By Sharon Ho-Sang

Employers would like to have employees who are fired up about their jobs, as workers are the engines of organisational success. They drive the organisation to position itself competitively in the market-place. This drive is fuelled by a passion that is critical for organisational growth and development; necessary for garnering feedback that can be used to craft strategies and which activates behaviour and gives it direction towards achieving positive results.

It is this passion that motivates employees to solve problems and become excellent billboards for advertising the company. It sharpens their creative and innovative skills and helps them to deliver excellent products and services to customers, while generating large profits for shareholders. When employees are fired up about their jobs, there is usually a high level of job satisfaction and satisfied employees make successful organisations.

Organisations are successful when their long term strategic goals are identified through efficient, ongoing business planning processes; when they get employee buy-in to the strategic direction; when they know that their strategies are not pre-set and calculated but have emerged based on the problems to be solved and when these organisations recognise the difference between intended and realised strategies. Such organisations have the ability to co-ordinate teams and departments to be interdependent and share resources to reach a common goal fundamental to creating ‘value’.

To form behaviour that converts into productive energy and create value, employers must find ways to energize their employees. They must provide the incentive which cultivates the desired behaviour necessary to produce quality out-put at all times. Twyla Dell, Speaker and Consultant, in An Honest Day’s Work 1988, states “The heart of motivation is to give people what they really want most for work. The more you are able to provide what they want, the more you should expect what you really want, namely: productivity, quality and services.�

Employers must have the driving force to propel employees to plan, perform and achieve for themselves, customers and the organisation. That driving force is needed to foster better relationships among all stakeholders, to cause employees to feel empowered and ‘unleashed,’ so that they can be creative and reach their potential. There must be the desire to achieve, combined with the energy to work towards those goals.

Creating such a stimulating environment works positively for the organisation by enabling employees to understand and deliver the objectives. It is essential that employers be resourceful in providing direction, co-ordination, support, development and constantly motivate employees to cultivate value that gives organisations the competitive advantage over their rivals.

Competitive advantage is having a superior position over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and services that justify higher prices. It enables organisations to create greater value for their customers and greater profits for themselves. However, organisations can only attain this position by paying attention to their human capital that transforms into value for their stakeholders.

It is clear that employees who do the work are engines of organisational development; and changes in organisational structure, processes and technology are not likely to add value aimed at giving companies competitive advantage without the input of human knowledge, skills and behaviour. Therefore, it should be the prime focus of the employers to get their employees fired up, because such workers have the capacity to dream, design and give life and meaning to the organisation. They are the crux of every innovative venture; the very core of the organisation and moulders of its culture.

Sharon Ho-Sang is a Management Consultant and Author of ‘Mobilising People for Positive Change’

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