8 Methods for Motivating Your Team

I don’t know about you, but keeping productive and motivated lately has been a real chore, check out these tips for motivating your team during the pandemic.

Your business is only going to be as successful as the team working within it. If your team isn’t motivated or productive, then your business is going to suffer for it. Not only that, but team members who lack motivation or harbor resentment for their position are less likely to stick around and show loyalty to your business, which can result in a high turnover of staff. 

In order to keep your employees happy, healthy, and motivated within their working environment (for the good of their own wellbeing and for the good of your business), here are 8 methods that can really help. 

1. Take Care of Their Environment

Your team is going to work more productively within a working environment they feel comfortable and inspired within. This works on many levels, as follows: 

• Think about a healthy source of natural light with plenty of windows. If an adequate amount of natural light isn’t available, think of alternative ways, such as substantial lighting and bulbs, which are constantly maintained (to avoid flickering bulbs or lights which don’t work). 
• Think about décor. Even a quick coat of fresh paint and a spruce up can make a huge difference to a working environment. If your team is working in an area that is undecorated and neglected, this is going to do nothing for their positive mindset. 
• Make sure they have everything on hand. You need your employees to be able to fulfill their job to an optimum level, which means providing all they need, such as the right technology, as well as adequate desk space and items specific to their job role. 
• Think about the facilities. This means food and drink facilities but also making sure they have access to these whenever they need, as well as restroom facilities and anything basic which can fill basic requirements. 

2. Hold Regular Appraisals

Regular employee reviews are essential, both for the good of the company and for your employee to understand their own role and goals. Appraisals don’t also have to be entirely positive, as constructive criticism and areas to improve are just as key as compliments, but be sure to also take this time to outline all the areas your employee is getting right, too. 

Positive feedback and a commitment to constantly discuss and improve their working role will have employees feeling appreciated, motivated, and knowing which goals they are working towards. 

3. Make Room for Promotions and Pay Rises 

Some employees may not be looking for a promotion, but that doesn’t mean that opportunities should never be given. Discussing promotions and bonuses for those employees working considerably hard will have them knowing that their hard work is appreciated. 

Furthermore, having an open policy for promotions will inspire employees to work in a more motivated fashion from the beginning if they understand that a promotion may always be possible in the future. 

4. Make Information Sharing More Interesting 

Whether it’s a presentation, a long meeting or a training scheme, you need to hold the attention of your team in order to make sure that they are taking in the crucial information – and actually want to.

In order to best motivate your team in this sort of environment, you need to make it as interesting as possible, so try to eradicate any boring or long speeches. Team building exercises, activities, images, colors, and video presentations can be much more engaging. Technology, like a smart projector, can significantly help to make presentations, training videos, or meetings more interesting and successful. Projectors are easy to get your hands on, and you don’t have to worry about buying one that will sit unused when presentations and meetings aren’t in use. Simply rent the equipment that you need when you need it.  

5. Discuss Clear Goals

Being motivated emerges from working towards a clear, end goal and understanding how your hard work is going to pay off. It’s essential that your employees understand the clear, general business goals, as well as their own personal goals in order to fulfill their roles in the best possible way. 

Goals can be discussed on a one to one basis during appraisals, or you may want to outline the larger business goals during team meetings, or perhaps in employee handbooks so that everyone can work to the same page. 

With nothing to work towards, employees may feel less than motivated to complete a task, or perhaps not understand a clear time frame, which can lead to a lack of productivity. 

6. Assign Clear Roles

Your team will be more motivated if they understand distinct roles. Every person should have a part to play, and that person should understand what their own role is, as well as the role of others. This encourages better communication as well as an increase in productivity, as it ensures that every task has a designated individual and an aim for completion. 

7. Be Flexible 

Motivation for work comes from being happy with a working arrangement in general. Despite loving their work and being a hard worker, a productive employee can easily become less so if they find that the business – or business leader – lacks flexibility and is difficult to work with. 

If various working schedules are available, such as remote work or flexible working patterns, it’s a good idea to offer this for your employees. This will help them to work in a more motivated fashion in a way that best suits them, and allows for them to more easily arrange other commitments when they arise, such as medical appointments. 

8. Avoid Micromanaging 

Your team won’t feel confident and productive within their own role if you don’t leave them the space to grow and fulfill their own responsibilities. Business runners who micromanage will run the risk of disgruntled employees down the line. They may begin to work less hard with their own responsibilities if they feel that you are only going to get involved and try to change everything regardless. 

Taking a step back and allowing your team the room to fulfill their own roles will help to build trust and confidence. Therefore they will be more motivated to complete it.