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| Motivation, motivation, motivation
| PAUL SAVERY
Head of Corporate Banking, Barclays Private Clients International |
IN THESE enlightened times where legislation governs so many elements of employment it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate any particular organisation from the vast majority of employers who generally offer a reasonable package of pay, conditions and benefits to their staff.
In order to truly be an employer of choice it is necessary to draw on the very best ideas and the leading thinking on the way in which the workplace is structured and the most creative ways of motivating and rewarding members of staff so that they perform extraordinarily. At Barclays this happens in a number of ways. For example, under our Eagle Achievers scheme employees can be nominated by their managers or their peers to be recognised for exemplary behaviour demonstrated in dealings with customers, team members or colleagues. The top, or ‘platinum’, prize for this is an international trip for the achiever and their partner. This as well as the gold, silver and bronze awards certainly provides employees with something more tangible to consider and aspire to as they go about their day-to-day business.
While the concept of a bonus for rewarding performance is nothing new, our experience is that financial remuneration is not the only motivator and Eagle Achievers provides a wide range of rewards through recognising those members of staff who have acted above and beyond the call of duty with specific projects, working with other colleagues or helping out customers in general.
Aligning rewards to performance in this way is part of the ethos we have adopted as a High Performance Organisation (HPO). This affects all areas of recruitment, employment and assessment by providing a framework of performance objectives that all members of staff can strive to achieve in their dealings with colleagues and clients. Becoming a fully-fledged HPO is ultimately about driving performance upward and, of course, good performance requires good people.
Good people will take ownership over the organisation’s corporate objectives, be they customer service or, as in Barclays’ case, also a focus on the community. The strong initiatives that have been put in place at group level have been the catalyst in provoking members of our staff in Jersey to dedicate time and energy to a whole range of activities that take the bank deep into the local community.
Schemes include £4£ where any funds raised through a staff initiative for a worthy local cause are equally matched by the bank. Jersey initiatives have included providing much-needed library books for a special needs school and purchasing new kit for the local branch of the RNLI, as well as working side by side with the community to stage a fundraising family fun day.
Such motivation is perhaps surprising, when there is sometimes a perception that finance industry employees in the Island are self-absorbed, high earning individuals who give little thought to where they fit into the local community. On the contrary, this high level of commitment and community-conscious approach should not be undervalued.
Peter Drucker is an internationally acclaimed management guru. Since 1939 he has written 24 highly regarded books and journals on the art of professional management and to quote him: ‘The ability to make good decisions regarding people represents one of the last reliable sources of competitive advantage, since very few organisations are very good at it.’ Sobering thought
That’s a sobering thought in these days when organisations pride themselves on their focus on customer service. An HPO will hire and motivate the best people – not just the first person to respond to the job advertisement or turn up for an interview. This may mean a more rigorous interviewing and induction process, but the payback is staff retention, ensuring a consistency of service, stability in the workplace and loyal employees. The objective is to attract exceptionally talented employees who are ambitious, hardworking, committed and focused and who are passionate about making a difference. Barclays’ goal is to raise the performance bar and achieve higher levels of overall capability. A structured system of monitoring is likely to be in place in any HPO, For example reviewing an employees performance on as regular basis and getting Feedback, from managers, fellow members of staff as well as customers helps to build a more rounded picture of how an individual’s performance is perceived and helps employees to reach a self-assessment of their own performance in which they question whether they are truly being stretched. In today’s business world yesterday’s performance is tomorrow’s minimum performance level. But, we appreciate that not every employee’s destiny is to become a top performer – fewer than half may even be strong performers. What we want to achieve is the best infrastructure in which each individual can reach his or her full potential. Where room for improvement is identified, training support, coaching and development will be offered to assist employees to reach their true potential. It is important to stress, also, that these criteria do not apply to just lower grade employees, but to all levels, including management within an organisation. All of the above should improve the effectiveness of the delivery of the organisation’s products and services and this enhanced value can’t fail to improve its market position. It’s good for the workforce, good for the management, good for the industry, and, above all, good for our customers.
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