The following are ten
motivation techniques to jumpstarting your employee motivation and empowering
your team to outstanding results:
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Motivate Your Employees to Find Solutions
Encourage your employees
to be solution creators instead of problem creators. When employees communicate
a problem to you, look at it as an opportunity to empower the employees. Ask
the employees how they would solve the problem, express your confidence that
they are the person to solve the problems, give them the tools to solve the
problem, and follow up with them. You have just empowered those employees to
find ways in the future to create solutions and made your team more productive
at the same time.
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Motivate Your Employees by Soliciting Opinions
Many times during our
busy work day, we find it difficult to ask for opinions from our employees. But
just the act of asking for their opinions tells your employees that you value
their input and motivates them to accomplish more. Just imagine, it may be the
first time that an employer has ever asked them for their opinion, and they
appreciate it.
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Motivate Your Employees by Managing to Their Level
Learn your employees’
skill, experience, and motivation levels for performing workplace tasks. Then
assign the task and follow-up based on your findings. For example, you may need
to follow up more frequently with an employee who is fairly new to the project
or organization as opposed to the “veteran” employee who doesn’t need much
follow-up. Remember, the most skilled employee may not be the most motivated
for performing the task you
request.
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Motivate Your Employees by Delegating Tasks
Delegation is one of the
most powerful motivation tools for empowering employees in the workplace. The
sheer act of your delegating a task shows your employees that you have the
confidence in them that they can do the job. Make sure you understand the task
to be delegated so that you can clearly and concisely communicate how to do the
task and hand off “ownership” of the task to the employees. Delegation is
providing your employees with ownership of the task, providing the tools for
successfully completing the task, expressing the reward and consequences for
completing the task and following up accordingly.
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Motivate Your Employees by Encouraging Ideas
Ideas are the lifeblood
of any organization, department, and team. I always say that every mind is too
important to miss that one idea that can increase productivity, reduce expenses,
or increase profit. Empower your employees by creating a safe environment for
your employees to share their ideas. Remember, the idea that doesn’t make sense
today might be exactly the solution you are looking for a week from now.
Always give your
employees credit for the ideas they express. Nothing will decrease employee
motivation and dry up the flow of ideas quicker than having managers take credit
for their employees’ ideas. If your employees are coming up with ideas, reward
them publicly. You will be amazed how the flow of ideas from motivated
employees will increase with each public recognition.
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Motivate Your Employees by Letting Them Run Your Meetings
One of the best ways to
motivate and empower your employees is to involve them in running your
meetings. Of course, you will set the agenda; but there are many opportunities
for you as a leader to let your employees run portions of or the entire
meeting. Take the time to work with the designated employees ahead of time so
that they are confident with the assigned meeting tasks. During the meeting, you
are there to support them and help with any sections of the meeting that may
provide a challenge for them.
I suggest that you allow
as many opportunities for different employees to lead different meetings as
possible. By allowing your employees to play leadership roles in your meeting,
you will develop your employees for future opportunities and open additional
opportunities for you as a leader.
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Motivate Your Employees by Embracing Mistakes
Without mistakes, there
is no growth. Allowing your employees to make mistakes allows your employees to
grow, be creative, and provide a vehicle for empowerment. Create a safe work
environment so that when your employees make mistakes, they are not punished.
Use the mistakes your employees make as learning experiences. Ask your
employees how they would have performed the task differently and allow them to
tackle the task again. Your employees will gain a new sense of empowerment and
feel confident that you will support them when they try something new.
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Motivate Your Employees by Assigning Leadership Roles
Leadership comes at all
levels and doesn’t require a title. Take the time to align your employees’
skills with leadership opportunities. Make sure you provide training in the
areas of opportunities for each employee so that they are empowered to step up
to new opportunities.
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Motivate Your Employees by Rewarding Initiative
Create rewards for
employees who take initiative. Publicly recognize employees during meetings,
with reward boards, etc., so that other employees are motivated to take
initiative.
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Motivate Your Employees by Getting Goal Setting Buy-In
Your employees will be
far more motivated to achieve your goals if they are allowed to help develop
those goals. Involve your employees in the goal setting process and get their
input so that it becomes believable for them. Once your employees feel
ownership of your goals, they will be motivated to move quickly to help
accomplish your goals.
Apply these employee
motivation tips and you will motivate your team, achieve greater results, and
quickly accomplish your goals.
Additional Motivation Reading
Resources:
Appreciate to Motivate
(The Key to Successful Team Building)
The Secret to Living Your Dreams: Five Success Techniques to Achieving More Success in Your Life!
Seven Change Management Secrets to Creating a Winning Culture of Change
Are You Building Your Foundation of Success: Six Secrets of Motivating Yourself for Success
Employee
Motivation, Don Imus, and Team Building: Five Secrets of Motivated Teams
Motivate Your
Customer Service Team for Outstanding Customer Service: Six Secrets of Customer Service Motivation
Life Before Downsizing: Six Secrets to Managing Change and
Creating Opportunities for the Future
