Employee Motivation In The Workplace

Employee Motivation In The Workplace

Introduction to employee motivation in the work place.

Employee motivation in the workplace can be a tricky thing. But if there’s one player that holds the key cards, it’s the manager. Like recent management researches consistently re-iterate“Employees leave (or stick with) their Managers, not their Companies”! If you are a manager of some sort:,people managerhuman resource manager, finance manager, operations manager or any-other-sort of manager, you’re possibly on the constant lookout for ways to improve employee motivation in the workplace. In this post, we give you 5 more clever ways to tap into this.

How to raise employee motivation in the workplace?

•  Increase you connect with Employees

Look, it’s all about connections this century. The internet,social media cloud computing, heck even our traditional mailbox (along with its modern peers: email and sea-mail) have all dramatically evolved to help us connect more with others. So begin your exercise to raise employee motivation in the workplace by connecting with each member on your team.

Let’s talk a bit about the personal connection here. You’d be surprised to know the large number of managers we meet, who’ve never shared a friendly cup of coffee or a meal with several members on their team. Sure, they’ve been to team meetings and team greetings and several team outings. But if you want that all-important one-on-one to connect that guarantees employee motivation activities and loyalty, it has to be done at a personal level. How else will you find out the *important* stuff: like if he’s happy with his life, his wife, his JOB? If this is important to someone on your team, it’s your business to make it important to you.

Then there’s professional connects, that really, we managers tend to take for granted. It’s bound to happen on the job. Or does it?

We assume that a few words of encouragement and the yearly appraisal is enough to keep the (professional) connection alive. But this is where disconnects start to creep in. For instance, look back at a time when an employee was mighty surprised by his or her low rating/ hike. Or that time when someone shocked you with their resignation. These situations imply that the employee and his/ her manager have disparate views on their professional reality. Yep, professional disconnects.

• Win them over with rewards

This is another area we managers tend to underutilize. We are so consumed with showcasing our best all the time that we often end up inadvertently ignoring mediocre members of our team.

You see, a professional team is much like a football team. Not every player can be the star quarterback or the key striker. But every member has his place and contributes to the success/ failure of the team. It makes sense then to reward every employee during a good season, no matter how meager their contribution.

Everybody likes to receive rewards; they have the universal ability to catapult employee motivation and performance like nothing else can. This IS the absolute, unflinching truth. However, it’s up to your innovative self to determine the nature of the reward (ideally based on performance).

Thankfully, rewards come in different flavors and sizes.

1. Monetary rewards

2. Recognition awards

3. Reward a challenge

•  Find out what truly matters

Rewards and awards apart, take time to find out what each employee really, really wants.

You could chat them up and ask straight, “What truly triggers your mojo and improves your employee motivation and performance in the workplace?” (Oh yes, be that kind of supportive manager.) Their answers will vary and depend on where they are in their personal and professional life. For example, an employee could hold money, experience, recognition, work-life balance, technical challenges, proximity to their home, geographical location, niche field area, friends at work, convenience or other factors dear.

As always, expect to be surprised at the answers. For example, we once had someone tell his manager, “I work just for the fun of it. As long as you give me a window seat and a good view, I’m in”. And, this incidentally came from a mighty hard worker!

Finally, be certain to make use of the information you get. Don’t just sit on it (which we managers tend to do when too many things claim our attention). Put a tangible plan in place, and share it with your employee. He will brighten up as he rests assured that his top needs are:

1. Acknowledged

2. Addressed

This is a fool-proof plan to strengthen employee motivation in the workplace.

 

•  Plan their growth with them

If there’s one thing that universally gets employee motivation activities pumping, it’s growth: personal and professional growth. We all strive to expand and reach our highest potential. If you can consciously plan, share and participate in this expansion for a member of your team, you’ve got their loyalty and friendship for life!

Here are some tried and tested ideas that always work:

1. Empower them to take control of their advancement.

2. Strengthen their professional skills with adequate training

 

References

•  https://www.educba.com/employee-motivation-in-the-workplace/ [Accessed on: 25^th May 2020]

•  https://www.educba.com/employee-motivation/  [Accessed on: 20^th June 2020]