| To get the most out of any team, a coach must inspire his players to perform to the highest level they can. Similarly, a coach must motivate the team to bring the best out of his people every day. Golf course superintendents are coaches and our teams are our staffs. Every day we are challenged to spread a contagious enthusiasm to our teams in the golf course operations department. Motivating employees to keep up morale is essential to achieving your facility’s goals. An average level of productivity can be elevated significantly by utilizing a few psychology basics. I often reflect on lessons learned from my father – one day he showed me a copy of Psychology Today and told me to subscribe to it. He said: “Understanding people is what sets the great managers and leaders apart from others.” Anyone who has ever taken a basic psychology class will remember that people have basic needs. People have a basic need to: • Achieve • Be affiliated and • Have power. As it relates to golf course operations, people want to be a part of a team. They want to be able to progress in an organization and earn recognition. They want to move up in the hierarchy. And while not always elevating in their positions, they want to be respected for their knowledge, loyalty and experience. A superintendent should provide motivation or incentives for people to perform well on the job. No two people are alike and different things motivate different people. However, some commonalities exist. A primary concern of employees is the ability to balance work and family. Job security is the next highest-rated concern with earning a competitive salary coming in a close third. Survey company managers say money is a employee’s primary concern. It’s evident that not all department heads know what their employees want. Maybe that is the biggest problem since it is tough to motivate people if you don’t really know what is important to them. Different things motivate different people for different reasons to do different things. Through trial and error we find what generally works for a team, but then we need to customize that to each individual team member. Here are some examples of what might work best at your golf course. Money. An incentive for some people, money typically has a short-term effect on employees. A tactic that is much more effective is providing opportunities for increases in pay rates that are consistent and based upon solid performance reviews, potential promotions, validated skill level assessment, etc. Know that pay rates put into effect under duress are almost certain to have a short-term effect. Growth opportunity. Surveys indicate employees find it important to grow within their organization or department. Sadly, golf courses don’t always do a good job in this area. Some of the best teams I have seen allow opportunities to receive training and are encouraged to take on more skills, such as a spray or irrigation tech. Typically, money follows and compensation becomes more related to individual contribution to the facility’s success rather than seniority. Be sure training and growth are adequately documented and they allow the superintendent the ability to justify promotion to a greater level job description. Feeling appreciated. People want more than a paycheck. They want a feeling of being appreciated for doing a good job. There are a variety of techniques for effective praising. Praising. Praise people in public and let them feel good about others knowing they are doing a good job. Find people doing things right and too often managers are compelled to find their staff just doing things wrong. Tell your staff how it makes you feel when you do a good job. Praising can be as simple as a thumbs up, a smile or a pat on the back. Ultimately, the desired effect of praising is to reward the employee for work well done and provide encouragement to repeat similar behavior. Reprimanding. When reprimanding someone on your staff, it should be done only after collecting all of the facts. Speak to the individual in private and tell them what they did. Share how their actions impact the ability to achieve the goals of the organization. After stating the behavior to correct there should always be time to affirm past positive performance, as well. Feeling a part of the team. People want to be part of a winning team. They respond to having responsibility in a team atmosphere. Being a member of the team allows people the opportunity to achieve and possibly move up through the ranks. Interesting work. Very few people would enjoy raking bunkers or using a weedeater for their entire career. It is obvious that would be boring for most people. I have always preferred cross training people in a variety of skill sets. The broader the training, the more valuable the employee. I have often heard that golf clubs cannot afford to have a formal training program. I would counter and say you cannot afford to be without a formal program as you will pay the price for one in the long run with inefficiencies and an unmotivated team. Job security. In our current economy nobody wants to be without a job. Some of us grew up in a generation in which employees worked at facilities for their entire adult life. That may be a wonderful thing, but it is happening less and less. Part of that reason is a lack of career growth and interest on behalf of the employees. The other part is unmotivated staff members tend to only accomplish as much as they need to do to stay employed. As superintendents we need to do all we can do to inspire our people to be the best workers they can be and that will assist in providing job security. Working in a solid environment. Everyone wants to work in a safe environment with proper personal protection equipment and safe tools and equipment to work with. The ability to document safety training and preventing lost days to accidents is very meaningful to the staff. Facilities should be clean and well-organized. After all, your team spends 8-10 hours a day in and around your turf care center and they deserve to have safe and clean working conditions. Upon arriving at my last golf course superintendent job I asked my staff what some of their concerns were and the thing they wanted most was an additional refrigerator and couple more microwaves in the break room. It was done the next day and the staff was happy because management listened. I wish it was always that easy to motivate my team! Putting it all together. Great superintendents work hard to build bridges with their staff. Together we succeed or together we fail. It isn’t always easy but everyone on the team needs to work together and get along in the workplace. Anything less is not tolerable. At times, some of the staff will need a bit more special attention. If you have great crew members who work at a high-performance level then it is worth the little extra time to devote to them individually. However, we all have had more than a few problematic employees who take up a significant portion of our time. There is a difference between motivating and babysitting employees. If your return on investment with any team member is minimal, then it is time to re-evaluate who comprises your team. Make sure proper training is offered and taken advantage of. Good employees are provided adequate support to do their jobs at peak performance. The right tools, equipment and training allow for that. Be compassionate about your employees. We all have issues in our personal lives and some of it can impact our work situations. I remember an employee that was having a hard time getting to work on time on weekends. I had suspected he was out having a bit too much fun on the weekends. After speaking with him I found out that he took a bus to work and the bus schedule was undependable on the weekends. With a little compassion I was able to provide him with a later start on weekends to accomplish his tasks and there was never a problem with tardiness again. Sometimes a small accommodation for someone can provide big dividends. Finally, don’t evaluate people once a year during their review. Let them know on a daily basis what you think and how you like their performance. A smile goes a long way and words of praise can take you even further in your relationship with your staff. While I wish there was a motivational mold that would fit every staff member… there is not. But there are a number of approaches to inspire team members and motivate them to peak performance with a high level of enthusiasm. |
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