Essentials To Motivating Your Staff to Be Their Best
Hello everyone this is Michele Lee Occhipinti, CEO and Founder of Ack Professional International, thank you for joining me in this session.
Listen to this session on Audio
Leaders need to constantly be innovating not only in the business they lead but in ways to motivate their team's success.
The many benefits of highly motivated employees include:
Increased employee engagement
Higher productivity and performance
Greater levels of creativity and innovation
Better customer service
Positive company reputation
Lower company turnover
Greater company culture
Motivating staff is a question I get quite often when coaching my leadership clients. If you want to understand how to motivate your staff first, you need to understand what motivates them. There is not one size that fits all in many establishments but rather groups of people with similar motivators. It’s putting it together to formulate the right strategy to get your staff in line to show up at their best.
Motivate your employee to be their best. Methods you can use to motivate your team to success. Understanding what motivates individuals to work in your business can empower you to tailor the options for what will work best. Develop a team's motivation building on its culture with these steps:
Employee Incentives.
Incentive programs offer an external reward for productivity, work quality and other factors. These could include a monthly bonus for an employee, extra time off for the entire department for reaching specific goals or giving commissions to individuals that went above and beyond.
2. Provide Growth.
Providing opportunities that are towards the employee's goal(s) is a great way to motivate your employees. Providing an opportunity to advance can motivate employees to work harder in their current positions. Giving them a reason to stay with your company.
Opportunities for leadership and growth can include paying for an employee to gain additional education and earn licensure or certifications, offering an employee a promotional position or giving your employees a specific project to see to completion.
3. Create Space that is Supporting and Welcoming.
An office that’s inviting and supportive where each of your staff supports one another will keep your staff motivated. Consider creating an open, naturally lit and aesthetically pleasing space where it’s easy for your employees to work and interact together and be inspired to provide innovation.
4. Acknowledge, Appreciate & Celebrate
Acknowledge the hard work and talent each team member provides to keep them motivated. Employees want to know their hard work is an essential part of the mission. The recognition will show your employees that you noticed and care and encourage them to want to do more. When they internally feel good about the work, they provide they will continually seek to receive the internal dopamine raised when receiving acknowledgment of their hard work. Employee recognition is more than just a thank you for doing their job. Our brains are hardwired and continually need recognition. In fact, the recognition results in the release of dopamine.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced in the brain. Dopamine stimulates the parts of the brain that processes rewards and creates positive emotions like satisfaction and enjoyment. Should you have correctional feedback, begin these meeting on a positive note, provide the area of correction and be sure to end the meeting positively to show that you encourage the employee to improve and believe in them in making the change.
Celebrate the success!
By taking the time to acknowledge the daily efforts of your employees, you can help them feel valued and inspire them to continue fulfilling their job duties above and beyond.
5. Be Resilient.
If you want your employees to take risks and be creative, you need to accept challenges. Understanding outcomes will not always go as planned. Create a culture that is resilient to challenges without judgement or criticism. The words you use are what the employee focuses on. Instead of using disempowering words use words that encourage open and honest feedback. Accept that taking risks comes with some failure. Your team have not failed until you stop trying. Be resilient with your staff. Review and revise the plan. Use it as an opportunity to learn and improve, so employees feel comfortable taking risks in the future providing innovative opportunities.
6. Accommodate Flexibility.
Flexibility can motivate your employees. Allowing them to fulfill their work duties while also taking into consideration their personal lives. Employees want to feel appreciated and valued. Allow employees to work from home if feasible in your industry. Flexibility when something important comes up in their lives whether that be appointments for health and well-being. Babysitting issues or the like. What the employee needs to succeed.
This can help an employee feel supported and valued within the workplace and motivate them to perform their job at their best.
7. Encourage Work Life Balance
You want your employees to be efficient and productive, but when they are constantly overworking themselves or never taking time for what is needed such as vacation time it can quickly lead to burnout. Be a leader that supports work life balance in the workplace by encouraging your employees to take their vacation time.
You can also support work-life balance by being accommodating when personal issues interfere with work. You might let an employee work from home temporarily to take care of a sick child or parent. Giving employees the time needed for a death in the family or other situations can also be helpful.
8. Support your Employees' Mental Health and Well-being.
You can boost motivation, engagement and work quality by providing what your employee needs. Having an employee assistance program that gives your staff easy access to wellness opportunities and counseling and other services that help them be at their best is a great beginning.
Focus on creating a healthy work environment that supports mental health. Providing opportunities to decrease stress for your employees, which can have an impact on mental health and decrease motivation.
9. Fair Compensation.
Money shouldn’t be the only motivator for workers, and generally is a temporary motivator. Once an employee obtains the money, they sought they will be looking for other motivators such as purpose. Assuring your employees are compensated fairly will drive your employees. Assure you review your current salaries and compare them to your competitors for each position within your area. Consider bumping up the pay when your business is below average. You want to meet or exceed the pay.
10. Understand your Employees' Needs. Understanding and Appreciating their World.
Create a space for open and honest communication and opportunities to connect understanding what they need to maximize their success this will help to build trust. A must for every leader.
Assessments to understand what motivates your employee directly is essential to every leader's success. When coaching with Ack Professional we provide the essentials for you to understand your employees' direct motivators and tailor a strategy in the program towards their success.
11. Clearly Communicate Goals and Expectations to Your Team.
Create a vision. Outline the goals. Communicate Clearly
When determining the goal for your team to achieve assure you communicate it clearly with your expectations of the outcome you wish to achieve. Setting clear goals and expectations for each team member will allow them to understand the vital role they play in the mission and achieving the vision, motivating them towards success to be their best.
Providing confidence in their abilities to get the goals accomplished.
Gain trust with your team and build repour and be sure to meet with your direct reporting employees consistently 1:1 and as a team.
How can you tell if motivation is running low? When trust is not built with your team many may not tell you they’re feeling unmotivated, but that does not mean they are not giving signals. Pay close attention to some of the signs that indicate you need to work on improving workplace motivation:
Keep an eye out and watch for these signs that motivation is lacking in your employees:
Higher rates of turnover and being absent.
Employees showing up late and/or getting a slow start on their workday.
Providing the bare minimum required for the job.
Not contributing or providing feedback on project ideas or in team meetings.
Withdrawing from team building and coworker activities.
Mood changes and overall beliefs in the business and its mission.
Not using time wisely, being bored and/or not caring about work outcome.
When working with us we dig deeper to understand what truly motivates each individual in the team so you as the leader can build the team to it greatness, building a culture of integrity, one that is supportive and thrives on the companies mission.
There are many opportunities to motivate your staff to do their best. Looking for more ways to motivate your team to its success? Grow your vision as a leader by visiting our resources page. Our premier Leadership Development program provides the tools and assessments you need to formulate the right strategy to get your staff in line to show up at their best and be the leader you see in today’s world. Making the vision a reality.
Schedule a complimentary discovery session by reaching out to us today.
Be the leader you see in today's world. Be the best version of you.
Ack Professional
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!
Ack Professional
Published in Brainz Magazine on February 12th, 2023
Comments