One of the key ways that many people achieve financial freedom and security over the years is through owning their own business. While there are many different elements involved in making a venture successful over the long term, one of the important things that a lot of people don’t focus on enough is employee motivation.
Keeping your team members productive, inspired, loyal, and engaged must be a priority, as it has many benefits. For example, it ensures that you retain essential business knowledge in your organization; that you don’t keeping having to pay the costs (time and money) involved in having to find and train new workers; and that you have a happier workforce that gets more done, treats customers better, and comes up with more inspired ideas.
If you need a little help finding ways to keep your team motivated and happy at work, read on for some tips you can follow today.
Reward and Acknowledge Employees
One of the first things you need to do is find ways to regularly reward your employees for their efforts, and acknowledge their hard work. Many business owners and managers don’t realize just how important it is to thank their team for going above and beyond, complete a job wonderfully, coming up with a fantastic suggestion, and so on. However, for many workers, acknowledgment is one of the key factors that affects levels of motivation.
There are lots of different ways you can go about thanking and rewarding your staff members. For starters, don’t dismiss the effectiveness of verbally recognizing someone in front of their colleagues for the efforts they have made, or sending them heartfelt thanks in the form of a letter, email, or phone conversation.
You might also want to arrange to have a ceremony once a month or so, where you can give out an award and make a nice big fuss of someone’s contributions. Alternatively, think about opting for methods such as rewarding employees with bottles of wine, chocolates, flowers, cake, vouchers, a trip away, a cash bonus, or anything else you think might be welcomed. It pays to tailor your gifts to each person, too, if possible, so that they know that their individual interests and likes have been catered to. This will help them to feel even more appreciated, and will increase motivation levels as a result.
Provide Training and Opportunities for Development
Another good way to keep employees motivated month after month is to ensure that you provide them with training and various other types of opportunities for development. People can quickly become bored and unsatisfied if they’re doing the same job for too long, or if they’re doing tasks which are too easy for them.
As such, it is vital that you keep challenging your workers, and give them the chance to learn new things and strive for new opportunities every year. This can be through promotions, new responsibilities, and training and education.
You should consider, for example, investing in hiring top professional motivational speakers to come and present talks to staff members on various occasions through the year. This will help give workers a lift, some new enthusiasm for their work, and often some new knowledge that they can bring into their roles.
It is also wise to conduct quarterly or annual reviews, so that employees and their managers can sit down and discuss goals, achievements, potential opportunities, and plans for advancement and growth. Give each team member something to work towards, and the chance to apply for higher positions. This will help to ensure that employees don’t feel the need to leave your business to proceed through the ranks of the industry.
Strive to Have a Positive Company Culture
Lastly, don’t forget that having a positive company culture can also have a huge impact on the motivation levels within a team. When people enjoy working with their colleagues, are treated well on the job, and feel that the leaders of the business do the right thing, they will be happier and more productive.
There are lots of ways to foster a strong company culture. For starters, hire well. Look for job candidates who seem to have the same kinds of values that you want your business to adhere to, and people who are optimistic and keen to join the team.
You should also ensure that managers lead by example, and are transparent and flexible. Have leaders communicate openly to workers so that they know what is going on, and don’t feel like they’re kept in the dark about company developments or other news.
As well, have all managers be flexible in how they run things, the hours they allow employees to work, the locations they can work from, and more. Also make sure that you empower workers to make decisions, so that they’re not micro-managed; and encourage feedback and participation from all employees.
