4 Ways to Motivate Your Employees

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Introduction

When it comes to keeping your employees motivated, it can be challenging to find unique ways that tap into their personalities and truly make them feel valued within your workplace. However, any sort of appreciation or recognition can help your employees understand that you see their hard efforts. When employees feel unappreciated within the workplace, this can lead to an increase in unmotivated employees, which ultimately will decrease the productivity and effectiveness of your work environment. Here are four ways to motivate your employees to succeed within your workplace: 

Make Sure Your Employees Are Aware of the Company-Wide Goals and Know How They Are Impacting a Greater Vision

When assigning projects and tasks, take time to state the correlation of these tasks to the company vision. Employees want to see that their work has a greater impact and truly has meaning. Letting your employees know how they are contributing to the company’s goals can help them see the bigger picture of their efforts and also might motivate them to put even more attention into their work because they truly want to see the impact. When thinking of the correlation between the tasks and the company mission, try to word this in a way that will impact the individual employee. Consider their top tendencies and how they will react to a new project or task as well. 

Consider How Your Employees’ Strengths Can Help Solve Difficult Issues or Projects 

Each employee within your team presents different strengths and weaknesses. When assigning tasks and projects, truly consider how these strengths and weaknesses can complement one another and contribute to the best success of your new project. In addition, employees enjoy doing tasks that relate to their strengths. For instance, let’s say you have a new marketing project to complete. You have two employees to choose from: one who has strong graphic design skills and one who has strong knowledge of brand awareness and social media trends. Consider having those two employees work together, each doing a component of the task that is within their skill set. In addition, employees do enjoy teamwork and getting to know others within the workplace. This would be a great way to foster a genuine connection within your team. 

When it comes to solving problems you have no idea how to answer, simply handing off the task to another employee will not always be helpful. If you have an employee who has a strong skill set in that specific area, they may be helpful in problem-solving. Again, consider if this employee would enjoy the challenge and how you can guide them through this problem-solving process. Being there to support the employee through the difficult task can provide them the much-needed support to stay motivated during the difficult task. 

Find Unique Ways to Reward Employees for Their Contributions 

Your employees’ hard work should be recognized frequently within the workplace. Even a small thank you can help prevent employee burnout and reduce overall workplace stress. Finding ways to appreciate your employees can be difficult. When deciding what to do, consider the task and how much work went into its completion. Bigger rewards are best for bigger results such as reaching a company milestone or completing a large project. In the instance of a large project, think about having a team dinner or getting your employees a matching gift. Another way you can show your appreciation is through a performance review. ManageBetter's ReviewBuilder can help you quickly create a performance review using AI technology with over 3,000 curated phrases to describe your employees. Again, when trying to decide how to appreciate your employee, think of a way you can demonstrate your value to them in a unique manner that will truly demonstrate your knowledge of the employee. 

Make Your Employees Aware of Opportunities to Move Up Within the Company

One great way to demonstrate your appreciation of your employees is to prepare them to move up within the company through a promotion. You can do this by letting your employees know you are here to support them and help them succeed. Consider meeting one on one with an employee who could fit the profile of a promotion you have been made aware of. Let them know you are fully supportive if this is something they would be interested in doing. Employees will appreciate your investment in their success and will truly feel valued in this way.

Conclusion

Finding ways to thank your employees for their efforts and make them feel appreciated can be difficult. Consider the unique qualities of that employee and how you can prepare them to succeed. Doing so will help keep them motivated to work hard and improve within your company. A motivated employee will provide much-needed support for the company, rather than an unmotivated employee. Think about how you can foster the work ethic within your employees through your appreciation of their efforts.

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