There are many ways to motivate employees to
perform at their best. The most common ways are promotion and money. These
days, employee motivation
has gone way above the use of money and promotion to gain their full attention at work.
The leading employee motivation strategies are not new but only have
various names. However,
the basics of how to motivate
employees are commonplace. But in this article, you will learn the most effective
strategies you can use, to motivate your employees, to do their jobs
efficiently to enhance productivity, save time and increase overall company profitability.
I call them effective management strategies that get results every time because
the employees are motivated to perform their roles well.
The strategies are giving them free hand to make decisions,
setting clear goals for them, making feedback easy and an avenue for improving
standards on the job, setting up clear benchmarks for meeting goals,
determining how problems are addressed whenever they occur and praising an
employee with sincerity whenever they do something right. Let
me explain their usefulness and how
to use the 6
ways to motivate employees right now.
6
Ways
to Motivate Employees
1. Give Them Free Hands to Make Decisions
To build trust and empower your employees, give them free hands to
make decisions in each employee's sphere of influence. Allow your employees to
make their own decisions. But be around to guide them if they
need
any help.
If you do this, you would be a very efficient manager loved
by the staff.
Your role as the
business owner or manager is to groom each employee to become the best
representative of your company.
You are mentoring them to function at peak capacity, so put them
through the standards and operational system of your company, and then allow
them to make decisions in areas concerning their usual job roles.
Be out of the way most times, except when any of them have
any difficulty doing
the job. If you follow
this strategy, staff
morale will rise,
and you will have a
highly motivated workforce.
2. Set Clear Goals and Expected Results
Another one of the ways to motivate
employees, is to set clear goals. Setting clear goals saves you and your employees
time and money. They must understand the
instruction, to carry it out well. Take time to do this well, because it is the foundation for the
success of any enterprise.
By setting clear targets and your expectations, your employees
will carry
out their tasks daily
without distractions. Also, they will become better at their job and highly motivated.
They will feel more comfortable
to go
to work daily and work
gladly
because they
know what their superiors expect from them. Besides, this motivates the employee to work with a
relaxed mind leading to better results.
3. Make Feedback Easy
Making feedback easy will build rapport and motivate employees to
do well. It also makes feedback an avenue for improving standards on the job.For typical Managers, feedback is always an avenue to tear their
subordinates down and point out the areas they had failed to live up to their
expectations.
This is demotivating, to say the least. Shredding your employees
during feedback will dampen their morals. If staff morale is down, you lose
time, valuable contribution and it costs the employer money.
Make feedback a win-win scenario. Make it a simple discussion of
company goals and employee’s performance.
Where performance did not meet your expectations, give your candid
opinion on the best way forward after hearing the employee's reason for the
problem. Ask for the solutions to the problem from the employee.
Guide her with targeted questions aimed at getting practical applicable
solutions to the problem both of you are trying to solve.
Start a question and answer scenario until you have led the
employee towards suggesting possible solutions to the problem. Now ask the
employee to implement suggestions you both agreed would solve the problem.
Follow up and ensure the problem is solved using your employee’s
submissions of solutions reached through your thought-provoking questions and
answer sections. This occasion where the employee seemly solved her problem, has a multiplying
motivational implication for the staff. First, it tells the employee you value
her contribution and person, and so she would work as co-owner of the company
cheerfully.
Second, it puts self-confidence into the employee and her ability
to do
a good job even when the
situation seemed hopeless initially. What effect do you think that will have on her rating of you as
her employer and your company?
In her eyes, you would be rated as a thoughtful and
considerate manager, with the best people's skills she had ever met since she
began working to earn a living. Your attitude in the above scenario was that you attacked the
noticeable gap on expectations for that job or project, but never attacked your
employee. You even solved the problem through her help and won her approval as
a good manager.
As an employer, you have the right to show anger, only towards
sloppy performance but never at the person that did the job. The reason
for being angree, is
to motivate an employee to do a better job next time not to pull her down.
Your sincerity in keeping the line of communication open, between
you and the employee, motivates her and creates bonding of both parties which
leads to progress for the company.
4. Set Up Clear Benchmarks for Meeting Goals
Setting up benchmarks is another one of
the ways to motivate employees. A company where employees know the prevailing goals and the
yardstick for measuring results are never confused about expectations from
them.
These employees, as a result, serve with ease and flair and are
usually enthusiastic and self-motivated to deliver top performance and have
uncluttered tables and work schedules. They are usually not pressed for time
or looking harassed by the huge expectations from Management.
Because of clear benchmarks already set by the company, they have
more free time and use it to create an unmatched performance for themselves and their place
of work enthusiastically.
5. Determine How to Solve Problems if They
Occur
You can motivate your employees by determining in advance how problems
are addressed whenever they occur. All the channels to be followed are laid out
and explained to employees. Even new employees are given an induction. This introduction of problem-solving
methods and how to get solutions is highly motivating.
Just imagine how you would feel, if on resumption on your first
day at work, in a new place of work, no one welcomes and gives you clear
guidelines. Also, imagine if no one informs you about the work process,
work ethics and culture of that
organization. Would
that not
be very frustrating no
matter how motivated you maybe? Yes, you would be
confused and frustrated.
Well, that is just how stressed and confused, you would also be if
there were no defined methods, for the company’s employees to resolve issues on
a day to day basis regarding their work. It may be just a simple method of asking quality questions, to
break down the exact problems. Also,
it might be suggestions on ways
of bouncing ideas around their heads until they find the potential answer.
Besides, it could be to show you how to do a thorough
brainstorming section by yourself before forwarding your suggestions, to your
superiors for consent to use the idea. It does not matter what the situation is, writing
a procedure or manual will motivate employees.
6. Praise with Sincerity
Praise with sincerity when employees do something right and are
supportive when they fail to meet your expectations. This
is one of the ways to motivate employees. Praising your staff has a way of giving them a boost, a
reassurance that all their efforts mean a lot to you the employer.
If you refuse to acknowledge your employees when they meet set
goals or do something nice for the company, then you would be setting up the
company for a fall. Moreover, human beings like it when you call their names,
say thank you, shake their hands or pat them on their shoulders and
to say thank you for a
job well done.
If you thank them properly, you would end up motivating the employee to perform better. Why? Thank you energizes them, and puts them
in the very best moods so that your company gains due to better performance on the job.
Also, keep it simple and natural. Be sincere when you use
the praising strategy and do not overdo it. If you do, it will lose its appeal to working the magic
of lifting your employees, and boomerang to hurt the company more.
Final Words
In this article, I explained 6 ways to motivate employees.
Also, you must do
it well to create the
necessary momentum that would impact the company positively. The spin-off
benefits are tremendous. They include the profitability of the company, saving time and scarce
resources, creating happy and joyous employees, who are ready to give their
best for the advancement of the company goals.
Besides, it reduces staff turnover, increases efficiency
and improves productivity. From the strategies in this post,
you can see that
employee motivation is a win-win plan for the employer and employee.
So, ensure you effect it to reap inherent
benefits
for the company and staff.
Finally, watch out for the concluding part of this topic “ways to motivate employees” in the next article.
