How To Motivate Employees

How to motivate employees

We cannot motivate others. But we can provide an environment that is more conducive for them to get motivated.

No employee will start his daily work with an intention to spoil something. Everybody wants to contribute for the betterment. But they need leadership and support of management to achieve this. We need to explain employees the “why” of their work, detailing its significance and relation to the organizational goal.

Employees will get motivated if their goal is in alignment with the organization. That means they must know why the organization is in existence that is, the vision and mission of the organization. But interestingly, in many organizations many employees don’t have the knowledge of this vision and mission. This may be due to many factors including lack of communication from top management.

To make the employees to get aligned with the vision and mission:

·         Recruit the people with right attitude and inclination towards them

·         Keep refreshing the vision and mission so that all employees become aware of them

Attitude and energy.

People choose to have a negative or positive attitude. They also choose their level of energy and where to focus it. Therefore, employee motivation (empowerment) is a choice as well.

We can categorize employees based on the combination of their attitude and energy level. They are as below.

To create a conducive environment, we must find out what makes an employee tick. So, the first step is to engage with each individual. Aon Consulting did extensive research in employee commitment. They came up with the five drivers of employee motivation known as performance pyramid.

Find out the driver of each employee and work out strategies separately to effectively address their drivers.

Positive, pro-active, forward looking, and focused mangers can inspire the employees work for them. Employees normally don’t leave organizations but managers. So, every manager must understand the importance of their role in engaging the employees. Exercise the following:

·         Explain the employees and make them understand how they affect the bottom line.

·         Encourage them to come out with cost-saving ideas and implement the good ones with due recognition and appreciation.

·         Invite suggestions from them for process improvements.

·         Find out if any of them are aware of customer requirements or customer requests.

·         Ask for their opinions on various important matters of the department.

·         Encourage employees to actively participate in setting objectives and goals for the department.

Asking employees for their input and due respect to the same show that you respect and trust them. It also increases the quality  of decisions being made. Make them understand that though their input is taken in the right spirit the authority to take a final decision lies with you as a manager.

Don’t micromanage your employees. Entrust the works to them with:

·         The exact result (outcome) needed

·         The time frame for the same

·         The attributes of the result (outcome)

·         The clear indication of what will happen in case of failure

·         The instruction to keep you posted on progress; they cannot tell you that they could not accomplish on the target (due) date

·         The assurance that you are always there to help them

·         The confidence that they can reach you anytime if there is a problem or your guidance is needed

Provide your employees two things.

1.       The right working environment, and

2.       The right resources to accomplish their task.

Demand two things from your employees.

1.       The right result in time

2.       The right quality  of the result

Making mistakes.

Allow your employees to make mistakes. People who never try anything, only don’t make mistakes. But make one thing very clear. Nobody is allowed to make the same mistake twice. It is punishable. Whenever they make genuine mistakes shield them from your boss and act as a firewall for them. Have a discussion with the employee and analyse the mistake. Explain him what went wrong and how to avoid the same in future. This way, you will build their confidence and win their trust.

It is important to remember money and fear are only short-term motivators and won’t work with everybody.