How to motivate employees

When employees feel motivated, they engage more with their work and can affect the entire team’s output. You have a vested interest in the quality of your team’s work, obviously, but you also have a responsibility to contribute towards their job satisfaction.

Of course, every individual will relate to different methods of motivation, but here are six ways of keeping your team’s spirits high:

1. Make them feel valued

Don’t underestimate the importance of recognising and praising hard work. If an employee feels they are making a difference and helping reach targets they feel a sense of purpose and valued by the organisation.

2. Manage well

Clear leadership and frequent communication will aid your team’s success and avoid any feelings of being left in the dark.

3. Encourage career progression

If an employee sees little room for advancement they may feel they have nothing to work towards. Create extra responsibilities for staff to expand their experience and put them in better stead for promotions. Provide training and development opportunities and as well as showing employees you’re confident in them your team will also benefit from the added expertise.

4. Create a good working environment

The office atmosphere can have a powerful impact on the way people work. Any conflict or negativity will almost certainly restrict workflow, so make sure you’re providing appropriate platforms for employee feedback.

5. Give them responsibility

An employee who only receives small, menial tasks is bound to get fed up with their role. Likewise if someone’s been overloaded with work they might struggle under the pressure. Try to delegate responsibilities that will add variety to an employee’s day.

6. Define their career paths

As well as developing your staff for progression opportunities, it’s important to show them where you think they’re headed and helping them get there. Regular appraisals and target-setting provide a good setting for this, and are also a good opportunity to review and praise your employees’ work.

Finding out how to motivate employees

Anonymous employee surveys are a good way of finding out the mood of your team. The results of the survey may highlight changes you need to make or bring to your attention any issues you weren’t already aware of.

You can also use appraisals as a way of finding out if any employees are feeling demotivated, but you might find they are less willing to say anything directly to you. However, it’s worth using the opportunity to ask what changes you could make that your staff think would improve productivity and morale.

From a candidate attraction point of view, a big benefit of taking the time to find out what motivates your staff is that it will help your reputation as an employer of choice. Job satisfaction is high on the list of priorities for many job seekers.

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