Week 7: Assignment (Reaction Paper): Workplace Leadership and Employee Motivation
Workplace leadership inspires and motivates employees to achieve their best. Llopis (2012) begins with thought-provoking questions about the sources of employee motivation at the individual level. He challenges managers to balance motivation initiatives in all areas of operation. Further, the author encourages leaders to go beyond assessing employees’ motivation levels and understand workers personally to realize their motivations. Hence, once managers understand the motivation types of their team, they can motivate them to achieve group objectives. Positive results are achievable when leaders form proper relationships with their workers. Llopis advises managers to use a list of nine points that motivate employees. Besides various approaches that can inspire an employee, Llopis summarizes nine critical aspects that can be applied to motivate employees to achieve organizational goals.
Leaders who read and understand the lessons are most likely to motivate their employees to reach positive results from their efforts. One of the lessons is creating trustworthy leadership to gain the employees’ confidence. The leader is encouraged to communicate with workers openly to gain their support in achieving organizational objectives. The second lesson is the need to be relevant by recognizing the employees’ efforts. Leaders must be involved and understand their teams to develop skills and aptitude. The manager should encourage followers to achieve results beyond the organization’s expectations.
Moreover, managers should provide opportunities for career advancement as a source of motivation to achieve better results. Llopis (2012) challenges leaders to encourage their employees to reach the highest level in their careers to avoid regrets and a feeling of guilt. A promise of a stable future is another source of motivation in organizations. The leader should understand the employees’ motivation sources to avoid self-indulgence which can create short-term pleasures and long-term problems. In addition, the author proposes managers dedicate efforts to create a happy environment as the greatest motivator and encourage employees to work with dedication to leave a sustainable impact.
The author has also shared critical information and lessons that leaders should adopt to motivate their employees for personal and organizational achievements, including the importance of building a strong team. According to Llopis (2012), several researchers have explored the topic and written books on their findings. While most of the literature is based on assessment procedures to establish the level of motivation, the article prescribes important lessons that leaders should follow to increase the level of motivation. In addition, the author includes other approaches, such as recognizing employees’ efforts and avoiding self-indulgence to ensure that followers are motivated in the long term.
The article not only reveals the importance of motivation in an organization but also provides details to leaders who want to increase the level of enthusiasm among employees. It is a manual for managers to inspire and develop effective employees. Since motivation is a critical factor for organizations, leaders can benefit from the information shared in the article. The author provides insights for short-term initiatives while supporting leadership development in the long term. Therefore, the article will be useful as it helps to understand the concepts and benefits of working with people when building a successful workplace. The information reveals the most important elements of motivation which might not be taught in many schools.
References
Llopis, G. (2012). The top 9 things that ultimately motivate employees to achieve. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/06/04/top-9-things-that-ultimately-motivate-employees-to-achieve/#587d2bef257e
