Motivation of employees affect customer service standards

In energising the team to deliver superior customer service, managers have a difficult but crucial role to play. They must be seen to be personally committed to customer service, to practise what they preach. They need to create an environment where processes are customer-driven and where standards are set to deliver a consistent level of service. They need to train and develop their staff and involve everyone in focusing on the customer. They must encourage excellence without peering over people's shoulders, build motivation and commitment, and measure, review and reward performance. Furthermore, they often have to manage performance in an environment where staff numbers may have been reduced and more is expected from those who remain.

We have probably all experienced service delivered rom poorly motivated staff. Signs of lack of motivation include apathy, indifference, lack of ownership of problems, poor performance and poor time keeping, uncooperative attitude and unwillingness to change.

Motivation is a complex area of human energy and behaviour. There are many theories of motivation, but the underlying themes seem to be:

• Motivation comes from within; it is drawn out of individuals not imposed on them
• Motivation is multi-dimensional and there is no single universal definition, true for all time and all people
• Somethings motivate and encourage extra effort; others only cause dissatisfaction by their absence
• Clear goals are in aid to motivation: they enable individuals to know what to aim for, and feedback gives an energising sense of progress

8 motivators/ desires

1. Activity- people want to be active and involved.
2. Ownership- owning things makes people feel better about themselves.
3. Power- people want to control their destiny, they don't want to feel powerless over external forces shaping their lives.
4. Affiliation- social support and helping relationships among the many benefits provided by work.
5. Competence- this is the core of self-esteem, people welcome opportunities to feel more competent.
6. Achievement- it is important for us to succeed at something, under the right conditions, employees will be willing ton work hard an overcome obstacles t achieve a goal.
7. Recognition- people want to feel appreciated by others and be positively recognised for their efforts, recognition is a powerful force which has the capabilities to unleash energy and motivation.
8. Meaning- people want a reason for doing something, they want reassurance that their efforts, however small, are making a difference.