhaps it’s time to look in a different direction.
Contact Sally Coton now for a free consultation to unlock your employees’ innate potential.
Tel: 07 88 55 32 697 – Email: info@innatepotential.co.uk.
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