Farnham Castle, the Surrey based corporate events venue, has urged companies to take staff motivation seriously during the recession.

“A positive and motivated team is always going to out-perform competitors which have a negative staff attitude,” said Farnham Castle’s Jeff Toms.  “Focusing on staff motivation during the downturn is a cost effective way to encourage proactivity and get everyone involved in delivering the highest level of service as a cohesive unit. This, in turn, can give an organisation that much needed competitive edge – particularly in challenging economic times.”

Comment: Toms’ message is neither unexpected nor unusual. Other organisation development professionals – notably Echelon’s Alistair Morrison – have been saying the same thing for some time. They are, of course, absolutely correct.

The difficulty is that, like the schizophrenic who had half a mind to get treatment for his condition, the economic downturn is, in itself, de-motivating. People who are de-motivated are unlikely to want to do anything new or take on new ideas. So the challenge is to motivate people to want to be motivated – and that doesn’t just happen because someone sends you on a training course.