The best kind of employee to have is a motivated one. A company can suffer if even just one employee isn’t trying their best. An unmotivated employee is ultimately your problem, as a manager. Are you doing all you can to keep the lines of communication open? To recognize their achievements? To allow them to flourish in their team?
Here are a few ways, outlined by Lyndi Catania on LifeHack.org, to get all your employees feeling motivated.
Employee Recognition
Whether big or small efforts, employee recognition is important. Some employers choose to recognize their employees with kind words, while other employers acknowledge their employees with corporate gifts and awards. It’s not to say one choice is better than the other, part of it depends on budget and part of it depends on what the employer wants to give the recipient, but some form of recognition is the key for showing your employees that they’re valued.
Express Trust
Employees not only need to feel appreciated, they need to feel trusted. To increase employee motivation, employers should convey this to their employees. This could be accomplished by assigning leadership roles and allowing employees to take on larger responsibilities. Employers can also include their employees in on brainstorming sessions and important meetings. This proves to employees that their opinions matter.
Team Building Activities
Team building activities can be held during work or outside of work. Some companies set aside time to play engaging and creative team building games together, and some companies schedule events for outside of work. Both have benefits. Engaging and creative games can get employees thinking and working together like they never have before. Scheduling events outside of work allows coworkers to learn about one another on a new level. So whether it’s decided to do one or both, spending time together helps employees to feel more comfortable around each other and more encouraged to work together. Take Archways & Ceilings for example, they have a whole page dedicated to a project they did together for fun!
Acknowledge Individuals, Not Just Teams
Acknowledging a whole team for their performance is recommended, but so is individual acknowledgment. Every individual is unique and brings something different to the table, so the occasional personal spotlight is important. This has a larger impact on motivation and shows each employee that their work is noticed. It’s also important to be fair. If one employee receives recognition for a specific task or project, then any other employee should also receive recognition for performing similarly.
Attend Industry Events
Industry related events are beneficial for a couple of reasons. One reason is experience. Events allow for experiences that being in the office cannot always provide. New experiences lead to new knowledge and new knowledge leads to new confidence. After attending events, employees may be motivated to bring what they have learned into the workplace. Another reason is networking. With industry related events comes other professionals from the industry. Speaking with other professionals and hearing different perspectives can inspire employees. Sometimes all one needs is a new spark of inspiration. Take Huemor Designs for example, their event experience opened their eyes to some new industry improvements.
Have an Interest in Employees’ Careers
Providing employees with occasional mentoring, suggestions and guidance shows them that there’s an interest in where their careers are headed. Conversations about the future and what they can do to keep improving can be motivational, as well as encourage them to continue working their hardest.
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