“Neuroscience now sheds light onto what it is that makes people more or less motivated to achieve a particular goal,” she told HR Daily.

And despite the complexity of the topic, it is actually quite simple for managers to employ on a day-to-day basis. “You actually don’t need to know very much about neuroscience to be able to impact motivation.”

The first thing to keep in mind is that the key driver of the brain is to “minimise threat and maximise reward”, says Hansen, an executive and leadership coach and trainer who specialises in neuroscience.

“Everything starts from there. The brain scans the environment five times every second, non-consciously, for whether stimulus in the environment is a threat or a reward.

“If it is a threat, it impacts the thinking capabilities, because the brain goes into ‘fight or flight’ mode, and essentially that reduces the field of view the brain has – it reduces the ability to see options and creativity.

“If the brain is recognising reward, however, it becomes more open to opportunities, more creative. It is more able to have insights, which essentially means new ways forward.”

Create a safe place

Managers who want to motivate their teams must first ensure that people feel “safe”, Hansen says. They can do this by adopting what neuroleadership expert David Rockcalls the SCARF model, which comprises:

• Status – “If you’re a manager you can give someone status by asking their opinion, seeking permission to give feedback, and giving them positive encouragement, and recognition.”
• Certainty“Managers can provide certainty by ensuring that people are up to date with projects, with management decisions, with expectations of their role and communication. It’s a key one because a lot of people, if they’re feeling uncertain, are in a threatened state.”Particularly during restructuring, for example, people need to know what’s going on. It’s important to give people even a small amount of certainty, such as, ‘I’ll get back to you tomorrow at nine AM, even if I may not know more’. It gives them more certainty than saying, ‘I don’t know anything, and I’ll let you know when I know something’. It lets them at least think, ‘My manager will touch base with me tomorrow. I can let that worry go for now.’”
• Autonomy – “Managers can give people autonomy very simply by allowing them to make work choices, and by allowing them to have flexibility in work design – in the ‘how to’ of projects – rather than explicitly explaining how to do things.”
• Relatedness – “This is about caring who that individual is, relating to them, finding similarities, and being interested in who they are holistically.”
• Fairness – “The brain requires fairness both in how ‘self’ is treated and how ‘others’ are treated. It very quickly puts someone into a threat space if they perceive they are being unfairly treated.”

Brain-based coaching

Another way that managers can improve motivation and performance is through solution-oriented questioning, Hansen says.

“Basically, brain-based coaching produces action. Allowing people to have questions around their thinking can help them relax and reflect, which will then allow them to have insight.”

Asking an employee questions such as, “How important is it for you to resolve this?” and “How long have you been thinking about this”? helps their brain not just to try and solve the problem, but to reflect on their thinking.

“That space quietens the brain to allow for insight,” Hansen says. “And insight in itself produces some action, some potential.

“If I suggest, ‘You do this’, you’re just going to do it. You don’t have any insight to what you think the next step is, and you’re not overly motivated, compared to if you came up with the idea yourself, which could be way more creative than what I suggested you do.”

Help workers find “the zone”

A third way managers can motivate their teams is by helping them work in their “zone”.

“Helping people get into the ‘zone’ allows people to be at their peak motivation level,” Hansen says.

This comes about when they have the right balance of challenge versus skill in their work.

“If somebody has enough challenge in their role and just enough skill to do it, they’re most likely to be in the zone.

“If the challenge is too high or the skill is too high for the challenge, they’re not in the zone. Essentially, the brain wants to be excited by challenge, because we get a hit of the neurochemical dopamine when we are excited by a challenge or something novel. When it’s not the same old repetition or the same old job we’ve done 100 times, we’re more motivated to perform.

“But if the job is way too challenging, we’re actually experiencing adrenalin, which then releases the hormone cortisol through our system and that impacts negatively both our motivation to perform and our ability to perform.”

Hansen adds that new developments in neuroscience, which allow people to use biofeedback and neurofeedback to “know whether they’re in the zone, and what it takes for them to get into the zone”, are proving extremely useful for organisations keen to foster peak performance, particularly at the executive level.

(HR Daily 16 February 2012)

HR has enormous potential to improve an organisation’s customer service, he says, because it can influence, recognise and reward behaviours.

HR is responsible for identifying the behaviours the organisation wants its workers to display, he explained to HR Daily. It enables employees to build the right skills, and provides operational managers with the tools to recognise and reward team members on a daily basis.

Where HR can really make a difference is in facilitating meaningful learning and development activities that reflect and reinforce company values, as opposed to generic training programs, he says.

Without that alignment, he says, organisations will find it more difficult to meet their goals.

Celebrating success

Hilton’s Blue Energy initiative is overseen by HR but delivered by operational managers to help the company deliver a consistent brand promise, which is “to ensure that every guest feels cared for, valued and respected”, Todd says.

Hilton has built a customer service “platform” around the initiative, “so it’s very visible and it becomes a celebrated process from a customer service perspective”.

To support the initiative, HR encourages celebrating the stories of employees, “with a really strong focus on meeting unanticipated guests’ needs, and resolving guests’ problems quickly and efficiently”.

It directly links these with values of the organisation, which are ‘hospitality’, ‘integrity’, ‘leadership’, ‘teamwork’, ‘ownership’ and ‘now’.

Hilton has developed an interactive website (called H360), which Todd describes as “part Facebook, part blogging site”.

“Our 150,000 team members globally were added into the system, and they display their own photos, preferences, and what they like. And they share their experiences at work, and positive stories around taking care of the guests.”

Where HR becomes involved is by extracting these stories and turning them into a “story web”, Todd says.

It has created a “story wall” in a public place in each department, where stories are displayed, postcard-style, along with employees’ photos. Each story explains how the person has “lived one of the cultural characteristics of the organisation, or met the brand promise”.

“And what that’s done is allowed the learning of behaviours that are deemed as good and positive in the organisation to be shared in a common place.”

HR also supports the leadership team by creating “conversation guides” for managers, Todd says.

These are used for morning briefings, during which a team leader will share a story of a guest experience, which reinforces the particular value Hilton is celebrating that month.

“And then the team leader will ask questions about how we can exceed this guest’s expectations and bring these values to life.”

Stories are also shared via special Blue Energy post-it notes, which Hilton encourages staff to use to draw attention to and celebrate behaviours they observe in their peers, and via the website, where employees are currently competing on a global basis to share the story that best celebrates the “integrity” value in dealings with a guest, the company or the community.

“We’ve found people are videoing their own explanations about integrity; their own stories, and uploading them into H360 so that globally we have thousands and thousands of stories associated with how people are living the integrity value.”

HR “pulls it together”

HR “pulls it all together” by partnering with operations to get team members displaying the right behaviours, Todd says.

“To make it ‘live’, we’ve linked it in to recognition, so each team member gets recognition for what they’re doing, but they also get rewarded.” Rewards are simply $10 gift vouchers or something similar, he says.

“It’s driven by operations, but supported by HR, and I think that’s why it’s become so successful. HR’s real value is in providing supporting materials, and making it live in the organisation.”

(HR Daily – 20 February 2012)

Quite often these scenarios create great team atmosphere for a short period. They provide us with something to discuss over the water cooler. And we may come to understand that the reason Bill often snaps at people when he’s under pressure is that he has low levels of emotional control and strong perfectionism tendencies.  However, over the space of a few days the reality of work pressures take over and our patience tends to dissolve.  We quickly forget that Jake patiently talked Kate through the high ropes activity, instead we are more concerned with the fact that he still hasn’t completed the piece of work we asked him to do yesterday, for tomorrow’s presentation to the executive team.

If we look at successful teams we see that what’s important is individuals  working together to achieve a common purpose. Everyone knows what the priorities are and understands their role. They also have a set of values that everyone has bought into, in order to achieve a common purpose.  It is not important for Jane to like Kate, but it is important that they both know their role and will work with each other.  Whilst the social activities, increasing our understanding of each other and taking ourselves out of our comfort zone can all help build trust and team spirit, unless time is spent increasing clarity and buying in to a common purpose we can’t make quick decisions on where to focus our time and energy.  Unless we all commit to the same set of standards and behaviours at work we can’t trust and support each other or express differencing opinions without emotional boilovers.

Whilst there is plenty of evidence to suggest personalities rarely change over time, there is also evidence to suggest we can adapt our behaviour to fit our environment. Indeed we often do this unconsciously, to fit different social situations. As a result we should be able to agree what behaviours are beneficial for our team and be able to follow those at work.  A team that appears to do this well is the Crusaders Rugby Team. They are consistently successful in bringing together players from different backgrounds, different regions of New Zealand and getting them to perform and behave in alignment with the Crusaders values and goals. To develop high performing teams we need more than just team spirit. We need team building strategies that focus on clarity of collective purpose and adherence to an agreed set of behaviours to keep the team performing at its peak.

The Insync Surveys and RedBalloon 2011 Dream Employers Survey showed the top three drivers this year are:

• pay, benefits and conditions (38%) – up 11 percentage points from sixth position in 2010
• work-life balance (37%) – up nine percentage points from third position in 2010
• culture (36%) – down three percentage points from second position in 2010.

This is a notable shift from last year when the top motivation was brand or company reputation.

Employee engagement is a clear and present challenge for many businesses at the moment with only 40% of respondents satisfied with their current employer and 45% planning to look for another job in the next 12 months. 

Many employees, having survived much of the recession with limited or no pay rise over the last two to three years, were thankful that they just kept their jobs, Ryan HR Specialist Jason Yuill Proctor says.  People have also had to cope with survivor guilt in companies where colleagues have been made redundant and an increase in workload, or more difficult work conditions as a result of companies trying to survive through extreme cost-cutting exercises.  These employees are now searching to see if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, Jason says.

It is also the day-to-day working environment that really effects engagement and morale and this is clearly displayed by the survey’s top three areas people want to improve about their workplace: systems and processes (41%); communication (39%); and rewards and recognition (38%).

Employees want to know their work is meaningful and connected to the organisation’s goals, Insync Surveys CEO James Garriock says.  “It is strong communication that creates this link, as people feel respected and empowered if they’re informed about things that matter to them.”

Google ranked first as the dream employer for the second year running, while self-employment ranked second, moving up from third place last year.  These were followed by Virgin Group, Qantas and Apple, all of which featured in the top five last year.

For more information see http://www.insyncsurveys.com.au/news/2011/09/dream-employers-2011/

There is greater demand for sales and marketing staff which indicates many companies are ramping up in this area due to customer needs. In some occasional cases our clients are replacing an employee who is retiring or relocating.

From our vast experience it indicates that temporary staff are in demand for both private and public sector jobs. It clearly confirms that it is business as usual for most companies, particularly for professional services, legal and accounting firms, which tells us that although their SME client base may have been eroded slightly, they are working on property lease, insurance or other earthquake-related projects. 

In our Industrial area, skilled logistics and engineering professionals are being highly sought after as well as drivers (Class 2,3,4,5).

Ryan is definitely the place to come to for any HR advice solutions from our specialist, Jason Yuill-Proctor.

In our recruitment area we have full capability to provide talented employees for roles in management, engineering, sales, operations and marketing as well as technical staff, finance and accounting, business support, call centre/customer service and skilled industrial staff.

Organisations in the current economic climate are under immense pressure: pressure to survive and thrive; pressure similar to that experienced in professional sport where mistakes cost reputation, money and jobs.  Success in business, as in sport, often comes down to the execution of a successful plan and effective execution comes down to capability and role clarity.  If Tony Woodcock did not know his role during the set move off the lineout 10 metres out of the French try line, the All Blacks would not have won the 2011 World Cup.  If a sales manager is unsure how much of her/his time should be spent on account management versus creating new business, how can they be expected to adequately focus their attention on either?   An effective up-to-date PD can provide this role clarity to ensure employees focus on the right tasks at the right time.   It can also help avoid duplication of work and reduce the risk of tasks falling between the cracks. As a result an up-to-date PD can help businesses to achieve their vision and purpose. 

PDs should be live documents – as roles adapt and change to meet the demands of changing economic demands, so should the PD.   To keep them live, managers should use these as a framework to talk to their team about their roles.  They can also be used as a base to set regular key performance indicators that allow managers and employees to track progress in the role and can act as a base to provide employees with regular feedback, to keep them on task, to keep them engaged and to continuously improve performance.

Now, when many organisations are struggling to survive, when 45% of employees in Australasia are looking to move jobs (Dream Employers Survey 2011), and staff morale and employee engagement have taken several hits from global recessions and natural disasters, now is the time to dust off employees’ position descriptions, update them and use them to help with employee engagement and, ultimately, business success.

Employment training company Leadership Management Australasia regularly questions thousands of employees, managers and business leaders in Australia and New Zealand for the compilation of its Leadership Employment and Direction (LEAD) Survey. (see www.leadershipmanagement.com)

This year the research shows employees, managers and leaders share a common understanding of the five most important characteristics of a good boss, but unsurprisingly, they rank the priorities differently.

Both managers and employees rank trustworthiness and an open approach as the most important characteristic. For business leaders, the most important factor is a boss who gives them space to do their work but provides support. Interestingly, the ranking of this characteristic was inverted to fifth most important for employees and managers. If you incorporate all of these five characteristics as integral facets of your style, you will boost your managerial reputation.

The next batch of entrants are those born after 1997, and according to Jeanne C Meister and Karie Willyerd at the Harvard Business Review they will be working with four other generations when they hit the workforce.

That will start happening within the next 10 years.

First up are the traditionalists who were born before 1946, many of whom will remain in the workforce because they cannot afford to retire or wish to stay active for longer.

After the traditionalists come the boomers born between 1946 and 1964. They’re not going anywhere, and many of them have no plans to retire for pretty much the same reasons as the traditionalists.

Then there’s Generation X born between 1965 and 1976, followed by Gen Y born between 1977 and 1997. 

As some have pointed out, we are going to see people in workplaces with a range of formative experiences, from World War Two to the Cold War to the War on Terror to World of Warcraft.

Welcome to the future. So what can we expect?

Stereotyping generations is always problematic, but there is a growing body of evidence to suggest we are shaped by the events of our formative years, whether it’s the demonstrations and rebelliousness of the 60s to events like terrorism and recession.

So as much as one can generalise (and you have to be careful doing that because there are always exceptions), some maintain that boomers are better team players while Gen X are supposed to be more the individualists and Gen Y supposed to be more team oriented.

The next lot, generation Z as some like to call them, will change everything again. Penelope Trunk at the Brazen Careerist site says they will be smarter, more educated and because they grew up with the internet, Facebook and text messaging, they will be able to process information a lot faster.

Trunk writes: “How does this affect the workplace? A wider range of people can do cognitively challenging jobs. And, if you think Gen Y is obnoxious about being better at processing information than the older people, think how Gen Y will feel when the next generation tells them their IQ is much higher. And they’re right.”

As I see it, there are four potential flashpoints for conflict in a five generation workplace. These are work ethic, organisational hierarchies, dealing with change and managing technology.

HR experts identify several ways to handle potential problems. The first is to consider the generational factor. Is there a conflict going on because these people were born at different points in time or is something else going on?

To bridge these differences, you need to consider the values of the different generations (eg boomers like team work and buy in, while Gen Xers just want to get things done), find creative ways to get them working together (eg getting boomers and traditionalists to work as mentors, assigning special assignments for Gen X and getting Gen Y and Gen Z to work the technology and identify emerging trends).

Roberta Matuson at Human Resources Solutions says a number of things will have to change.

Employers will have to embrace social networking, they will have to work out how to communicate with a generation that knows how to do it with 140 characters or less, they will have to get rid of long winded memos and change training programs to e-learning and online game simulations.

If nothing else, this will make for some interesting water cooler conversations in 10 years time.

STUFF: LEON GETTLER,  11/07/2011

Signs are that the economy is improving. The reports are cautious, but the news from financial floors bodes well for the job market. However, it’s still a candidate-rich field out there and employers can take their pick of job applicants. If you are applying for a new position, there are tricks to improve your chances of being the person selected for the role.

Firstly, tailor your job search.

Randomly throwing your CV at each and every role you think you may be good at only hurts you in the long run. If you don’t have the specific skills that an advertisement asks for, you will quickly be ruled out. This leaves you with an increasing number of rejection letters, which never feels good and can be psychologically damaging.

Your time is better spent seeking out the jobs you are well suited to do in terms of skills and experience. Work to tailor your CV and covering letter to highlight and reinforce the skills you have. Aim to show how your experience is relevant to the job you are applying for. Often using your previous job title may not be as useful as saying what your top three skills are.

Don’t look desperate. Even if you are wondering where the next mortgage payment is coming from, and hoping this is the job that will pay the bills, try not to let that show.

This is especially important if you are interviewing for permanent roles. It leaves the impression that you may be applying for the role for the wrong reason. A hiring manager could quite legitimately be concerned about your willingness to stick with the job for the long term. You have to show that you really want the job as opposed to really need the job.

Middle to senior managers who have been made redundant often have to deal with being overqualified. This can be a problem when you need a job badly and present a CV that reflects a level of education and experience that is more than necessary or desirable for the job. If you have worked at senior levels and start applying for junior levels it may ring alarm bells that you may not stay in the position for long. It’s likely a hiring manager will assume that as soon as a better position comes up you’ll jump at the chance to move. If you think you will soon be bored in a role, chances are that you will be. Once again, your time would be better spent putting your efforts into applying for roles that fit your skill set.

Don’t change jobs just for the sake of it. The economic downturn has altered the job market and if you resign just because you are sick of your current role and want to look for something else, you may not find it that easy to get something new. Always have something concrete to go to before handing in that resignation letter. Investigate ways of making your current employment more enjoyable. If there is no choice but to leave, make sure you have enough to live on for as long as it takes to find another job.
If you are made redundant or do decide to leave, remember that your new job is finding a job. You actually have to work at it. That includes researching the potential companies you would like to work for or that you are applying at. You could also phone the company and speak to the person responsible for recruiting. They will be able to tell you if you qualify for the role. It also creates an initial contact and gives you the person to phone to follow up if they received your CV.

Make sure your qualifications are right for the job and if you can, take the opportunity to upskill. In today’s labour market, employers can afford to be picky. They also don’t have the time to spend training, so the less experience you have the less chance you’ll have of landing a position over someone who has already spent time in the industry. It is definitely the time to invest in upskilling and developing. If you have career aspirations different from what you are doing now, either train up or stick it out in your current career and re-evaluate when the job market loosens up a bit.

Be kind to yourself. There is a lot of competition for roles out there, so you may not even get to the interview stage. This is not the time to get down on yourself.

You have to see this not as a rejection of you, but of the fact that your skills weren’t right for the job. Keep moving forward.

Finding a job is not just about good luck. Oprah Winfrey is well known for saying “Luck is where opportunity and preparation meet.” So keep your references up to date, do your homework and take the opportunities when they present themselves – you could find yourself landing the job of your dreams.

* Felicity Ryan  is the owner of  Ryan  Recruitment , one of the South Island’s leading  recruitment agencies for the placement of temporary and permanent staff across a range of commercial and industrial sectors.

If you are battling to align your job with your dreams and finding that the way you are working is creating anxiety and stress, don’t just quit. Consider your options, there are usually three to any situation – love it, leave it or change it.

You can either stay in the role you are in and accept the status quo with a smile or you can leave and look for a role in another company. The third option is to change the environment you are working in. This is more challenging but ultimately can result in a more rewarding position and greater personal challenges.

However to change your situation means negotiating for what you want – it may be a pay rise, more flexible hours or a promotion. Unfortunately negotiating skills aren’t everyone’s strengths. Women especially often lack the confidence to be assertive. However these are skills that can be learnt. It’s important to remember that everything is negotiable. How successful you are will depend on how well prepared, researched and confident you are.

Steven Covey, author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, points out in his books you need to begin with the end in mind. If you approach your employer with options that show you have thought how both parties can gain from the work package you are suggesting, you have more chance of success.

Once you know what you would like to achieve, do your research. That includes preparing notes on any costs involved, the impact that changing roles within the company may have and the arguments supporting your position.

Preparation also includes knowing your worth. People are employing you because you do a particular job, not for personal reasons. Ask among people you know who work in similar fields what they are earning. Sharing income information has always been seen as a taboo but you can strengthen your position by knowing what other companies in the industry are paying.

Changing your working conditions has been made easier by the Employment Relations Act (ERA) which allows you to negotiate rights within your employment contract. Under the Act an employee and employer can agree to additional terms and conditions, such as an increase in remuneration or working conditions. A 2004 amendment to the ERA strengthened good faith and collective bargaining, while in 2007 it legislated the ability for employees to request flexible working arrangements. If you have the responsibility of caring for children, dependent or disabled adults you can seek to vary your hours and place of work. Under the law employers have a statutory duty to take any such request seriously and try and accommodate it.

If you see someone in the company who seems to have everything you don’t, it could be as simple as they asked for it. Often the people who are not scared to ask for what they want generally receive it, whether it’s a bigger pay packet or more flexible working conditions.

So how do you go about negotiating a work package that suits your needs?

Knock on your manager’s door and state your case. Be optimistic and aim high, you don’t necessarily have to accept the first offer especially if it is not what you were looking for in the first place.

Taking that first step however, can be daunting. But confidence is a skill you can learn. One tip is to try role playing the negotiating scenario. Research shows physically walking and talking through a scenario works.

You can rehearse what you want to say in your mind, but you actually have to voice it aloud. Role playing also helps you approach a situation without becoming emotional or angry. Practise being assertive because there is a difference between confidently asking for what you believe you deserve compared with demanding it.

Along with role playing, visualisation is a powerful means of increasing your confidence when it comes to negotiating. Top sportspeople imagine themselves taking the shot and see in their mind’s eye the ball fly over the cross bar or drop into the hole. Visualise yourself in the role you want and work out the steps you need to get there.

You also need to look the part. You are the one initiating the negotiation so you need to bring an air of professionalism into the room with you.

Finally, take a tip from the boy scouts – be prepared. Go into an interview knowing as much as possible about the pressures your employer may be feeling, the constraints they are working against, and what their needs are. Be able to answer how changing your role can best fit those needs.

Negotiations are always more successful if you can bring the ability to empathise to the table. Negotiation strategist Dr Mark de Rond from the Cambridge Judge Business School in England recently told CNN in response to the wave of labour unrest sweeping Europe that problems often arose in workplaces because people don’t consider that other people might ‘experience life differently’. People also have different ambitions and priorities so understanding this is the first step to meeting everyone’s need in workplace negotiations.

Whether you are negotiating for a pay rise or flexible working conditions, ask yourself, ‘how can I make this work for me and my employer’ and then come up with a plan. If it’s about negotiating less time at work so you can meet family demands suggest a solution that may include shifting start and finish hours, working remotely or on the weekends. The new legislation encourages this flexibility.

Negotiating a better deal for you means convincing senior managers or business owners that just because the work day has always been one way, it doesn’t mean that’s how it always has to be.