7 Effective Ways to Motivate your Employees

7 Effective Ways to Motivate your Employees

You wake up each day with a smile on your face, fully energised to get to work. You have that inner entrepreneurial drive that encourages you to work harder each day. We share ways to motivate your employees and team.

Yet, this is your company we are talking about, therefore, it won’t be that easy for your workers. You need to instil this love of work into your employees.

This is the one way to success, therefore it is worthwhile to invest time and energy into it. Motivating your employees will help the overall growth of your company, there before you focus all your attention on daily tasks, firstly think about your employees.

Your employees are what make all the difference

There is no doubt that the team determines the progress of an establishment. As a business owner, you understand that the volume of work put in by your employees and their level of effectiveness determines what direction the business goes – up, down, or sideways.

Therefore, your employees are essential to your business: their attitude to work, to your customers, to changes at work, and one another serves as the background for many of the results you experience in your business.

This is an important aspect therefore, you cannot leave it to chance. As an employer, there should be a standard for the attitude you expect from your employees. When your standard is set, you should create a system within your workplace that allows that attitude to thrive.

Your employees should be motivated at all times, but how can you make that happen? Here are some tips that would help you:

Recognise a job well done

Many labour employers make the simple mistake of ignoring this essential strategy. It is probably because of the belief that the employees were brought in to do great on their jobs anyway, and they are getting paid for it. Your workers know they get their cheques to an excellent job; you do not have to rub it in.

Improve your employee engagement

Improve your employee engagement in less than two minutes

Get started for free today.

Free sign up

When you notice an excellently carried out task, commend it immediately. Don’t let it slide with the thought, ‘I’m paying for this.’ Your employees want to be told when they are doing a great job, the same way you wouldn’t hesitate to point out when they aren’t.

Show that you notice what they’re doing. Acknowledge their efforts. If they worked together as a team on an assignment, tell them you appreciate the team spirit. A simple verbal recognition, even in passing, could be enough to keep them motivated for weeks.

Be positive

Your employees need you to stay positive no matter what stage your company is. You should understand that you have the kind of authority it takes to dampen their enthusiasm. The things you say about current tasks, how you receive criticism from customers, and how you present them to your clients all matter.

Your attitude towards unpleasant situations such as a disgruntled client, a rejected pitch, unrealised goals can determine how fuelled your employers will feel to handle the situation.

You should always keep a positive mindset in leadership. This is not saying that you should allow laxity and uncaring attitudes towards work. However, it does mean that in situations when your team has overextended themselves to get results, but for reasons beyond their control, they do not get the results, do not take out your frustrations on them.

Be sensitive enough to know that they are most likely frustrated too. Your employees will appreciate it if you can maintain a positive attitude and reassure them that you do not blame them for what has happened, and no one will take the hit for it.

Effective Ways to Motivate your Employees

Image: Pexels

Share the big picture

Sometimes, you need to remind your employees that this venture is not just about making money. You should let them in on the purpose your business is serving in the long run. Do you own a chamber that protects innocent people from injustice? Remind them as often as possible who you are serving here.

Do you run a school that prepares learners to be the best in all their endeavours now and later? Share this with your employees. Let them see the picture and understand why they are vital. When they understand that their efforts create impacts and change people’s actual lives beyond money, you are most likely to have the most driven set of people on your team.

Give them a sense of security

You will have the most disloyal set of workers in your workplace if they are not sure that you can not dispense them at any time. You should give your workers a sense of security on the job. Let them know that you are not willing to fire them, except your hands are tied on disciplinary issues or economic situations.

Try as much as you can to avoid threatening your workers with their appointment termination. No one wants to feel like they can be done away with at any time. They should be assured that no one is willing to bring them discomfort as long as they are doing their jobs right.

Allow them to grow their potentials on the job, let there be room for growth. Not only will they develop loyalty towards you, but they would also be motivated to do their best on the job. Encourage social connection within your organisation, let your workers have a sense of belonging.

Let them know that they are essential to you and are crucial to the organisation’s vision. The workplace should be safe for every member of the team. They should know that they can bring their suggestions and air their opinions without judgement. They should be able to trust you and the whole management team.

Include them in decision-making by valuing their opinions and taking their thoughts into consideration. It is good to receive feedback on how the company is working, and an easy way to do so is by giving out surveys. You can search for meaningful employee surveys online so you don’t have to waste time preparing them yourself.

Be interested in them

It is easy for an employer to focus on an employee’s productivity, work etiquette, and other related elements without considering how well these personal lives are going. You should understand that the situations in their personal lives outside work have a strong influence on their performance on the job.

Therefore, you should be interested in their lives. You should be careful though, you cannot be snooping around, and you should never overstep. However, you should constantly enquire about their families and their well-being.

Try to understand individual team members as a way of involving empathy in your leadership. Be involved when they have occasions, be there as much as you can if urgent needs arise in their personal lives.

Create a system that allows you to support that at such times, such as a welfare package. Do not ignore their lives outside work. Knowing that you care about them will create a better sense of belonging, which will, in turn, motivate them to put in their best.

Set small, achievable goals

Almost nothing sends the adrenaline running other than a goal to be met. When you set small, achievable goals for your employees, it motivates them to get into action. A goal substantiates your expectations concerning them. As you set these goals, ensure that you are unambiguous about them. Let them know what results you are expecting and when you are expecting these results.

Do not forget that your goals should be achievable. Be realistic about ways to motivate your employees, and when you are deciding what goals to set. An unrealistic goal can inform the opposite reaction. Your workers might become laid back, knowing they cannot achieve the goal you have set.

They might misinterpret the whole action as you are looking for a way to fault their hard work; therefore, if you will motivate them and not dampen their morale, set small, achievable goals.

Reward results

Like school children love to receive gifts for performing excellently during a school year, employees will thrive when receiving rewards for their excellent services. The reward could be in the form of a raise, an award of excellence, or a promotion.

Ensure that your outstanding employees receive the accolades they deserve, and you will be surprised how much they would be willing to put on the job to get better results consistently.

If you think all of this is too much work for you with your schedules or your company has grown so vast, you cannot possibly reach each employee; you can hire a PEO.

What is PEO?

A Professional Employment Organisation serves as an intermediary between the employer and the employees. A PEO can help your company handle all issues relating to your employees, from hiring, managing, global payroll management, drug testing programmes to the administration of leave from work. All employees’ complaints and liabilities shift to the PEO as well.

Think of engaging a PEO’s services as outsourcing your company’s human resources department’s job. They are professional employers for their clients. This saves your company’s management a lot of frustrations that might accompany employees and allows you to concentrate your strength on other efforts.

In Summary

Suppose you have a hardworking team willing to put in their best to help you achieve the organisation’s goals. In that case, the least you can do is appreciate them for their excellent work and create an environment that encourages them to continue.

Motivating your employees does not make you any less of a boss; it makes you a savvy business owner who wants to get great results. Use the above ways to motivate your employees to do just that.

 

About the Author

Pete Forbis is an Executive Assistant, who has leadership qualities and also is the point of contact between the executives and internal or external colleagues.