10 Ways to Increase Motivation in the Workplace

10 Ways to Increase Motivation in the Workplace

«Management is nothing

more than motivating

 other people.»

Lee Iacocca

Managing a certain number of employees, managers dream of them working better day by day. However, they often forget that motivation increases the basic productivity in the workplace.  An employee knowing the purpose of that or this work and expecting decent remuneration definitely will be more productive. Motivation is an inner factor first of all. It depends on the personal goals and values of a particular person.  And if the manager wants to influence the staff, he can either understand and support them or demotivate. We are going to share a few secrets in this article on how to stimulate the employees and effectively solve the issues in favor of the business with the maximum benefits for your staff.

 

Set up clear goals and share them with the team

When employees have a clear vision and know the answers to why? where? And what results should be?  they perform much better. If you have that it is enough for staff to know just their responsibility and don’t be aware of the whole picture, don’t be surprised why they work not half as well. Questioning yourself why your employees are not that productive as you would like them to be, remember the Three Stonemasons parable. It goes about three men doing the same work. For the first one this work was a heavy burden, the second man considered it as a means of making a living, and the third one just enjoyed what he did. It shows that the last Stonemason knew and had a clear understanding of why he is working so hard and it made him happy.

If a person doesn’t see a global purpose it will be impossible to set up priorities properly and as a result, he will lose interest in his job. Understanding of where the company is heading and what kind of opportunities are waiting out there, feeling a personal input in the business development  (you created it but it functioning only due to the common effort of your team – remember it), the employee will perform only better, but also will get the energy and will be focused on the result.

On the contrary, the absence of any personal development perspectives in the company and precisely set goals can lead not just to lack of motivation, but also to an idea to quit the job as we all used to get benefit from everything. 

 

What should be done?

Tell the staff how important their dedication to the company (and particularly you), and how they benefit from them. Set up clear goals to help an employee to determine the sequence of the tasks they should perform. 

 

Regarding the personal benefits for employees, it’s worth noting that people are working better if they are intrigued by the ‘bonus’ for their outstanding abilities to solve the tasks. This can be an additional salary or unplanned vacation, some pleasant present from the company, a certificate to the SPA. Keep in mind that the common goal can inspire if served properly.

 

2.  Support your staff

 

New ambitious goals usually require time to train and develop the team. In order for employees to cope better with their tasks, they need to be constantly supported, it is necessary to give advice, share,  provide them with the necessary tools.

 

Let your team know that they can always come to you for help and will fully receive it. Do not forget that at first people can be wrong, and your irritation can only demotivate employees, and in the worst case, even to abandon their desire to solve new tasks.

3. Delegate tasks

 

The success of building any business depends on properly allocated responsibilities with confidence that everything will be done at the highest level. It is often difficult for managers to delegate some of their tasks because they think they know and can do better than others. However, the boss can’t do everything by himself, otherwise, why would he need a team of employees who aren’t involved in the common business. If you think the task is too difficult but very important for business development, ask your team’s opinion – let the people offer their ways of solving it, and there you will see whom you can assign this job to.

 

Don’t forget that when you hand over a part of your duties to one of your employees, it’s important to trust that person, to keep in touch and not be afraid to make a mistake, because only through failures we get invaluable experience.

4. Remember to give feedback and recognize the achievements of your staff.

 

Performance feedback is an important factor in motivating employees. If people do not receive regular feedback regarding their performance, they lose enthusiasm and begin to doubt their value to the company. It’s important to remember that providing feedback can help employees to avoid mistakes when performing new tasks, increases the authority of the management in the eyes of the staff,  and encourages them to grow.

 

Besides the interest in the performance of your team, you must also recognize their achievements. It is better, of course, to praise your staff in public: first, it will raise their importance for the management, and second, it will give an impetus to less productive employees to grow and strive for success. Do not leave somebody’s achievements in the shadows, if they contributed to the common cause. It is not recommended to bring failures and mistakes of a particular person to public discussion. It is better to make everything in a feedback mode, keeping a constructive conversation.

5. Develop the professionalism of your staff

 

First of all, you should be the most interested person in company growth and business promotion. If the management does not care much about business promotion, then, accordingly, the employees will not need it. Any business does not tolerate stagnation. It can be both stagnations in manufacturing, and in the development of the team. Speaking of motivating employees, it is important not to let their professional development go on its own, but to encourage and help them in this process. It is possible to improve the professional skills and knowledge of people both personally and as a team. This can be done by organizing training and development seminars, courses, and workshops. A person who is passionate about personal development can make a tangible contribution to the prosperity of business.

6. Reward your employees

 

You will be surprised, but the most productive employees are not striving to have high payments for their work. They want to have a fair reward for their efforts. This means that such people focus on three types of justice: external, internal, and individual.

  1. External justice creates a situation when an employee understands that in another company a person in the same position with the same work specifics and responsibilities makes the same amount of money.  
  2. Internal justice implies the principle ‘equal pay for the equal job’. It means that two employees in the same company receive equal pay for the same job title.
  3.  Individual justice is the case, when employees in similar positions, with the same power and responsibilities, are different due to their productivity. For example, one employee makes everything two times faster with the minimum faults, at the same time the second one slows down the process and motivates to correct the flaws. For example, one person can do the job two times faster with the minimum bugs, and the second one slows down the process and makes somebody clean the mess after him. The situation can be corrected by all kinds of encouragement, bonuses, mentioned above additional salary.   

7. Create the atmosphere

It happens quite often when the employee is satisfied with the salary and team, but the productivity is still low. The most important here for a boss is to understand that the interests of employees should be noticed on time. Lately, excellent physical shape and a healthy lifestyle became a trend among both the younger and older generation, so it won’t hurt to make a small equipped fitness room in the office. Staff will increase the motivation when you stop ignoring their desire to play table tennis during the lunch break. It is also a good idea to shorten the working day in order to get together with the team and discuss ideas, arising in the course of certain tasks. It is also possible to make your own traditions. As an example, all employees get free lunches on Friday.

 

The employees should not feel uncomfortable in the workplace. If they are as comfortable as possible, they would try hard to do more and more tasks every day, being confident that their work will be rewarded.

8. Eliminate irritation

 

Someone’s laptop is ‘junk’, someone has been treating a cold for a week, caused by a draft in the office. Do not ignore such irritating factors, which again and again reduce the motivation of employees. Concerned bosses always gain respect and desire to thank by showing productivity. Yes, sometimes it may require expenses, but the price of trusting relationships and comfortable conditions for business development can not be compared with the numbers on the check.

9. Put yourself in staff shoes

 

Ignoring the personal problems of employees has an extremely negative impact on their productivity. Experience shows that the bosses who put the employee’ shoes on in situations like child sickness or loss of the beloved person, eventually get more responsible and loyal to the company employees than those who do not. Ultimately, the person, feeling grateful to you for your understanding, will try to bring as much benefit to the company as possible, to compensate for his absence during the difficulties in life.

10. Don’t play favorites 

The main reason why people lose motivation at work is that their bosses start playing favorites. Everyone likes it when their contribution to the common business is noticed, recognized, and appreciated.  That’s why many people are puzzled when management encourages someone more (even worse, when it’s undeserved). If you even appreciate someone’s work better than others, don’t make people feel disadvantaged. You can and should praise, but not when it hits your self-esteem and hurts your employees’ dignity.

 

To sum up, we can say that staff motivation depends on the managers’ desire to develop and promote their business. Managers should clearly understand that they will be unable to complete all the tasks on their own. In this case, the team of motivated and ambitious specialists interested in work and self-development can help to reach all the set goals. The positive results of doing business will not make you wait for long if there is trust, freedom of speech in the team, material, and non-material benefits. An employee, who understands that even by himself he can bring a lot of value and it will be appreciated, will be always loyal to the company and unlikely to leave it.

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