Productivity is one of the biggest issues in business today. There will always be times when productivity reaches an all-time low. A time where everyone in the office feels exhausted, lacking in spirit, and has low levels of enthusiasm.
One of the main reasons for the lack of productivity is the loss of motivation. Motivation plays an important role in an employee’s ability to work and deliver. Keeping staff motivated should be one of your key focus areas as managers and employers. Today, let’s take a look at 5 approaches to raise motivation in the workplace.
1.Change For The Better
Change can spice things up and bring new energy to a stale workplace. Make changes where it brings benefit to people, systems and workflow. But here’s the Caveats: Make sure that any changes are carefully considered. Change can be scary for people. So don’t make changes just for the sake of it. Resentment can fester in the team if the change that’s made makes life harder for people to do their jobs, or if they have to re-learn new ways of doing things over and over again. And don’t promise change if you’re not absolutely sure it will happen. This only results in your staff losing trust and causes you to lose face, if you can’t deliver. So when breathing life back into the team or business through change, make sure all change results in a benefit, and that benefit and the change process is clearly communicated to the team. Check in regularly to see how people are adapting to the change, and constantly reinforce the benefits of the change.
2.Focus on the Individual to build a Motivated Team
People have different concerns and grievances. Unaddressed, these grievances can fester and spread, as individuals share them amongst the team. Before long, a swell of negative energy can build, drowning the motivation and morale within the team. As a Leader, check in regularly with each of your team members independently and provide them with a platform and process to have authentic conversations about their concerns. Acknowledging and addressing individual concerns means you can nip them in the bud before they build and spread. You’ll build loyal supporters and a committed, motivated team.
3.Give them Immediate and Long-term Support
The best way to keep motivation at workplace is to give everyone the immediate and long-term support that they need. Help your team members develop their skills through coaching and training, and look for opportunities to help them shine. Give them authority and autonomy as soon as they’re ready for it. Make sure they have or can get the resources needed to do their jobs properly. People who feel that their leaders have got their backs, work harder.
4.Make the Workplace Fun
Think of ways to add some positive energy into the daily mix. Celebrate wins. Acknowledge individual efforts. Observe birthdays. Break bread together occasionally – have a team lunch or dinner. Create a happy dance. Start a team meeting with a fun share. Write a team poem. Have a team mascot that rotates each week. Have a team chant to end meetings.
5.Discover Personal Priorities
Discover what makes each of your team members tick.Take your team through some behavioural profiling to discover their different strengths and priorities. Aim to find out a little more each week about each person in your team – what motivates them, where do they want to go on their next holiday, what hobbies do they have, what’s their unique ability, what are they a genius at, what their personal and professional goals are? Build a team culture where members feel safe sharing their personal and work priorities – that way, others in the team can help them achieve what’s on their list. Having a team goals board can be fun and can work wonders keeping the energy high.
What can you implement to breathe life back into your team?
Sharon Kaibel is a performance and productivity coach. Sharon helps business owners create the strategy, structure and systems to build and grow a profitable business. Join her Closed Facebook Group, the #ACHIEVERNETWORK for the community, resources and trainings to become an extraordinary achiever.
