by Paula Godar
Neglecting any employees' needs can be detrimental to an organization's success, but recognition can dramatically improve employee performance.
A 2007 Maritz employee engagement poll identified six different supervisor personality profiles and their effects on employee engagement and customer loyalty.
Profiles of Super Managers
The Caring Mentor stood out at encouraging high employee-performance levels. Some 81 percent of respondents identified the Caring Mentor as a managerial Superman because this type of manager possesses similar characteristics to the American cultural icon.
Caring Mentors are highly relational and greatly appreciated by their direct reports. Honesty is one of their strongest attributes. They are cheerful, generous, friendly and flexible. Employees under Caring Mentors have the strongest affinity for customers. Also, employees with Caring Mentor bosses are more likely to stay with a company long term and recommend their company to others.
Unfortunately, only 26 percent of employees have Caring Mentors, which means 74 percent of employees have a less than ideal manager.
The most common type of boss isn't a villain. This person falls in the Respectable Professional category for 29 percent of employees. Employees view them with respect and believe them to be honest and reliable. However, Respectable Professionals are task-driven and conduct business operations efficiently, only displaying flexibility when required. These bosses tend to maintain a professional distance and fail to make the company a fun place to work.
Some 19 percent of employees have the Win-at-Any-Cost manager. Tough, controlling and ruthless, these supervisors aren't seen as ethical, honest or intelligent. In fact, most direct reports characterize them as inconsistent and clueless. These managers have the lowest employee engagement.
Seen as tough, controlling and task driven, the Taskmaster is not cheerful or peaceful, but focused on achieving goals. Some 10 percent of employees categorize their supervisors as such. The Taskmaster rates higher on both ethics and competence, but doesn't engender much employee loyalty.
The 9 percent of employees who rate their supervisors as Likeable Losers do not respect this type of manager. They are seen as incompetent and inconsistent despite their wholesomeness and charm.
At first, the Glad Handler manager seems friendly and flexible. But the Glad Handler still is rated the second-worst type of manager. Recognized as dishonest, unreliable, clueless and uncaring, some 7 percent of employees categorize their boss as such.
To encourage more Super Manager behavior, managers must understand the need for employee recognition and then learn how. In a 2005 Maritz buyers research study, HR managers reported their top need regarding recognition is manager training, which can be done via train-the-trainer workshops, for example.
But recognition training only can be successful if the employee receiving recognition finds it personally fulfilling. Employees may appear similar or easily grouped into basic demographic segments such as generations, but what motivates them likely is very different. To have the most impact, break recognition down to the individual level.
Superpowers in Action
Recently, entertainment restaurant Dave and Buster's wanted to improve its rewards and recognition program to foster better employee engagement and improve the customer experience. The program did not have the right rewards mix to motivate Gen X and Gen Y staff.
The company created the Most Valuable Producer (MVP) points-bank program. Simple and easy for managers to use, the MVP program offered a wide range of awards and redemption methods tailored to different employee demographics.
The MVP program also included a heavy communications push that targeted each individual employee. Using MVP, the company saw a significant decrease in employee turnover, managers embraced the opportunity to recognize their employees and managers, and employees bonded and became more engaged.
Empowering managers to listen to their people, understand their differences and apply the right rewards-and-recognition mix can maximize motivation-related investments and ensure managers are being Super Managers - as long as there's no kryptonite lying around the office.
[About the Author: Paula Godar is director of business development for Maritz.]
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