Understanding Staff Motivation

Building a Great Culture

Objectives

1. To reflect on the importance of motivation

2. To understand the cycle that can lead to demotivation

3. To consider the options a leader can take when staff are demotivated

4. To consider the Maslow pyramid and its relevance in school

5. To consider the implications of the Hawthorne Experiments

6. To reflect on the 9 beliefs of great leaders

7. To reflect on the ways of supporting the motivation of middle leaders

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Why is looking at motivation an important thing for leaders to do?

Let’s look at some facts.

• 21 million ‘suspect sickies’ cost UK economy £1.6bn (Guardian 10.04.07)

• Public sector absence is 44% higher than in the private sector

• The cost implications to a school can be conservatively placed at £200 per day lost

• Supply staff; re-allocation of staff; re-scheduling of work

• Does anyone enjoy teaching cover lessons?

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And most importantly, the impact that poorly motivated staff have on students’ attainment, and student & staff morale?

The Impact of Motivation on Performance

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Q1. Have you seen this with colleagues?

Discuss with people on your table if and when you have seen anyone at your school go through this cycle.

What do you think caused it?

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The Impact of Motivation on Performance

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Q2. What options do you have a leader when a teacher becomes an underperformer?

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You may have a teacher who has gone from being a learner (maybe 30 years ago), to a performer (they were very good up until a few years ago), to being demotivated and are now underperforming.

What actions can you take?

What are the alternatives?

Being proactive

Of course it is best to be in a position where a teacher doesn’t slip into being an underperformer if possible.

This is where an understanding of actions that you take that can act as a catalyst for teachers remaining motivated can be of great use.

What we ideally want to do is keep the teacher in the “performer” quadrant where they are motivated and their skills are high.

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Maslow

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Q3. Applying the Maslow pyramid to your school experience

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Have you got any teachers at your school who do not have their physiological and safety needs met?

How about some of the children? Are there some who do not have any or all of these:

•sufficient food,

•adequate clothing,

•the feeling of being protected,

•stability,

•freedom from violence and

•routine and order

The question now is what can we do as leaders to motivate staff?

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And the answer is nothing!

Motivation comes from inside a person.

But as leaders we can have a big impact on how motivated someone feels.

We will look further into the things that we can do now.

The Hawthorne Experiments

The Hawthorne experiments, as they came to be known, involved adjusting the working conditions of actual employees (6 female workers over 5 years) to see what effect lighting, rest periods, piecework, methodology, etc. would have on output.

The study was based at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company in Chicago in the1920’s and the results were as shown on the next slide.

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Activity 1. Hawthorne Experiments - Changes and Results

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Changes in working conditions Results

Day work to piece work Increased output

Five-minute rest periods morning and afternoon

Increased output

Rest period increased to ten minutes Greatly increased output

Six five-minute rest periodsOutput fell: workers explained that their work rhythm was interrupted

Return to two rest periods the first with a free hot meal

Increased output

Workers permitted to go home at 4:30 instead of 5:00 pm

Increased output

All improvements in working conditions rescinded. Workers returned to 48 hour week with no rest periods, no piece work and no free meals

?????

What do you think happened in the final box when things were returned to normal? You can work on this in your PRM.

Considerations from the Hawthorne Experiments

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People are motivated by psychological conditions more than physical working condition.

A worker’s motivation can be increased more by showing an interest in them and making them feel important rather than changing working conditions.

Work is a group activity, team work can increase a worker’s motivation as it allows people to form strong working relationships and increases trust between the workers.

The importance of beliefs

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“The outer conditions of a person's life will always be found to reflect their inner beliefs”

James Allen

“If you wish others to believe in you, you must first convince them that you believe in them”

Harvey MacKay

Activity 2. Nine key beliefs of an effective leader

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In your PRM you will find a table with nine key beliefs which it has been found that great leaders have and use to stimulate motivation in staff.

For example, one of these is “Your belief in others will affect their motivation and their performance.”

Work through these and decide what actions you can take to make people aware that these are beliefs you have.

You can use this exercise back in your school with your leadership team so that you can all decide how to take action to demonstrate these beliefs to staff.

Supporting middle leaders

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Research shows that highly motivated middle leaders often have support from the school in terms of dealing with other staff.

In many schools this is often ignored with an assumption that middle leaders will learn these skills themselves (or sink!)

Activity 3. Supporting middle leaders

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Highly motivated middle leaders say;

1. My school ensures that line-managers support middle leaders to resolve conflict between staff

2. My school provides middle leaders with sufficient support to help them deal with people management issues

3. My school is committed to helping middle leaders to acquire good people skills

4. My school provides sufficient training to help middle leaders to develop people management skills

In your PRM consider each of these statements and the action you might now take that will enable all middle leaders in your school to feel supported in this way.

Summary on motivation

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1. You cannot motivate others

2. You are the biggest influence, though, in supporting the motivation of others

3. Understanding staff is critical

4. Use affiliative and coaching styles of leadership with staff

5. Work on demonstrating to others the nine key beliefs

6. Support middle leaders to become effective in dealing with people.

Plenary

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What action will you now take based on what you have learnt in this unit?