A business cannot make much progress unless a fundamental change in the employees’ attitudes is brought about. Your employees have to be actually motivated to perform. You can only force them to do an average job, but when they are motivated, you cannot stop them from doing an excellent job.

Here is a step-by-step approach to establish a motivated team of employees:

Step1. Create a mission statement

The owners of the organization have to first define and establish a mission statement that they believe in. This step cannot be delegated to any employee. An example: “We value love and creativity and we work to create a rich and expansive lifestyle through providing the best possible service.” - Takashimaya, Japanese department store chain

Mission statements, although proven to be effective, are yet to gain widespread acceptance. Many a large corporation lacks a mission statement. This is one of the main reasons for many businesses to fail. Management guru Peter Drucker says, “That business purpose and business mission are so rarely given adequate thought is perhaps the most important single cause of business frustration and failure.”

Step 2. Establish a long term and short term business plan

Once a mission statement is established, the senior management team should establish long term and short term business plans. Just as we do not have a purpose of the organization’s existence without a mission statement, we will not have a goal and a path to follow if we do not have the long term and short term business plans. Therefore, this has to be prepared with enough detail.

Step 3. Educate all employees about the mission statement and the business plan

Managers should not only explain the mission statement, but also follow it and lead by example. Therefore, it is critical for a company to hire managers who are committed to the mission statement. The business plan should be made accessible to everyone. It will certainly help if the employees understand what part of the business plan he or she is going to affect and how they can contribute to its achievement.

Step 4. Develop a mutually beneficial plan with each employee

The key to motivating an employee is to help them achieve what they truly cherish and value. This may be a radical concept to many traditional managers. But people do not work only for money. Employees will love a place where they are recognized, respected and fairly compensated. As long as recognition, respect and compensation are in balance, it is unlikely that employees will leave a company dissatisfied.

Step 5. Evaluate all procedures in the light of your mission statement

Now that you have established basic motivation for your employees, it is now time for real change. Make sure you put together a structured approach to study every single thing your organization does and document it. This will not only help you organize your company, but also eliminate redundant things, and streamline existing processes.

Step 6. Eliminate/restructure non-conforming procedures

Make sure everything you do in your company is in line with what you believe in according to the written mission statement. For example, if your mission statement states honesty and integrity as some of its core values, it does not serve your business if you are using pirated software or if you are not paying proper taxes. It is important that your employees understand that you are not just paying lip service to the mission statement but are truly committed to it.

Step 7. Define goals clearly and monitor day-to-day operations

It is important that the long term goal is broken down into a series of short term goals, which are in turn broken into day-to-day tasks. Typically, an organization will have several long term goals and when they are broken down into simpler tasks, there will be hundreds of tasks to be performed at an individual employee level. Managing this is not easy. But with technology companies can now develop or buy software that can track all tasks from a central location.

Lastly, …

We entrepreneurs should lead the way in bringing about employee satisfaction. It is not only better for the organization, but it also a moral duty.

The author is one of the founders of Totally Productive Group, Inc., USA,, a firm that specializes in organizational development.
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