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Do you want to encourage and motivate your employees to love their work and give an exceptional performance each time? For this, it is very important to first learn what motivation really means. Motivation can be termed as that internal drive of the employees to take an action. It can be their enthusiasm to accomplish the activities related to their work in the best possible manner.
Dale Carnegie in his best-selling book How to Develop Self-Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking writes, “Think success. It is easily in your power to do this. Believe it firmly and you will then do what is necessary to bring success about.”
According to him, achieving success in your job role is something that can bring the desired motivation in teams. However, management needs to work enough to ensure that the employees feel that their effort contributes to not only their own success but that of their company as well. Working on the following aspects can help any company increase employee motivation:
Communication with Employees
Retaining the attention of the employees has become more difficult than ever because of the increased competition and the hard work required by each of them. During the tough times, the leaders are often seen pulling their backs and not communicating effectively with the employees. In certain cases, the communication even becomes non-existent. This causes further anxiety and negative speculation in the company’s environment.
When the work is more and salary is limited for the employees, the thing which can make them stick to their particular job is effective communication. Whether through blogs, speeches, videos, or Q&A sessions, an effective communication strategy can ensure the best performance of the company even during the toughest economic conditions of the state.
Communications Consultant, Bob Aronson says, “If communication is not your top priority, all of your other priorities are at risk.” To strengthen the concepts regarding employee communication and engagement, give a read to the following links:
Effective Communications and HR: Making the Connection
Eight Ways to Communicate Your Strategy More Effectively
How to Communicate With Employees
Employee Development
Employees are always motivated to advance in their careers and achieve more. As an employer, manager, or a leader, you will be sustaining really high levels of motivation if you open various doors of opportunities for your employees. This will make them even more proficient in seizing all the opportunities and developing a strong career path.
“On what high-performing companies should be striving to create: A great place for great people to do great work.” – Marilyn Carlson
Positivity from the employers lead the employees to be mindful of all the opportunities lying around, beneath, and beyond what they are actually looking for. Advancement for the employees means motivated employee morale to achieve company goals. Here are more details on the topic:
Modernizing Employee Development for Today’s Workforce
Role of Human Resources in Employee Development
Employee Training and Development: Reasons and Benefits
Employee Recognition
Employee recognition is very easy but many companies still fail to incorporate it in their working. All it requires is calling out the efforts and hard work of the employees by returning them with something. The appreciation task can be as convenient as simply saying a ‘Thank you’ and can be further taken to levels of introducing an employee reward system or offering bonuses.
It might not be possible to give out the monetary rewards every time an employee performs exceptionally well. However, one little appreciation note can do the trick and keep the employee on the track of achieving more. Do not make him think that performing to the best of his capabilities is something which is always expected of him and he cannot do otherwise. Make him feel that his awareness of his responsibilities and strive to perform the best is recognized and will make him earn all the rewards. Following resource links can provide more information in this regard:
Why employee recognition is so important
5 Ways Leaders Rock Employee Recognition
Add Fun to Employee Engagement
Having fun at the workplace will lead to the elimination of the unavoidable boredom there and will snap the employees out of their dull routine. Even the schools recognize the need for the children to have some fun and give them a recess break.
According to a survey by Hodge-Cronin & Associates, out of 737 surveyed CEOS, 98 percent preferred candidates with a sense of humor. Another research has revealed that the executives believe that employees having a sense of humor can perform the job better than those having none at all.
The CEO of Zappos Tony Hsieh says, “We think it’s important for employees to have fun… it drives employee engagement.”
Dr. David Abramis at Cal State Long Beach has discovered during his study on the fun at work that people who have fun at their workplace are more likely to be creative, better decision-makers, more productive, and can get along with other workers too. Their absentees, late arrivals, and sick leaves are limited too. For more information, visit these links:
How to Infuse More Fun into Your Workplace
Control over Job
A survey from Unify covered 9,000 workers from the UK, USA, and Germany. The findings of the survey revealed that 95 percent of respondents said that their ideal workplace would not be “controlling”. There is a reason that there are managers in companies and firms because they need to navigate the entire workforce. However, letting the employees choose their own way of following the track is advisable.
Michelle McQuaid and the Via Institute on Character found in their survey that employee engagement is enhanced when the managers allow them to build their strengths rather than improving their weaknesses.
“Employee loyalty begins with employer loyalty, your employees should know that if they do the job they were hired to do with a reasonable amount of competence and efficiency, you will support them,” says Harvey Mackay. These resource links emphasize the need to provide complete control to the employees even more:
Human Resource Controls: Appraisals, Discipline, Observations & Training
Becoming irresistible: A new model for employee engagement
Leadership for Employee Motivation
Leadership which always provides back to the employees and is looking for ways to make them perform better can help the employees achieve higher levels of motivation. Trust is a very powerful tool and all the transparent leaders will find surprising results and great opportunities to develop the talent of the employees.
In 2015, a survey was conducted by Achievers and it showed that only 45 percent of Americans trusted their leadership. This meant that a significant portion of the employees is unlikely to voice their opinions, speak their minds, and provide suggestions to resolve an issue.
The following links contain more information pertaining to the topic:
Leaders Energize and Engage the Workforce
Linking Empowering Leadership and Employee Creativity
Developing Your Leadership Pipeline
Ultimate Guide to Motivate Leaders and Teams
Anne M. Mulcahy puts it aptly together, “Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.”
As an effective leader, it is your responsibility to assure the satisfaction of the employees and not just assume it yourself. Most of the time, the employees are keeping a smile not because they are content but because they need to save their jobs. The situation should be otherwise. The employees must be willing to contribute towards the well-being of the organization and must happily strive to achieve the combined as well as individual goals.