Tips for Motivating IT Workers?

RexCelestis asks: "I work for a small (35 employees) tech company that provides consulting and software to law firms of all sizes. Last year, our company moved from rewards based on the fulfillment of personal goals to a more general reward, based almost strictly on sales. Outside of the sales staff, very few of us have felt motivated by this plan. As we near the annual meeting, I'd like to offer a few alternative methods to help motivate employees outside of sales. Can anyone offer any suggestions to help drive a development team, support staff, and/or consulting group towards greater success?"

Comments

How big are the rewards?

[toddbu]

Outside of the sales staff, very few of us have felt motivated by this plan.

You really have to look at two factors here:

• How big are the rewards? If the rewards are low relative to the size of your regular income, you probably won't care much about them. If they're like 50% of your take home pay then you probably will.
• What kind of people are you hiring? If you're not hiring the right people then your plan is less likely to work. Let me ask you - would you be more motivated by a new iPod or a check for $1,000? It's sad, really, that many people aren't smart enough to do the math and tell you that they could take the grand, buy the iPod, and have money to spare. They like flashy, sexy stuff over functional things. This is why many newly minted managers take on a whole bunch of additional responsibility in exchange for a new title and an upgraded parking spot. Me? I'm motivated by cash, because it's universal. But that's just not the norm in the tech world.

Every step of the way

[Jorkapp]

As someone who has done military training in leadership and motivation, let me tell you that I have found most traditional management "motivation" strategies to be quite flawed. Permit me to elaborate with suggestions for improvement:

Accomplishment/Completion bonuses/prizes/etc:
Not a bad idea, but more designed to be coupled with something else. Continue reading for suggestions.

Performance evaluations:
You have to be careful with these. Most workers hate knowing that their performace is being evaluated constantly. These are most effective when the environment is positive. Eliminate the negative focus and focus more on positivity and learning.

Take for example, if a small part of a project was scrapped 2 days in due to the worker finding it too difficult or not-feasible. Instead of wrapping your head around why they wasted 2 days of company time on something impossible, focus on what they may have learned from what they worked on, and if any of their new knowledge may further the rest of the project in any way.

Be sure that evaluations are done in a relaxing environment. Offer coffee and donuts or other light fare, keep the door open, and seat them in a comfy chair. It goes a long way - and that's experience talking. If they've had outstanding performance, then consider offering a prize/bonus (nothing too expensive/elaborate though).

Effort rewards:
These are used synonymously with performance evaluations. These don't have to be anything too significant, and can be given to a team as a whole. If the team has shown some good performance for the past week or so, take them all out to dinner at some place nice but casual (optional: pool-tables, karaoke or other games may help enhance the fun). Tell them to leave their PDA's and laptops at home, and come just to relax and have a good time. This quite often raises team spirit and can also raise their respect for management. If you feel that an individual deserves a reward, give it to them privately, and make sure it isn't worth too much bragging about.

One-on-One:
Much like a performance evaluation, but different. Instead of monitoring individual performance, only monitor team performance. With a One-on-One, you speak to each team member individually, and have them report to you on how they think they are doing. With this, they can set their own goals, and put plans in place that fit with them, which eases their levels of stress. As with a performance eval, keep the environment relaxed and follow the guidelines mentioned in for performance evaluations.

General tactics:
Here are some general leadership and motivation tactics to help out:
* Don't assign impossible tasks. As well, don't assign a task and then change it without due reason. Undue changes will cause your workers to lose confidence in your abilities.
* Comfort counts. If during the summer months your workers are constantly overheating, spend the money to get each of them a desk-sized oscillating fan and offer them cold drinks periodically. During winter months, offer them coffee to warm them up from the cold. Minimal expendadures such as those can do wonders to raise productivity.
* Keep yourself motivated. An unmotivated leader will demoralize everyone.
* If someone is in a slump, work with them to get them back on track. Maybe they just need a talking to, in which you should remind them of their past successes. Perhaps they need a little time off. Being treated well and like a human being will garner a sense of loyalty. Nothing can be more valuable to a company than a loyal worker.

Good luck. If you need any more tips, feel free to email me.

Reward them

[np_bernstein]

You want your people to work harder? Make them:

1. understand how what they are doing impacts things
2. give them projects that they enjoy
3. encourage them to make their own projects
4. set aside money to encourage things:
        "steve, I wanted to let you know we appreciated you staying late and working on x last week, so we put $300 extra in your paycheck"
5. have them interact w/ people outside of dev. If your developers interact with customers they understand how what they're doing impacts things and they get to see the rewards of people being satisfied by their good work.

Oh, and say "Thank you".... a lot.

6. Lastly: Ask them what you could to to make their job better and more productive.

Some Ideas for a better Motivation

[Tux2000]

"Managing programmers is like herding cats", so think "cats":

• Cats love NEW toys, so do many programmers. All this shiny new stuff with those shiny cases, fancy buttons, wheels, displays, and new features (drool). If you can't give them the money, give them their new toys. Some toys that may be useful later (like a new compact PC or a hackable NAS), some toys that are just for their private fun (like iPods, but they are OLD toys). Look at thinkgeek.com for a lot of toys ...
• Relaxed dress code. Do you know those old ladys carrying their mini-dogs in fancy dresses (dog-cinderella, dog-ballerina, dog-barbie, ...)? Did you ever see a cat wearing such a stupid dress (for more than 5 minutes)? Allow (almost) any dress that covers the private parts, because pin striped suits are at least as stupid as those dog ballerina dresses for real programmers.
• Cats aren't always hunting, they spend a lot time of the day relaxing. For me, having some time for surfing slashdot.org, heise.de, freshmeat.net, and cpan.org is very relaxing, and I always took that time.
• Cats can play with almost anything, sometimes, a leaf can be a toy for half an hour. Allow smaller, private projects. I built a web-controlled FM radio from an ISA radio card, an old PC and some Linux tools. It is now running for years and anyone in the team can control it from his computer.

Also have a look at Googles way of motivating their "cats".

Tux2000

Ugh!!!

[Ed Almos]

The last place I worked at had a bonus scheme, the only problem was that performance levels were set impossibly high and the resulting bonus worked out at about 5% of your pay. I finally realized that it wasn't worth the stress, gray hair and ulcers so I just did my job and didn't bother busting a gut for little reward.

Here's a hint, if you want to setup a bonus scheme then ask your staff what they want as rewards.

Ed Almos

Little things mean a lot.

[Phreakiture]

Say hello to your employees every morning, individually, greeting them by their name. Take fifteen minutes and walk the cube farm, stopping at each employee's cube. Say hello. Banter for a moment. Do not discuss work in these rounds unless it is an emergency; it will spoil the effect.

When an employee does well, recognise this. You don't have to give them anything physical, but a public "thank you" at the next departmental meeting can be very valueable, especially if your boss is there.

Don't do stupid shit. For example, if you've been providing broadband to people's homes to enable working remotely, don't cut it off while still spending $$$ on conference calls. It pisses people off. If you need to cut (hey, it happens), cut evenly.

Provide your employees with some space to socialise, and don't prevent them from doing so. It makes the workplace more bearable.

Offer to take employees to lunch once in a while. Don't make it a CLM if they decline.

Greet new employees with a welcome luncheon. Send off departing employees with a farewell luncheon. It gives everyone a chance to say hello and goodbye.

Don't hold meetings unless they are needed and productive. Nothing kills morale like wasting time in a meeting where nothing pertains to you.

Find a way to dispatch your employees' complaints efficiently, effectively, and reasonably. If it is something you can't do anything about, at least give the employee a sympathetic ear.

Go to bat for your people.