Motivation is an important factor that has a considerable influence on the culture of an organisation. Motivated staff are more likely to work harder to achieve the goals of the organisaiton, and in turn the organisation will experience higher productivity and higher levels of success and achievement. This is partly why so may business leaders are constantly looking for ways in which they can improve the levels of motivation within their employees. Improving staff retention is one of the most common goals for many business leaders. Ensuring staff are motivated is one of the key ways to improve their overall job satisfaction and to improve the retention levels of staff. In this article, we will explore some key ways that business leaders can effectively motivate their staff within the workplace.
By sharing the vision of your organisation with all staff members, you can effectively improve the level of motivation within the organisation, as you can ensure that all staff members are working together towards a common goal for the business. They also have a clearer strategic understanding of how their role fits into the business and how their responsibilities will assist the organisation in achieving it’s vision.
Sometimes the most effective way to motivate staff members is to incentivise. People respond to being rewarded for their hard work. Popular ways to incentivise valued team members is to offer bonuses, pay rises, or job benefits such as free gym memberships, store discounts and shopping vouchers. Incentivising staff does not always require financial and materialistic perks. Another popular incentive is simple recognition for their work. Common ways businesses do this is by having an employee of the month and an employee of the year competition. Even more simply, regular congratulations and signs of appreciation for the hard work of employees can sometimes be all the incentives some staff members need to keep a high level of motivation.
By creating an enjoyable culture within the organisation, staff members will have higher job satisfaction. In turn, they will be more motivated within their roles. Working in a tense or uncomfortable work environment can lead to disengagement of staff, and lower productivity levels as a result of lower motivation amongst staff members. It is also important to be able to manage conflict between staff members effectively. Conflict amongst staff members can sometimes be unavoidable, and it is a normal part of work. Different personalities can clash in the workplace when outside of the workplace they would otherwise get on well. This is not a cause for concern, as long as it is managed correctly. If it is managed incorrectly, conflict within the workplace can sometimes lead to lower job satisfaction and communication breakdowns between staff. This in turn leads to lower motivation within the workplace.
Micromanagement does not improve productivity or the completion of a task. It is not a correct form of management, and will only serve to disengage employees. In order to improve motivation and job satisfaction amongst staff members, it is advised to take a step back and allow them freedom and flexibility to complete tasks and projects in their own way; ensuring that they can utilise their strengths and their unique expertise to generate the best outcomes when working on a project.
When setting goals for individual team members, you need to work with them to gain a confident insight into their role. You need to understand their role, and understand what goals are realistically achievable for them. By setting them overly ambitious goals without a clear understanding of the work that goes into achieving them, your staff will only become unmotivated, leading to much lower levels of success and productivity. In order to get the best out of your staff, you need to be able to set them realistic and achievable goals that will serve to improve their confidence and their motivation within their role.
Our Staff Retention and Inclusive Recruitment Programme – CMI Level 7 provides a vital training programme for all leaders and managers to be able to improve their team’s engagement and motivation. This comprehensive training programme gives leaders and managers the tools they need to embrace and implement staff retention and employee engagement techniques to improve staff motivation.
At In Professional Development, staff motivation and employee engagement are topics that we also cover on many of our other professional training courses. To find out more about our courses, visit our Courses page, and click on the relevant course. Alternatively, or if you’d like more information before booking, email us at enquiries@inpd.co.uk, send us a message using the form on our Contact page, or call us on 0161 826 3139. We look forward to hearing from you and advising you on the right course for you.