As an employee what motivates you the most? The topmost answer must be money.
However, prof VG Narayanan, business administration chair, Harvard Business School said that money is undoubtedly a great motivator but at the same time there are other factors which are required to boost the morale of people or employees at work. This includes leadership role, peer recognition and purpose in the work and recruitment process, among others.
Narayanan added that it matters immensely for employees to be what their colleagues think of them. He further added that having high expectations and then getting people motivated to achieve those expectations are two different things.
“Recognition is an important motivator, leadership should do walk the talk and employees are like children and they smell hypocrisy,” he said at the 10th edition of Business Today 'MindRush', an annual conference held at New Delhi.
His views came while sharing his thoughts on the performance management system that should be followed by corporate to sustain high performance. Narayanan further said that what your customer feels today, your employees will feel tomorrow and what your employees feel tomorrow, your shareholders will feel thereafter. “In today's competitive world, corporates have to constantly prove themselves,” Narayanan said.
While giving his advice to organisations, he added that just running a good organisation is not enough. “You need to constantly scan the environment. Customer preferences and government regulations could be an opportunity or threat for an organisation. You need to position yourself for tomorrow to make this sustainable,” he said adding ‘The Balancing Act’ by firms revolves around growth, control and profitability.
An organisation should keep track of strategic uncertainties such as competition, technology, customer skills and reputation, he said.
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