The current fast-moving business environment demands that CEOs and effective managers be both a well-organized administrator and highly adept in understanding people’s basic needs and behaviours in the workplace. Gaining commitment, nurturing talent, and ensuring employee motivation and productivity require open communication and trust between leaders and staff. Here are:
10 QUICK CHECK-IN TIPS TO FIRE-UP EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION, CREATIVITY AND OUTPUT:
1. Change behavior not personalities
People at work naturally tend to adopt instinctive modes of behaviour that are self-protective rather than open and collaborative. This explains why emotion is a strong force in the workplace and why management often reacts violently to criticisms and usually seeks to control rather than coach and take risks. So, in order to eliminate this kind of perspective and to increase employee motivation, it is always best to influence and train behaviour rather than to change personalities. Insisting what you expect from your employees will only worsen the situation.
2. Ensure that your team’s lower-level needs are met.
People have various kinds of needs. Examples of lower-level needs are salary, job security, and working conditions. In order to increase employee motivation, you have to meet these basic needs. Consequently, failures with basic needs nearly always explain dissatisfaction among staff. Satisfaction, on the other hand, springs from meeting higher-level needs, such as responsibility progress, and personal growth. When satisfaction is met, chances are employee commitment, creativity and motivation is at hand.
3. Encourage pride
People need to feel that their contribution is valued and unique. If you are a CEO or manager, seek to exploit this pride in others, and be proud of your own ability to handle staff with positive results. If an employee is keen to have a go at something not normally in their work scope then providing there is a benefit to the organization or themselves – then let them have a go. This, in turn, will encourage employee motivation among your people.
4. It has been said that listening is the best communication skill of all
In many areas of a CEOs or manager’s job, from meetings and appraisals to market conditions, customer needs, telephone calls, listening plays a key role. Listening demonstrates to your team that you value their contribution therefore, benefits both you and your team. So make an effort to understand people’s views, motivation, and attitudes by careful listening and questioning and by giving them the opportunity to express themselves before wanting to ram your thoughts and views into their cognitive chambers.
5. Install and build confidence – You’re only as good as your team!
Most people suffer from insecurity at some time. The many kinds of anxiety that affect people in organizations can feed such insecurity, and insecurity impedes employee motivation. Your antidote, therefore, is to build confidence by giving regular recognition when deserved , delegate high-level tasks, and provide full information when required. In doing so, you only not refurbish employee motivation but boost productivity as well. You’re only as good as your team!
6. Encourage people contact
Many CEOs and managers like to hide away behind closed office doors, keeping contact to a minimum. That makes it easy for an administrator, but hard to be a leader. It is far better to keep your office door open and to encourage people to visit you when the door is open. Go out of your way to chat to your team on an informal basis. Keep in mind that building rapport with your team will effectively increase employee motivation.
7. Use the strategic thinking of all employees.
It is very important to inform people about strategic plans and their own part in achieving the strategies. Take trouble to improve their understanding and to win their approval, as this will have a highly positive influence on performance and increasing employee motivation as well. You also may be surprised on how much knowledge they may be in certain areas and learn a thing or two during this process.
8. Develop trust with autonomy
The quality and style of leadership are major factors in gaining employee motivation and trust. Clear decision making should be coupled with a collaborative, collegiate approach. This entails taking people into your confidence and explicitly and openly valuing their contributions. By simply giving your staff autonomy to [perform their role and the opportunity to show that you can trust them is enough to increase employee motivation among them.
9. Delegate decisions
Pushing the power of decision-making downward reduces pressure on senior management. It motivates people on the lower levels because it gives them a vote of confidence. Also, because the decision is taken nearer to the point of action, it is more likely to be correct. Consequently, by encouraging your team to choose their own working methods, make decisions, and giving them responsibility for meeting the agreed goal will encourage employee motivation among your staff. Don’t be too concerned if they can’t make a decision on something – they will soon be looking for the person who can.
10. Appraising to motivate
When choosing methods of assessing your staff’s performance, always make sure that the end result has a positive effect on employee motivation and increases people’s sense of self-worth. Realistic targets, accurate data, positive feedback for good performance, and listening are key factors. As always -catch your employees doing something right and recognize this behavior with positive recognition immediately.
If you follow these simple check-in tips in increasing employee motivation, rest assured you will enhance your working relationship with your staff at the same time boost you company’s productivity.
Just bear in mind that people are employed to get good results for the company. Their rates of success are intrinsically linked to how they are directed, coached, reviewed, recognised, rewarded, trusted, and motivated by the management.
For more great tips on recruitment check out…
About the Author:
Paul Marshall is a HR Pro, corporate trainer, author and a welcomed and trusted business partner with commercial awareness and extensive expertise in people, performance and HR capabilities. With decades of Business and HR experience, the ability to value add fast to business objectives and Company growth strategies, Paul is a past winner of Small Business Development Corporation Award.
A Fellow and Certified Practitioner of the Australian Human Resources Institute (FCPHR).
Author of:
103 Golden Tips to Turbo Charge your Business make More Money and Get Rich
103 Golden Tips to Turbo Charge your Employees Skyrocket Productivity and Get More Output
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