7 Effective Strategies to Motivate Your Employees

by Groshan Fabiola I try to cover as many topics as I can

There are numerous researches on what seems to lower employee motivation in the workplace, but not enough studies and professional opinions on what employers could do to motivate their workers. Frustration and the lack of a proper workspace seem to be the main motives for which motivation levels might decrease. However, with a little bit of planning and attention to details, employers can achieve higher levels of employee satisfaction and turn them into motivated and involved employees.

#1. Get to know them on a personal level

As the word goes, first impressions matter the most. When you introduce yourself to new employees, try to have a more personal manner of introducing yourself. In a company, first impressions matter because this way, your employees will get to know their role in the company and their coordination and subordination relationships inside the enterprise. To turn your employees into highly motivated ones, try to connect on a more personal level since the beginning. This will make them feel like their efforts inside the company are coordinated with their superiors, rather than subordinated. This will offer them a feeling of workplace security and a boost of confidence. So, next time when you introduce yourself to new employees, try to have a humble and friendly attitude. This will make your employees feel like a person, not an asset.

#2. Make sure they know their skills are needed and appreciated

Even when you give your employees small and rather unimportant tasks, you want to make it look like they matter and their work is important for your business. Which in reality, is completely true. However, many employers forget about this small advice and start treating their employees like machines and assets. And this is what their employees become: robots, unmotivated ones, which would rather do something else than being in the workplace. If you start praising even their smallest efforts, you will see a boost in confidence and involvement in your company’s activity on their part. To work hard, employees must know that their efforts matter.

#3. Make them feel like their families’ matter

To achieve employees with higher engagement in your company’s activity, you must realize that they are humans, with private lives that start after the work hours end. You must recognize the fact that they have families and that sometimes, they sacrifice family time over work. As so, you have to make sure that you show that their families matter equally to your company. For truly motivated employees, try to offer their children some additional entertainment benefits as well as educational opportunities. For instance, you could send some of your employees’ children to summer camps, as the development staff at Camp Akomak claims that similar camps help the child develop better inter-personal relational abilities and higher cognitive standards. This will certainly motivate your employees and make them feel appreciated.

#4. Focus on their strengths and try to offer them improvement opportunities

All your employees have strengths and weaknesses. Even you do. But instead of focusing on their weaknesses and constantly pointing out those, try to focus on their strengths. To help them overcome their weaknesses, try to send them to training courses and workshops that may minimize those. If your employees’ weaknesses are not work-related, simply overlook those. However, employees show higher satisfaction rates when their companies invest in their development, so training courses and workshops might still be a great idea. This way, you may also enhance their positive points and make them feel like you are always willing to invest in them.

#5. Support risk-taking initiatives

Your teams must know that mistakes are not sanctioned. Everybody makes mistakes and you can always learn out of those. Instead of introducing a constant fear of mistake and hysteria, try to show your teams support even when they take risks. If you want your company to grow, somebody must take risks and test new, innovative theories and standpoints. After all, some great inventions are based on mistakes. If you show your employees that every mistake is sanctioned, this won’t act as a motivator. It will only act as a repression tool. Instead of making them more motivated NOT to mistake, this will lead to mistakes. Truthfully speaking, you cannot work in a constant fear. Reassure your employees that mistakes won’t be sanctioned and remind them that in order to grow as a company and individuals, they have to take some risks in their professional lives.

#6. Always be open for discussions

Managers that hide behind closed doors all day are less likely to motivate in any way their employees. To make them more involved and engaged, try to let them know that your door is always open and that they can always discuss with you. Allowing your workers to be comfortable enough with coming to you whenever they need is highly important for all the parties involved. If you create a strong hierarchy where employees cannot freely discuss with managers burning issues inside the company will only widen the communication gap that already exists in many companies.

#7. Minimize communication gaps

Yes, it is highly important to incentivize your employees with vacation days and monetary benefits, but the heart of their experience is during the work hours. And for a better at-work experience, while it is important to offer your employees the necessary means to accomplish their tasks, you have to put in the efforts to minimize the communication gap mentioned in the previous paragraph. Team building events will help your employees bond tighter relationships with other teams and managers and even yourself. This will turn them into happier, engaged employees, always willing to put in some extra efforts.

These seven strategies are proven to work like a charm when it comes to motivating your employees. Remember the fact that they are humans with feelings and emotions, that they have families and that sometimes, they neglect their loved ones for their jobs. Show appreciation when you can and make sure that you let them know that their sacrifices matter.