Ways to Motivate Your Employees

Hi there, this is Julie Clements. I’m the Chief Solutions Manager here at Managed Outsource Solutions. I wanted to talk to you today about some effective ways to help motivate your employees. I have got a quick list of about 10.

One important thing is about building trust and it’s important that employees know they can be trusted to do their best possible job and to praise their work when they do succeed. People are inspired when they know that their leaders believe in their capabilities to deliver and a healthy work culture is also one that promotes trust and caring among the staff and management. Cultivating a workplace where people trust each other can offer immense benefits in terms of productivity and performance. According to a 2016 Towers Watson study, the ability to trust in senior leadership is one of the top drivers of employee retention.

So make sure you set realistic, SMART goals. SMART as in Specific, Measurable, Aggressive, Realistic and Time-bound. Set those SMART goals to motivate employees and build connection to their work and their coworkers, and to the organization’s missions. Goals help employees find meaning and purpose. According to Gallup, managers should have conversations with employees about their team’s goals as well as individual goals and how to achieve them. Three tips to set goals to motivate employees is – involving employees from start to finish – it helps them to feel valued, link individual goals to business objectives, and adapt goals in real-time.

Also building personal rapport with your employees is very important and as a leader, you need to spend time with your employees and get to know them. The best leaders understand and care about their staff – their behavior, aptitudes, and tendencies. This is important to understand what motivates them as not all employees will value the same thing. Employees are motivated when the management takes the time to know them and shows that they have their best interests at heart.

Building a challenging work environment is also very important. Every company, whether you are new, you’ve been there for a while, and have challenges and they need those challenges to grow and high performers thrive in a challenging environment. The market is dynamic and companies must continuously strive to improve their products or services or current results. Without challenges, employees can become bored and start looking for another job or will be not focused. Building a positive, challenging work environment is necessary to motivate and retain your best employees. Another thing that is good is to use meetings to help build motivation. Meetings can be used to motivate and inspire your employees. Discussing and setting goals at a meeting can motivate employees to work towards achieving them. There was an article we found, a bizfluent article that points out that meetings offer the opportunity to remind employees of the company’s past achievements. This can also help motivate them to do their best and to achieve current goals and possibly even exceed them. They are also a good platform meetings to read out customer testimonials, announce an incentive and share a success story, all of which can help excite employees and encourage them to give their best.

Another thing is to make them feel valued. I mean they should be valued. To build motivation, companies need to take deliberate steps to make their employees feel valued. The hard work they do should be openly recognized and success should be celebrated. Explain how their contributions add value, help the company solve problems, and move forward. A recent article we found, a BQ article, cites research from McKinsey which suggested that, in a corporate setting, non-financial rewards can have a greater effect than financial rewards. Small gestures in the form of surprise gifts can also make staff feel valued and appreciated and in return will help them work harder.

Provide the right tools and support: People who don’t believe they have the resources needed to achieve their goals tend to quickly get frustrated. So provide your staff with the materials they need, equipment and training to help them carry out their roles and responsibilities as well as to innovate their work.

Also encouraging employees to take the lead is important. Making them feel valued is about letting them take the lead. Recognize individual strengths and let each one share their opinions at meetings because that is all important. Give them responsibility and allow them to make important decisions – this will motivate them to work towards making things happen. Respect, praise and appreciate their efforts. This is also a great way to build good leaders.

Another important thing is always be transparent. Difficult as it may seem, it is important for leaders to be transparent about the company’s current situation as well as future growth plans. Transparency builds trust, fosters collaboration at work, and enhances employee empowerment. When employees feel included in important decisions, they are likely to be committed to work towards the company’s goals.

So, if you want to learn more about this topic, it is always a good one to go over and read through over and over again, please visit our website at www.managedoutsource.com.

Thank You so much!