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Motivating employees requires addressing a number of areas: creating an encouraging work environment, providing support and feedback, and implementing effective management and leadership techniques.
Providing support and feedback lets employees know that the company values their efforts. Not all motivation techniques apply to all employees. Some employees prefer to keep to themselves and focus on work. Others require interpersonal support and positive feedback. Determine what motivates each type of employee and strive to provide that motivation. When tailoring the approach to motivation, treat all employees fairly and equally.
A good work environment caters to the employees’ desires for:
Motivating employees means both managing and leading. Managing means allocating resources, scheduling training, and handling the other “impersonal” aspects of the job. Leading means facilitating communication, providing feedback, setting an example, and building a team environment.
Autonomy and control. Show employees that they are trusted to handle responsibility and give them flexibility in completing tasks. Empowering, rather than managing employees, grants them freedom. Constant oversight can increase anxiety and reduce an employee’s of flexibility.
Balance this trust by ensuring that managers, supervisors, or other mentors are still available to provide oversight if the employee needs assistance. Granting freedom does not mean isolating employees.
Support. Employees want to feel that their work and their contributions are important. Some need to know they are valued as people in addition to being valued as employees. Showing support may mean walking around to ask how a project is going, or providing positive feedback and pointing out things that employees are doing correctly.
Challenges. Employees can get bored with repetitive work. Work that is mentally challenging or stimulating utilizes problem-solving skills and provides a sense of achievement. Oddly enough, the reward for hard work can sometimes be more responsibility.
Attempt to determine what motivates the employees. An employee review that includes a discussion of what the employee enjoys about work, what is not enjoyable, and what the company can do to challenge the employee, might allow for better job placement or task assignment.
Motivation “do’s” and “don’ts.”
Situations or actions that can damage employee morale and motivation include:
Situations or actions that can enhance and increase/maintain motivation include: