In general terms, motivation is the energy you demonstrate toward a given goal. It’s one of the trickiest areas for managers, particularly those that are new to the role. Many consider that their employees should motivate themselves, failing to see how they, as a manager, could ever be responsible. In truth, it’s a two way street. To help you on your way, though, here are my top tips for motivating your staff. Bear in mind, these aren’t prescriptive. Their usage varies, according to your organisations culture, and of course the individual staff members involved.
1. Recognition and Praise
This is number one for a reason. It is perhaps the single most important motivator for staff. Expecting your employees to remain motivated in a vacuum, devoid of all feedback and recognition is fruitless.
It’s really quite difficult to have too much recognition, and there are many, many ways to do it. You can provide praise directly to staff when you see them performing, in private one on one coaching sessions, and of course to multiple staff as required. It’s also handy to provide recognition to staff at corporate events, publicising their achievements outside the immediate work area.
2. Provide Flexibility
It’s no secret that flexible working conditions improve employee satisfaction. We’ve known it for some time.
Employees have lives outside work, and although we don’t want them to influence the work environment, it’s inevitable. A much better option is to acknowledge the needs of staff and provide them a degree of flexibility in achieving the work-life balance that they desire.
You might want to ensure you don’t grant too much leeway. It can become a nightmare always monitoring your staff start and finish times to ensure they aren’t trying to fleece you!
3. Job Enlargement and job enrichment
This one might seem counterintuitive. For those who don’t know, job enlargment and job enrichment refer to the expansion of a particular job, horizontally or vertically. This means either a wider range of work tasks for job enlargement, or a greater involvement in existing work tasks for job enrichment.
On the surface, it seems backward that more work might motivate staff. It seems that a change is as good as a holiday. In reality, when used correctly job enlargement and enrichment can be one of the most effective motivators. This is primarily due to the additional variety or reponsibility.
Use caution, however, that you don’t overload employees. Additionally, take care when using these techniques – even the most diverse job can become banal.
4. Provide Development Opportunities
Don’t train your staff, develop them. What’s the difference? Training is the acquistion of specific knowledge and skills, related to a particular function or activity. Development, on the other hand, is the overarching concept of improving and refining multiple skills in pursuit of a future goal or position. In simple terms, training is for today, development takes a longer term view.
Why develop staff? Because it’s an excellent way to motivate them. Employees often desire improvement and acquisition of new skills. When this is put together into a well thought out development plan, employees feel empowered to acheive their goals.
5. Fun and Games
Enjoyment is a huge part of motivation. We’ve seen these types of developmental programs for years, with things like Fish! When staff have fun, work no longer feels like work.
You can do this a myriad of ways. Structured games, contests and competitions are fantastic. Perhaps the best example I’ve seen is the office olympics. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen office chair racing, really. Use caution, and determine if your ideas are safe.
It’s key, though, not to force fun. You certainly can’t mandate that people enjoy themselves and participate in games if they choose not to.
Do you have your own tips for motivating staff? If so, I’d love to hear them! Feel free to leave your comments below.