Week 11: Your a Rising Star - By Jack Gaines

“The beating will continue until moral increases” - USMC 'tongue n cheek phrase'

Motivation, misguided or well targeted, has an enormous impact on the staff. Martin, and Schmidt (2010) describe common mistakes for developing corporate talent. As companies grow, it is critical that employees maintain that intrinsic notion that their efforts make a direct effect on a companies profits or losses loses (Ryan, R., and Deci, E. 2000). It is critical for senior leaders, then, to developing a process for spotting and developing potential talent.



From the Cartoon "Dilbert"

Often organizations that have no standardized process will rely on leadership-in-place for recommendations on who is the rising star of the organization. In order to ensure that talent is spotted and developed, it is critical for senior leadership to enforce guidelines that develop a healthy work environment. Below are recommendations for people in direct supervisory roles to ensure that people remain embedded in the organization and motivated to work (Giang, V. 2012):

1. Make a personal connection with your workers.
2. Let them know their skills are needed.
3. Make them feel like they have ownership in the company.
4. Tell them their work contributes to a bigger picture in some way.
5. Treat each one of them differently from one another.
6. Give constructive criticism — begin with their strengths, discuss weaknesses, then close with strengths again.
7. Support their creative endeavors.
8. Make sure they understand their chances in upward mobility.

In week 1, I wrote on Mr. Russel Holland on how leadership needs to develop and motivate people both individually and as an organization to ensure that all employees understand the organizations goals and what they must do to achieve them, “Anytime a job must be accomplished that is not popular or pleasant, a manager must address the employee as an individual and determine if the power of personality can motivate the individual or "force" (formal authority) must be used” (Gaines, J.H. September 2012).

Though I agree with Martin, and Schmidt's article on testing candidates for “ability, engagement, and asperation” (Martin, J., and Schmidt, C. 2010), I also believe that all staff should be tested for those same talents in hopes of discovering talent to become a rising star.

References

Gaines, J.H. (19 September 2012). Week 1: Modern Management: Examples of Leadership. CMGT500: Managing Communication FA12A Blog. Retrieved from http://cmgt500fa12a.blogspot.de/2012/09/modern-management-examples-of-leadership.html

Giang, V. (11 November 2012). Here are the major signs that an employee is losing motivation. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-do-when-employees-lose-motivation-tim-muma-local-job-network-moving-up-the-ladder-2012-11

Martin, J., and Schmidt, C. (2010). How to Keep Your Top Talent. Harvard Business Review

Ryan, R., and Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology. No. 25, pp. 54-67 (full article)