MOTIVATE MODEL by PRISM

IMPROVING WORK PROCESSES AND CULTIVATING COMMITMENT

Strengthening working relationships is vital to increasing employee engagement. The MOTIVATE model is designed to help managers encourage all employees to become more engaged. The key prescriptions of this model are:

*Measure employee efforts.

*Optimize opportunities for involvement.

*Talk to employees about engagement.

*Inform employees about what is going on.

*Visibly make changes to work processes.

*Accept employee suggestions and opinions.

*Tell employees they are appreciated.

*Encourage employees to become engaged.

The team leader or manager must realize that engagement is a process of continual diagnosis, action planning, implementation, and evaluation. It is the leader’s responsibility to help team members work together toward their common objective. Team leaders train people to work together, identify potential obstacles, suggest ways to solve problems, monitor progress, and recognize and reward progress. In dealing with differences of opinions, team leaders work to ensure that conflict does not become counterproductive and use conflict-resolution strategies to further the goals of the team.

Building dedication and commitment in employees requires that they become involved in the daily decision-making process at work. Hierarchical organizations require decisions to be reviewed at multiple levels, but this can waste a great deal of time and energy. Sometimes the person working closest to the issue is in the best position to make the decision or solve the problem. Employees are accustomed to taking responsibility in their personal lives-for example, they run households, work as community leaders, and function as coaches. Just as they do in these situations, employees will rise to the occasion if they are expected to be accountable at work and make responsible decisions. Providing employees with the training they need to perform their jobs goes hand-in-hand with finding ways to allow them to direct themselves. While -expecting employees to accept responsibilities they are not ready for-can lead to the failure of a participation initiative, employees brought along at a reasonable pace can engage in activities that were formerly the responsibility of the supervisor. This leaves the manager free to pursue development and improvement of work processes.