The Cycle of Motivation is Xceleration’s approach to designing and managing effective reward programs that help companies recognize, motivate, reward, and retain their top employees.
Employee recognition is how an organization shows appreciation for the contributions of its workers toward company performance and profitability. Recognition can take many forms and does not necessarily involve monetary compensation. Companies recognize employees for such things as achievements, performing above expectations, demonstrating desired behaviors, and milestones such as anniversaries.
Six-Step Process
The Cycle of Motivation is a six-step process Xceleration has proven through years of working with companies like yours. Let’s dive briefly into each of the steps.
Step 1: Communicate Desired Values and Behaviors
A company’s culture or values are the principles, beliefs, and goals that drive the company’s operations and stimulate employees to work together in a spirit of collaboration. Reasons to communicate corporate values include:
- To allow employees to make informed decisions and work confidently
- To Improve employee communication and provide guidance on protocols to follow
- To provide employee guidance on how to achieve company goals, which engages and motivates them to perform better
- To help the company hire and retain employees who have similar values
- To improve the company’s ability to attract clients with similar values
- To help the company attract prospective clients with whom the company can build sustainable relationships
- To improve the company’s ability to develop and convert leads
Step 2: Motivate Employees Through Messaging
Motivated employees are more likely to perform at a higher level. They are more committed to achieving quality work and being more productive.
A good way to boost motivation is to send motivational messages. Many employees are inspired by quotes from company leaders and leaders in business, sports, politics, and the arts.
Messages from senior leadership are particularly motivational. Hearing from people at the top boosts morale, improves productivity, increases employee satisfaction, and reduces anxiety and discontent.
Connecting employees to a purpose and making them feel part of the bigger picture provides long-lasting motivation. Studies have shown that employees are far more likely to be highly engaged in their work when connected to purpose by their leadership.
Step 3: Perform Desired Behaviors
Motivated, engaged employees work harder to excel in their roles. Studies have shown that companies with high employee engagement are 21% more profitable and 22% more productive than their peers.
Engagement drives performance at the individual level as well as execution on an organizational level. Engaged employees devote additional time, effort, and initiative toward company goals. They want to be part of the organization and consistently say positive things about the company to coworkers.
Step 4: Recognize Employees Formally for Their Efforts
Every employee needs to feel appreciated and recognized. More than two-thirds of employees (69%) say they would work harder if they felt more appreciated, and just over a third (37%) say that recognition is the most critical factor in job satisfaction.
Fortunately, there are endless options for recognizing employees for their efforts, from the day-to-day, informal and unplanned – such as verbal praise and positive feedback – to the formal and structured. Formal recognition is the foundation of a company’s recognition program and includes everything from performance reviews, to anniversary celebrations, to annual merit raises.
Step 5: Reward Employees
Rewards and incentives are the essential next step in your recognition program. These provide trophy value, or long-term meaning and memorability, for your recognition efforts. Rewards may be monetary, such as a bonus, or non-monetary, such as paid time off or a travel incentive.
The Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) found in a 2020 study that employees ranked cash bonuses as number one when asked what type of performance rewards they preferred. Yet, when asked what rewards gave them the highest job satisfaction and motivation to do their best work, cash bonuses didn’t rank even among the top five.
The reward and incentives considered the most satisfying and motivating were company-paid experiential rewards, including incentive travel, event tickets, outings for their family, extra paid PTO, and other such incentives.
Step 6: Repeat the Cycle as Engagement Increases
By communicating values and behaviors, motivating with messaging, giving employees a chance to engage and perform, recognizing their efforts, and rewarding their achievements, you’ve completed the first five steps of The Cycle of Motivation.
The sixth and final step is continually increasing the cycle’s impact by repeating it. Xceleration makes that easy with our proprietary RewardStation® web-based global recognition software.
RewardStation® aligns with your unique culture, values, and employee demographic to maximize engagement and ROI on recognition efforts.
The Right Partner
Having the right partner can make all the difference in the success of your engagement and recognition program.
Xceleration’s powerful software platform is backed by experienced professionals who help businesses like yours create customized recognition programs that engage, motivate, and reward.
Contact us today to learn how we can equip your business with the tools you need for a cost-effective employee recognition program with impact.