By: John S. QUAISIE
There is the need for companies and organizations to schedule times for corporate celebration. In some institutions, management is perceived as always focusing on the negative side of employees.
Employees are always directed to work hard to promote the interest of their organizations and business entities. The internal business environment seems to be loaded with directives, demands and expectations.
- Performance evaluations are principally directed at disciplining poor performers.
- High performing employees seem to be taken for granted. Like a football coach who is always focusing their attention on the mistakes of their players even in times of resounding victory, some Chief Executive Officers of business enterprises are more concerned with pointing out and correcting the fault of their workers.
In such a situation, the good work and great accomplishments of workers are often overlooked. In this negative environment, employees who have made creative and innovative contributions to the success of their organization, feel discouraged and demotivated.
- Some top-level managers are more concerned with motivating and rewarding their senior managers and supervisors. They downplay the hard work of the middle-level and lower-level staff who are at the grassroots, and contribute significantly to the organization’s growth and development. Senior Managers enjoy their regular benefits without finding ways of putting smiles on the faces of the low-skilled staff.
- Such top-level executives believe that the other workers will have their turn to enjoy good benefits packages, when they get promoted to senior positions. The latter must, therefore, wait their turn to enjoy the ‘juicy things’.
On the other hand, a good corporate institution which is determined to travel along with its entire workforce to work towards the achievement of their vision, mission and core values, must find ways and means to motive all levels of its employees.
- The Machiavellian Principle
Some corporate leaders prefer to go by the principle of the Italian philosopher, Niccolò Machiavelli, who believes that ‘the end justifies the means’. To such leaders, the end-product is what matters.
This also means that, as long as the company or organization has not attained its ultimate goal, nothing else matters. Therefore, the effort of the workers would be undervalued as long as the organization has not achieved its big target.
If it takes several years to reach the target, all employees must sacrifice and wait for the end results, before their efforts are appreciated by management.
Mid-term celebration
When I was a young boy, my mother taught me an important lesson in life, with regard to mid-term celebration. As a teenager, I worked with my parents on the farm, which was located a few kilometers from our village, Effia, in the Western Region of Ghana.
My two sisters and I accompanied our parents to the farm at the week-end and during school vacation. At harvest time, we would wake up at dawn and head for the farm, with the intention of collecting the produce – especially cassava – for sale in the nearest main market at Effia-Kuma.
From the farm, we would first carry our produce home, before heading for the market. Our mother would then select some of the big and nice-looking tubers of cassava and put them aside, and tell us,
“We are going to sell the cassava in the market; but I have selected some of the best ones for us to eat at home. We are also going to enjoy the fruit of our labour. “
She explained that just as we intend to sell our good produce to other people, we must also celebrate by enjoying some of the best produce. As a child, I did not understand my mother’s action. I thought we needed the money and the big cassava tubers would help to make better sales.
Today, I really appreciate my mother’s gesture. She knew the importance of celebration for our family. Although we had not reached the expected goal of meeting the family’s financial needs, she found it necessary to encourage and motivate us, as we travelled along to achieve our target.
Applying the same principle, corporate bodies need to schedule times to celebrate mid-term accomplishments and achievements, in order to motivate the employees to put in their maximum effort to help achieve the corporate goal.
In the global business environment, some corporate institutions and business entities schedule special occasions – annual, bi-annual etc – to celebrate special days and landmark achievements. Some organizations organize such celebrations at their premises, while others prefer to hold them in hotels or at event centres.
Expressing gratitude to God
On such occasions, some corporate entities express gratitude to the Almighty God, who Has put at the disposal of humankind, laws and principles, and endowed people with knowledge, talents and skills to work together in teams, to solve problems and improve our lives and our environment.
Celebrating with stakeholders
This is also a time to acknowledge and appreciate publicly, the hard work and sacrifices of all levels of employees – the main stakeholders.
Besides, members of the Board of Directors, the Advisory Council and professional groups, which support the work of the company or organization, are also invited to participate.
Other stakeholders, including clients, customers and benchmark organizations are also given the opportunity to celebrate with the corporate body.
In some cases, companies and organizations invite the spouses and children of employees to take part in the celebrations. At these great and memorable events, the efforts of the employees, as well as other stakeholders, are duly acknowledged and appreciated.
The critical factors which go a long way to reposition teams at a greater height of achievement and success, can be found in-house.
With the leadership providing the right policy directions and creating a conducive and enabling work environment, employees would be highly motivated to work harder, to add value to their knowledge, talents and skills, as they support management to achieve the corporate mission.
John is a HR/Management Practitioner.Phone/WhatsApp No. 0244599628
E-Mail: [email protected]
