Keeping the morale of your team high is one of the greatest responsibilities of an employer. Not just because it’s an ethical and humane thing to do but also due to the fact that it brings you a direct productivity boost. It’s a scientific fact that a happy employee works 12 percent better, nonetheless, happiness is quite hard to define, especially when it comes to one’s professional life. All you can do as an entrepreneur is look into means of motivating people in your employ. Here are five useful tips that you should consider.
1.Learn how to recognize a job well done
The first thing you need to understand is the fact that every good action by your employees requires an equally good reaction on your part. This means that you need to learn how to recognize (publically) a job well done. Keep in mind not to overdo it though, seeing as how, this way, you can make it into a meaningless gesture. Remember, an average employee who’s bound to change jobs 12 times in their lifetime will become quite efficient at recognizing a generic pep talk.
2.Show them why
It’s quite easy for your employees to underestimate the importance of their task if they don’t know its full value. For this reason alone, it’s paramount that you try and show them the bigger picture; show them why they’re doing what they’re doing. By sharing your overall strategy with your employees, you’ll make them feel like a part of the team, you’ll make them feel significant. Moreover, you’ll also show them exactly where they fit in the larger scheme of things, which is not to be underestimated.
3.Intrinsic rewards
The next thing you need to understand is the nature of your employee as an individual, due to the fact that not everyone has the same aspirations. Some people are in your employ to learn more. For these people, new challenges and learning scenarios will have the greatest value by far. Offering career advancement opportunities such as job relocation is a good option worth exploring. You can hire firms that arrange everything and provide corporate relocation services such as finding a home for your employee, the shipment of household goods, and more. Others hope to climb the corporate ladder, while there are those who just want their work to be recognized and appreciated. The latter can be easily achieved through the use of a co-branding prepaid card system. In order to choose the right method, however, you first need to come to know your employees on a personal level.
4. Encourage friendly competition
One of the major misconceptions about the notion of competition in the workplace lies in the idea that somehow, it always breeds conflict. What people often omit is the fact that a healthy friendly competition within the same workplace may lead to some of the most outstanding results. One of the easiest ways to tread this thin line without the risk of conflict is to encourage competition between teams and not individuals. All you need here is a system of checks and balances and team rewards (as opposed to individual ones).
5. Be transparent about their path to advancement
The problem with advancement and promotions often lies in the fact that your employees don’t really know what it would take for them to progress to the next level. In order to avoid this problem, you need to clearly define the path to advancement. There’s always a probability that your employees will outgrow and leave you and when this happens, you need to accept this as best you can. By being fair and genuinely pleased by their prosperity, you’ll keep them as allies long after they leave your employ. Keep in mind that having powerful allies within your industry may make all the difference in the world.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the biggest issue with motivation lies in the fact that it’s a subjective thing. The same gesture may immensely motivate one of your employees while having no effect on others. This is why you can’t afford to rely on a single motivation technique. Instead, try to inspire your staff through various channels in order to get the most out of it.