Whether you’re leading a small team or a large enterprise, motivated teams are a huge part of what makes a business great while still meeting management’s targets.
Here, we rounded up the most empowering tips ever for building a motivated team. Good? Absolutely.
Print them out and hang them in your cubicle or just bookmark this link for easy reference. These gems are bound to take your organisation to a higher level.
Set clear goals
Articulate what it is that you want people to do, or they’re not going to be able to do it. If team members understand your goal and how their individual work contributes to attaining it, they’ll be more motivated to produce results.
People should leave work each day feeling like they accomplished something. That means making sure you have clearly communicated set goals. It is very important for managers to ensure team members know what the daily, weekly, quarterly or yearly objectives are. If they feel like they achieved a goal (that hopefully feeds into the larger company goals), they tend to want to contribute more to the greater good.
Give simple rewards
Everyone likes to have their good work recognized – when they reach milestones, or go above and beyond to complete their work on time. Simply buying lunch or giving out monthly gift to top performers goes a long way. This is not about handing out participation trophies but even a simple “thank you, I know you worked hard on this,” will make team members feel noticed and appreciated, which, in turn, fuels motivation to do more.
Though very important, most people want more than compensation, perks and other benefits. Share positive feedback from customers and remember to say thank you. When people can see that their efforts have a significant impact on typically abstract things like customer satisfaction, their motivation and productivity goes up.
Encourage a positive work environment
To advance in business or the corporate world, you have to make your office a place people actually want to be. The work environment should be one where the focus is on learning and not what went wrong. An office space with a good vibe encourages and inspires productivity. This way, you avoid stifling creativity and innovation with fear.
Having communicated the big picture, show how employees’ jobs fit into it. Share company news before employees draw their own conclusions. Encourage team interaction socializing in the workplace. This can be with projects that encourage interaction like a company outing to encourage fun.
Give them space
Don’t micromanage your team! You have the best of intentions and think you’re helping them out, but the only message they’ll get is, “I don’t trust you to do a good job.” So next time you assign a task, give clear instructions, offer your support, and step back. It’s a good idea to check in occasionally to make sure your team has what they need to get the job done, but resist the temptation to hover.
If you’re constantly pointing out weaknesses, perhaps the employee isn’t in the right job, or maybe you haven’t given them the right training. Figure out why they are falling short and either train them, move them to another role, or let them go.
Did you find these tips helpful? Tell us in the comments!
