You know how they say, “We only do what keeps us motivated”. This “motivated” feeling is an important emotion for any person to be productive. Without motivation, you would eventually tire out and stop, which is precisely the case with most employees today. Most employees neither feel motivated nor happy doing their jobs.
We see them switching workplaces too often, looking for better prospects, and still complaining about wherever they go. This has much more to do with the lack of motivation! However, you could help them rekindle this fire. Their spirits are still heated with ideas and thoughts, a good leader such as yourself need only light them up again. As an employer, you could keep your people motivated by:
- Frequent appraisals: Most organizations go for annual appraisals; however, don’t you think that’s a long wait! You want to keep your team running every day, so sooner appraisals are required. You could divide their annual bonuses into smaller chunks and keep monthly appraisals; this will keep your people on toes and your organization incredible!
- Verbal appreciation:
If you think about it, yearly appraisals and performance reviews are a way of applauding the team for its hard work and finding out the loopholes. This can be done in a weekly fashion, where you, the team lead, make a note of top performers and the scope for improvement as well. When you applaud the best employees, the remaining team would be motivated to perform better, while the best would be motivated to maintain this. - Talk to them:
It isn’t enough to acknowledge them, what helps an employee feel at home at a workplace is the fact that their boss listens to them. As an honest boss, you must pay attention to their feedback and try to incorporate it. It would help if you worked towards alleviating their weak points while strengthening their immense powers. You could also use this to understand what other employees have to say about your leadership and improve yourself and your leadership style as well.
- Give them a break: What better way to motivate an employee than to give them a day-off. Let your team see it openly that hard work pays off and they can be reimbursed in the form of vacations as well. You could send your hard-working individual employees to exotic abroad locations for a week, on an all-expenses covered trip. That is undoubtedly going to pump everyone towards keeping themselves in the race and staying productive.
- Using gifts:
Maybe it is too extravagant and expensive to spend on vacations! In that case, sweet gestures could save your day. How about gifting them a movie ticket with their loved one’s entry covered, or a massage coupon, or a discount card at their favorite eatery, or just a day bowling away? You could hire professionals to avail gift coupons and keep your workforce churning out some butter for your business. To know more, click here!
- Promote equality: There is no better way of promoting motivation amongst your people than to help them feel they are all equals. Ensure that everybody gets equal opportunities, and despite things being focused around an order, the hierarchy isn’t strict, and anyone could prove their mettle to get higher positions. Help them believe that there are opportunities for them to reach their dream stature while staying with you. This way, you would retain employees.
This article was a small, simple guide for you to evaluate your motivational qualities and incorporate whatever is missing to give the best leader to your people.