Our recent employment monitor states that two thirds of jobseekers would stay over 10 years in the right job. How can you ensure this is the case within your company? Motivation is key to ensuring employee satisfaction. A manager's success, apart from results, can be measured by the morale of the team. Happy employees tend to be more productive, work harder and be more loyal to their organisation. Since everyone has a unique set of values, to succeed in instilling company-wide motivation employ these 7 secrets of employee motivation and empowerment:
1. Show your trust
Micromanaging your employees will make them feel nervous; it's important to give them freedom to make decisions relating to their workload where appropriate.
Give your staff greater autonomy and responsibility, and they will rarely disappoint you. By doing so, you show that you have faith in their abilities to get the job done. It goes a long way when it comes to motivating people to do their best.
2. Encourage development
Invest in your employees by offering tuition reimbursement, training and upskilling opportunities, a mentoring program, one-on-one coaching and/or job shadowing with more experienced team members.
You can arrange periodic meetings to discuss their career progress and areas they would like to develop; this shows employees that you care about them and their future. When your employees grow, so does your company.
3. Give your staff feeling of ownership
You will benefit from higher employee engagement, lower turnover, and increased financial performance by increasing the feeling of ownership your employees experience.
Promote ownership by:
- Involving employees in making decisions which impact their work
- Encouraging staff to apply their own judgment when problem-solving
- Avoiding management practices and processes constraining autonomy, such as directive styles of management, excessive monitoring, or unnecessary approvals.
- Involving employees in the planning, reporting, and evaluation of projects rather than just the 'doing'
- Communicating how employees' duties contribute to the end goal.
4. Inspire individuality
When a team works toward a common goal, frame your strategy in multiple ways to ensure each stakeholder has a clear and personal understanding of how their work benefits the team.
While teamwork is important, individual attention is the best way to empower each person. This is especially true in large corporations, where employees can feel isolated or unrecognised. Taking time to speak with a person individually can make him, or her feel truly appreciated.
During one-on-one check-ins share big company goals, ask what an employee enjoys working on, listen to their ideas and encourage professional growth. As everyone is different encouraging individual personalities to shine will help create a dynamic and diverse culture, but it will also foster an open and accepting work environment.
5. Give good feedback when it's due
The acknowledgement of a job well done from a manager or the owner of the company means a lot. Express your gratitude when an individual exceeds performance goals or does some exemplary work.
Direct praise makes the employee feel recognised and appreciated; it also reinforces the positive behaviour for the entire workforce. Thanking your employees can also help in developing loyalty and ensuring that workers are willing to give their best each day.
6. Include staff in the big decisions
It can be disheartening to employees when they see critical company decisions being made without anything being mentioned to them. It makes them feel isolated and unimportant.
To create a sense of belonging in the company ask your employees for their opinions on company's strategic decisions and always inform your team of any big changes within the business.
7. Incentivise
Positive reinforcement is one of the oldest psychological principals. When you reward people for a job well done, they will be more likely to repeat great performance. You can incentivise your employees with monetary rewards like bonuses, stock options, profit sharing and raises.
Apart from the monetary incentives, there are certain non-financial rewards which can satisfy the ego and self- actualisation needs of employees; they could be an afternoon off, free lunch, gift cards or event tickets, for people that reach defined targets.
Two thirds of jobseekers will stay 10 years in the right job provided they are happy and motivated. Ensure your business retains the best employees by using these 7 secrets of employee motivation and empowerment.