Motivating employees: toward greater productivity
Often in human resource management, we fall into the mistake of considering employees as invisible or, better yet, not considering them at all. Spurring employees, on the other hand, is crucial for companies to be able to achieve their business goals.
As we now know, the key to business success lies in the motivation and involvement of the business team. So, increasing employee motivation is just as important to generating significant profits as grabbing talented staff.
But how do you go about motivating employees in order to increase your business productivity? Let's look at it together.
Prerequisite for being able to motivate employees: getting to know them
In order to get to the point where you can motivate employees effectively, you must first make sure that you fulfill a basic precondition: know them.
In fact, in order to be able to properly spur a person on, it is necessary to know not only their character and inclinations, but also their history, cultural background, family, and so on. Personal information about an employee, are key elements in getting to understand how to boost his or her motivation and loyalty to the company.
☝ Be careful not to invade your employees' privacy too much. In fact, although motivated by good intent, one can risk being prying if one tries to inquire clumsily into the private lives of one's employees.
So, a good manager must be able to masterfully manage interpersonal relationships. The goal here is to get to know what kind of people one's employees are, without invading spaces that might be deemed too private to be shared in a work environment.
Getting to know employees means relating to them
In order to get to know employees, one must act sincerely and spontaneously. In fact, knowledge should not be based on impersonal dynamics of pure absorption of useful information. Such a utilitarian approach a priori undermines good success in the intent of motivational growth of staff.
In fact, employee knowledge must be developed on the basis of genuine and natural relationships. Interest must not be forced or artifactual, but must come from a genuine desire to engage with one's work team.
Underlying the cognitive dynamics of employees must, therefore, be an authentic relational process. It is necessary, in this sense, to engage with workers often, to converse, to converse about more and less, to engage in chats that are not strictly professional in nature.
Once you have the right information regarding your human resources, in fact, you can implement the right motivational strategy, leveraging the right elements.
But how to implement the right motivational strategy?
How to motivate employees? 5 tips
The motivational strategy for employees should be implemented on the basis of some simple, but basic steps.
1. Provide a pleasant work environment
The first step to properly motivate employees is to offer them a pleasant work environment. In fact, it is important that human resources feel comfortable within the corporate climate, so that their productivity and creativity are not oppressed or undermined by annoyances or disturbances related to the dynamics present within the company.
For this reason, it is good to make sure that we can first of all provide a comfortable and smooth workplace with all the necessary equipment and amenities that ensure the well-being of workers. The space must be well-organized, so that at the same time privacy is respected and interaction is possible when necessary. The design must be pleasing to the eye, the furniture functional for use.
Beyond the purely material side, it is necessary to make sure that the staff as a whole is well-matched and can integrate smoothly and jovially. Indeed, we know well that the pleasantness of a work environment is largely defined by the human desirability of colleagues.
It is good, therefore, to take steps to monitor the social climate within the company and, in the case of new hires, it pays to pay special attention to selecting candidates with pronounced soft skills that are compatible with the human types already employed in the company.
It turns out to be important, in fact, that a cohesive group is created. In this way, employees are more likely to feel motivated not only to go to work, but also to apply themselves with momentum and dedication to their tasks and duties.
2. Define tasks and goals in detail
Regarding the tasks assigned to each worker, as well as the strategic goals set for the entire team, it is advisable to work with particular precision.
In fact, it is necessary to establish clear tasks and defined objectives. In fact, unclear tasks and confused or, worse, unattainable goals can lead to a deterioration in employee motivation. In fact, the prerequisite for workers to devote themselves zealously to their tasks is to fully understand what they are supposed to do. Vagueness and lack of task definition can lead to an increase in personal stress and, therefore, a decrease in grit.
3. Encourage internal communication and teamwork.
To find out if something is wrong, or, conversely, to know if something is working great, it is necessary to ask for opinions about it from those involved. Here is where, in a business setting, it is crucial to foster internal communication between and with employees in order to get feedback not only on what is not working, but also to understand how the workers themselves feel about business dynamics.
It is central to make every employee feel heard and understood: he or she must feel free to express his or her opinion, whatever it may be, and must be assured that he or she will not be judged for it. This is why it is worth spending time and resources in implementing internal communication initiatives, which can be done by e-mail, communiqués, letters, forms, reports, newsletters, circulars, interviews, meetings, trainings, calls, etc.
Internal communication should be fostered not only between management and employees, but also among colleagues themselves. In fact, it is important that a climate of confidence and familiarity be created among workers, who must feel part of a team on an actual level, not just a theoretical one. The company is a team composed of people working synergistically to achieve a certain purpose, and the worker must feel an integral part of this mechanism.
☝ To say that it is desirable for a climate of confidence and familiarity to be created within a company does not mean that existing hierarchies should be eliminated, or that everything should be considered permissible; on the contrary. The promotion of a relaxed social climate does not mean that formal accouterments of respect for superiors and colleagues should be dismantled, that the existing relationship between the parties should be ignored, which remains, however, professional in nature. A convivial environment does not, therefore, mean an environment that is necessarily too permissive, but only shrewd and attentive to the needs of the individual.
4. Valuing human capital
Rewarding good performance
Personal motivation, in any field, is closely linked to gratification. Although it is not ideal to feel fulfilled only when the work meets someone else's expectations, there is no doubt that when one receives appreciation with respect to the work done, it makes everyone happier and, therefore, motivated.
The same happens in the professional sphere: an employee who sees his or her work rewarded will be a more gratified and self-satisfied employee. Which is equivalent to saying that he or she will also be more motivated to continue on the same wavelength, if not, even, to do better, driven by the recognition granted to his or her good performance. Gestures of appreciation toward employees often lead to a positive outcome and are, therefore, excellent motivational drivers.
Schedule trainings for employees
Employee motivation can also be boosted by organizing training courses or various training activities. In fact, workers particularly appreciate the opportunity to broaden or deepen their knowledge, as well as to acquire new skills or cultivate their interests.
That is why providing them with the opportunity to participate in various company initiatives can make them feel more regarded as people worth training and investing in and, therefore, can motivate them to work better, including on the basis of the new skills learned.
Providing opportunities for professional growth
What can motivate an employee more than the prospect of professional advancement? Certainly a pragmatic aspect, but not to be underestimated. In fact, many workers are spurred on by the expectation of higher salaries or to advance their careers and broaden their prospects in terms of employment.
So, offering the opportunity for professional growth could certainly be a useful element in improving employee productivity, if only to impress the employer.
5. Grant employees the right amount of autonomy
Sometimes, oppressive performance monitoring as well as excessive assiduity in monitoring work can become stressful and limiting for employees. Even the assignment of unversatile and overly structured tasks can, at times, lead to tedium and, therefore, undermine the persistence of consistent motivation.
As in all things, virtue lies in the middle: allowing workers the right amount of autonomy means demonstrating trust in them. Generally, this demonstration of trust in workers' management skills is highly appreciated and motivates one to demonstrate that his or her allocation was not wrong.
Article translated from Italian