Tightrope: Motivation requires giving employees room to grow

— -- Hello Gladys: What do you recommend that I do about motivating my employees? I have no problem attracting good candidates. But, once hired, they don't seem to work as well as their resume and references indicated. So, I find myself questioning my leadership abilities. I pay well and I don't have a large turnover. My workers just don't seem to be as enthusiastic as they are in the beginning. — A. H.

This is a question on the mind of all sorts of people, from parents trying to motivate kids to do homework and house chores to business owners and corporate executives trying to get more from their employees. There is no easy answer.

According to psychologist Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, self-actualization is the highest need on the ladder of drives and motivation. Self-actualization is the use of your talents, gifts and potential to realize your dreams.

What you can do is create an environment that supports and enhances your employees' talents -- or simply make certain that you don't create an environment that inhibits an employee's growth and potential.

It's easy to think that because you are the boss you know best. This becomes even easier if you have what I call "protective parent" syndrome.

For instance, a friend was recently driving me to her office. As she approached an intersection, the traffic light changed from green to yellow. The driver in front of her stopped for the yellow light, making her stop more quickly than usual. She automatically raised her arm in front of my chest to protect me from going forward. She said she had made that movement for so many years with her children that it had become automatic.

So it didn't surprise me that during my visit to her business she treated her employees in that same protective manner. She gave an employee an assignment and explained in detail how it should be done. When she's out of the office, she leaves instructions for employees -- much like a mother leaves with a babysitter.

Employees want leaders and managers, not parents.

Here are a few suggestions that might be helpful for you:

? Do you hold regular staff meetings and invite suggestions and ideas?

? Do you use employee suggestions and reward them for their advice?

? Are your employees working in the jobs that they were hired for, or did you promise one position and place them in another that hinders their growth?

? Do you encourage them to set work goals and report their successes?

? Have you established mutual trust in the workplace? Do they feel that you trust their judgment?

? Do they learn of important business decisions from you, or through the rumor mill?

When you establish an environment to help employees maintain enthusiasm and realize their own dreams and goals, they will pass on to others what you have done for them as they advance into management or businesses of their own.

Creating an environment that helps employees grow and develop is an ongoing process. According to Maslow, the more we grow, the more we want to grow. So plan to regularly review ways to maintain an environment that allows your staff to use their talents. It can be beneficial to you, your employees and your company.

Gladys Edmunds' Entrepreneurial Tightrope column appears Wednesdays. As a single, teen-age mom, Gladys made money doing laundry, cooking dinners for taxi drivers and selling fire extinguishers and Bibles door-to-door. Today, Edmunds, founder of Edmunds Travel Consultants in Pittsburgh, is a private coach/consultant in business development and author of There's No Business Like Your Own Business, published by Viking. See an index of Edmunds' columns. Her website is www.gladysedmunds.com. You can e-mail her at gladys@gladysedmunds.com.