Keeping employees motivated is one of the most important aspects of any business owner’s or manager’s job. It can be a daunting task with all the other competing demands on one’s time. Here are five simple things you and your management team can do to keep the process manageable and moving forward.
1. First, Define the Company Vision – Nothing is more demotivating to an employee than not knowing where they are supposed to be headed. In fact, leaving employees clueless as to the company goals is an invitation for them to concentrate on the wrong tasks. Instead, it is essential that upper management clearly define a vision for the company’s future and how they plan to get there. So important is this single item, that this vision should be memorialized on paper and emphasized at every company event.
2. Next, Empower Your Managers – While the CEO or owner of a business should be the primary motivating force in a company, he cannot be everyone at once. This means that subordinate managers must be empowered – and encouraged! – to make their own motivational decisions. Allowing managers to engage in team building exercises of their own devising or to schedule their own meetings can be doubly valuable. It signals trust in the manager himself and signals to the employees that self-motivation is highly regarded.
3. Then, Reward the Most Motivated – Recognizing motivation in your employees is key to perpetuating the behavior. While “employee of the month” plaques are appreciated to a certain degree, real motivation is garnered with real rewards. In other words, a simple pat on the back is not enough. Instead, provide something tangible like gift cards to a restaurant or tickets to a basketball game. They will reap far more benefits than the small price they cost.
4. Move On to Eliminating the Nabobs of Negativity – No matter how finely tuned your management skills are, a single dissenting voice in the ranks can have a significantly toxic effect on motivation. It is essential to identify these counterproductive individuals and either change their minds or terminate them from your employ. This process does not mean that dissenting opinions should be discouraged, just the ones that are negative solely for the sake of being negative. In other words, think positive and insist that your employees do the same.
5. Finally, Provoke Further Conversation – As mentioned, constructive discourse is to be encouraged as no single person has all the right answers. Collectively, however, answers can be found to almost any problem. In addition, promoting communication is a singular way for employees to motivate each other. Synergistic effort is a wonderful, and very powerful, thing if you can get it working in your favor.
One Final Thought – Managing motivation is not something you can effectively outsource. If you, as the owner or senior manager, are not living the company philosophy, no amount of sermonizing will get the rest of the employees to follow. However, using an HRIS system will help to simplify and manage data and ensure employees feel engaged and motivated.