Motivation, Leadership, and the Psychological Contract

Name: Motivation, Leadership, and the Psychological Contract
Author: Diane Martin

Enhance your employees’ engagement with a psychological contract.

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 5 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

(upbeat music) Welcome to Motivation, Leadership, and the Psychological Contract. What are some basic tools you can use to lead employees in a way that motivates them? In these lessons, let's look at how employee motivation is related to leadership. The use of the psychological contract. Considering employees needs. And looking at their capabilities and contributions. The goals and objectives of any organization are achieved through the efforts of its employees. This means whether you're a supervisor, manager, or executive, your job is to ensure employees understand and embrace the organization's vision. Communicating that vision is just one part of your responsibility. A genuine interest in motivating employees to meet goals and objectives is another important piece to leading your organization to success. Harnessing the power of motivation to achieve departmental and organizational goals can help you be a more effective leader. Whether you work for a multimillion dollar corporation or a small nonprofit organization, accomplishing objectives will depend on your understanding of employee needs and your effectiveness at ensuring they expend the energy necessary to succeed. Executives, managers, and supervisors, must learn to motivate their employees to achieve organizational objectives because motivation and leadership go hand in. If your team doesn't understand your organization's vision and objectives, it's unlikely you'll be satisfied with their performance. As a practical matter, your team's productivity won't be where you need it to be. Morale and other performance issues such as absenteeism and tardiness, could be issues as well. Failure to properly motivate employees may also lead to dangerous or unhealthy workplace conditions. This can pose a threat to your organization's reputation and expose the company to possible legal ramifications. Your responsibility is to understand how motivating your team can be beneficial to the organization. The relationship between you and your team is interdependent. You determine where the organization is going and the team helps it get there. If the team is confused, demoralized, careless, or incompetent, the organization will likely fail to achieve its goals. A happy, motivated team can make the difference between success and failure. You may be surprised to learn that motivating others. Isn't an exercise in mind control. You can learn to differentiate between extrinsic, intrinsic and family based motivation. Some individuals are highly motivated by external rewards like bonuses or benefits. Others are motivated by internal forces like the self-satisfaction of taking on and successfully managing a difficult project. Others might be motivated purely by the need to take care of their family. Listen to your employees and try to determine how each one is motivated. Use this information to influence your workplace environment. Creating a culture that supports these motivation factors, can help build a more productive work environment. While there are several opinions and theories about motivational leadership, many share the idea that communication is key. When it comes to leaders, the best motivators are successful because they know how to communicate. They share information, show enthusiasm for their work and the organization's mission, and they inspire their employees. You could say successful leaders know how to generate human energy. Employees feel it, clients feel it, and the organization feels it where it counts.

Advanced Provider : Diane Martin 5 Lessons · 15m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

The recognition and rewards that can guide both management and employees in their day-to-day interactions may serve as a strategic means of increasing employee engagement. They also can help when it comes to meeting the organization’s productivity goals. As a leader within your company, you have a significant role to play in the day-to-day management of your employees and their work. So how can you, as a leader, help the organization reach these goals? What techniques and tools can you use to motivate your employees?

In these lessons on Motivation, Leadership, and the Psychological Contract, you’ll learn to motivate your employees by first learning how you can encourage and motivate them to fulfill organizational objectives. Then you’ll learn how to utilize the psychological contract, an unwritten framework that sets expectations. The last two lessons will discuss how learning about your employees’ needs and their capabilities will help you determine how to motivate them.

What You'll Learn

Describe methods of motivation that encourage employees to fulfill organizational objectives
Explain the key elements of a psychological contract as an unwritten framework that sets expectations
Apply Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to understand employee motivation
Recognize employees' needs to determine how best to motivate them
Assess employee contributions and capabilities as part of motivation
Connect employee motivation to your role as a leader in day-to-day management

Key Takeaways

Recognition and rewards can serve as a strategic means of increasing employee engagement and meeting the organization's productivity goals.
As a leader, you play a significant role in the day-to-day management of employees and their work.
The psychological contract is an unwritten framework that sets expectations between management and employees.
Learning about employees' needs and their capabilities helps a leader determine how to motivate them.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a framework covered to help understand employee motivation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this course for?

It is for leaders who play a role in the day-to-day management of their employees and their work and who want to motivate employees to fulfill organizational objectives.

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn to describe methods of motivation, explain the key elements of a psychological contract, and learn Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, including how to use the psychological contract and how recognizing employees' needs and capabilities helps you motivate them.

What skills does this course help build?

It helps build skills in contract implementation, employee engagement, and employee motivation.

What is the psychological contract covered in this course?

The psychological contract is described as an unwritten framework that sets expectations, and the course teaches how to utilize it and acknowledge it.

How is the course structured?

The course includes lessons on Employee Motivation and its Relation to Leadership, Acknowledging the Psychological Contract, Becoming Aware of Employees' Needs, and Knowing Employee Contributions and Capabilities, followed by a Test Your Knowledge section.