The nine types of employees and how to

motivate them
As a boss, understanding those who work for you and what makes them shine is
essential

Leaders often know instinctively that if you want staff to be their best, they
need the right motivation. And those feelings are correct: Hay group
research showed that highly engaged employees are 50% more likely to exceed
their performance targets.
Whether its Maslows hierarchy of needs or Hertzbergs motivation-hygiene
theory, evidence suggests success and happiness is determined by whether
your individual motivators are being met, and thats not necessarily all about
money.
According to motivational expert James Sale, we have our own unique blend
ofmotivators. By identifying these nine motivators in your team and adapting
your leadership style to each employee, you will be able to better engage staff
to succeed in their roles. Here are the nine types of worker:

The defender
This worker seeks security, predictability and stability. They like stable, well
established organisations, giving clear roles with a set routine and career
paths. Boosting their motivation involves regular communication.
Leaders should communicate, communicate, communicate to these workers
especially good news about the organisation and how its doing. Being given
accurate information frequently is highly motivating for them. Regular
briefings, even emails to keep them in the loop, are useful. They want
continuity from a manager. Tell them in writing what you expect from them,
link goal achievement to security and support them through periods of
change. Reward and value their loyalty and faithful service.

The friend
They seek belonging, friendships and fulfilling relationships. This worker likes
organisations and roles with a strong team ethos, excellent social activities and
opportunities for helping others. They are motivated when they feel

supported, consulted and involved. Create a good social working environment

they like social events, a personalised approach and a people-centred
culture. They also value it if you publicly stick up for them. Regularly ask
them, What do you think about X? and take them into your confidence.

The star
They seek recognition, respect and social esteem. They like visible perks that
link to their position, clear hierarchical structures, job titles and the
opportunity to shine. Motivate them with awards and status. Feed their need
to be recognised by involving them in projects, providing clear career
progression and regularly reviewing their targets and goals. They particularly
value positive feedback and they love good publicity, so when they achieve
ambitious targets, reward them in a visible way.

The director
They seek power, influence and control over people and resources. This type of
employee likes management or leadership roles with clear and visible
responsibility for people and resources, and promotion and career prospects.
Give them responsibility and influence, give them a mentor and find
opportunities for them to deputise they like being stretched. Give them a job
title that reflects power they will find this motivating. Training or coaching
to help them achieve gives them a boost too.

The builder
Seeks money, material satisfactions and above-average living. They like
performance and reward to be strongly linked, are drawn to professions with
above average pay and visible routes to promotion. This is the one employee
type who is strongly motivated by money and material perks. They are
energised when they have a clear career path and plan, regular progress
reviews and increasing responsibility. You need to set them clear goals and
link them to rewards, especially financial ones. Engage their competitive spirit
with games, sporting activities and competitions these will all boost their
motivation.

The expert
This employee seeks knowledge, mastery and specialisation. They like roles
requiring specialist knowledge and skill, and are motivated by environments

where personal development leads to formal recognition of expertise. Their

motivational hot button is training and development, especially when training,
coaching or mentoring is linked to promotion. They are motivated by
ambitious targets and being a guide or mentor to others as they like
opportunities to share their expertise and specialise in areas of interest.
Encourage them to connect with other experts and further boost their
expertise.

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The creator
Seeks innovation, creativity and change. They like problem solving,
development work in cutting edge, innovative organisations or challenging
environments. Involve them in ideas generation, giving them problems to
solve and projects that need originality. Recognise their creativity by
rewarding them for innovation. Avoid putting them in a routine role for too
long as they get bored easily and become quickly demotivated. The more
stimulating environment you can provide, the better; shaking up the office and
creating a space for brainstorming gives them a boost.

The spirit
This worker seeks freedom, independence and autonomy. They like roles
offering freedom where they control their own time, can make their own
decisions and use their discretion. You can motivate them by sharing the
company vision and goals, delegating responsibility and allowing them to
work autonomously. Support them to understand their values and clarify their
vision for their life and work. Restrictions, rules and procedures can
demotivate them as they hate bureaucracy. Be clear and specific about their
objectives; avoid micro-management, but create clear boundaries to give them
the freedom they need.

The searcher
Seeks meaning, purpose and wants to make a difference. They like purposeful
organisations and are motivated by learning, caring-orientated roles and
projects, often with consumer-facing opportunities. Their top motivations are
praise and regular feedback. They are energised by linking their goals to the
wider team or organisational goals and receiving feedback on how they are
making a difference. Give them significant, important work, variety and help
them see the bigger picture.

Identifying types
There are individual profiling tools such as Motivational Maps that define
types and measure motivation, or alternatively you may spot certain traits in
your team. Using such insight, management can really understand what
makes their employees tick and how they need to behave to fix energy levels
COACHING

7 Ways
Development
to Improve
Programs
Employee
Keith Ferrazzi
JULY 31, 2015

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7 Ways to Improve Employee Development Programs
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Making the right investments in learning and development programs has

never been more important or more of a challenge for business leaders.
Unfortunately, despite spending approximately $164.2 billion dollars on
learning and development programs, many executives still grapple with how
to improve and enhance their effectiveness. As research shows, the need to
revamp and improve learning programs is an important concern among HR
executives.

To better understand this problem, my consulting firm did a thorough review

of recent research into learning and development programs, followed by a
structured survey with top training executives at 16 major corporations in a
diverse set of industries, ranging in size from $1 billion to $55 billion in
annual revenues. To understand how providers of training and development
view these challenges, we also interviewed leaders of executive education
programs at several leading universities.
From this research, weve observed seven challenges companies must meet
to create development programs that really work:
1. Ignite managers passion to coach their employees. Historically,
managers passed on knowledge, skills, and insights through coaching and
mentoring. But in our more global, complex, and competitive world, the role
of the manager has eroded. Managers are now overburdened with
responsibilities. They can barely handle what theyre directly measured on,
let alone offer coaching and mentoring. Organizations need to support and
incentivize managers to perform this work.
2. Deal with the short-shelf life of learning and development
needs. It used to be that what you learned was valuable for years, but now,
knowledge and skills can become obsolete within months. This makes the
need to learn rapidly and regularly more important than ever. This requires
organizations to rethink how learning and development happens from a
once-in-a-while activity, to a more continuous, ongoing campaign. As Annette
Thompson, Senior Vice President & Chief Learning Officer at Farmers
Insurance pointed out in an interview, avoiding information overload is vital,
so organizations must strike a balance between giving the right information
versus giving too much.
3. Teach employees to own their career development. Highlystructured, one-size-fits-all learning programs dont work anymore.
Individuals must own, self-direct, and control their learning futures. Yet they
cant do it alone, nor do you want them to. The development and growth of
your talent is vital to your ongoing success, ability to innovate, and overall
productivity. Its a delicate balance, one Don Jones, former Vice President,
Learning at Natixis Global Asset Management summarized like this: We
need to have customized solutions for individuals, while simultaneously
providing scale and cost efficiencies across the organization, he said.
4. Provide flexible learning options. Telling employees they need to
engage in more learning and development activities with their already heavy
workload often leaves them feeling overwhelmed and consumed by the
question, When and how will I find the time? Companies must respond by
adopting on-demand and mobile solutions that make learning opportunities
more readily accessible for your people.

5. Serve the learning needs of more virtual teams. While most

organizations have more people working remotely and virtually, it does
require more thought and creativity in how to train this segment of your
workforce. This includes formal types of learning through courses, but also
the informal mentoring and coaching channels. Just because employees are
out of sight doesnt mean they get to be out-of-mind when it comes to
learning and development.
6. Build trust in organizational leadership. People crave transparency,
openness, and honesty from their leaders. Unfortunately, business leaders
continue to face issues of trust. According to a survey by the American
Psychological Association, one in four workers say they dont trust their
employer, and only about half believe their employer is open and upfront
with them. If leaders disengage or refuse to share their own ongoing learning
journeys, how can they expect their people to enthusiastically pursue theirs?
Its the old adage of lead by example. If managers want employees to
engage in learning and development, then they need to show that they are
actively pursuing their own personal learning journeys as well.
7. Match different learning options to different learning styles. With
five generations actively in the workforce, organizations must restructure the
way employees learn and the tools and activities they use to correctly match
the different styles, preferences, and expectations of employees. For
example, Millennials came of age using cell phones, computers, and video
game consoles, so they expect to use these technologies to support their
learning activities.
As leaders, we know the value our learning and development programs bring
to our organizations. But we also want to ensure were receiving a high
return on investment. By clearly understanding the trends emerging in our
learning and development programs, well better position our companies to
select the right targeted solutions to drive results, increase employee
engagement, and increase innovation and productivity.