Motivating your employees is no easy feat. We all react differently to gifts and praise, with some being extremely hard to please. Even if you offer terrific paychecks and incentives, that doesn’t mean people will enjoy working for your company.
What’s worse, you need to find leisure options that would be enjoyable for the most. While office parties are a surefire choice, that doesn’t mean you should throw them every week. A similar can be said for sports and other entertainment activities, where each person would have their preferences.
Given the complexity of the subject matter, we’ve decided to create a short guide that will break down five well-kept secrets for motivating your employees. Each of these tricks could be the solution you’ve been yearning for.
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Praise the process
One of the most common mistakes managers make is praising employees’ abilities. While it’s nice to give a person props when they succeed at a specific task, you need to make sure you’re not focusing on the wrong thing.
When you praise the ability of certain top-tier performers, you put everyone else to shame. This can have a ripple effect even among those with good output, as there will always be someone better at the job than them.
Instead, you should always praise the process. This managerial method incentivizes employees to work even harder, placing their focus on the task at hand, not their ability. Employees will start believing that every issue has a solution and that they can get out of a pinch as long as they approach it from the right angle.
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Moderate your criticism
Criticism is vital for developing your employees, but it can also be devastating when misused. Constantly lurking behind your staff will plant seeds of doubt into their heads, and they will start questioning every move they make.
Instead, you should strategically use criticism when you want to emphasize a specific issue. When managers provide feedback less frequently, it makes the staff hang onto every word. Furthermore, they will think this particular issue is so big that you must mention it. So, instead of destroying their confidence, you will entice them to work on specific areas.
Most importantly, you should never mix criticism and praise. Using such an approach will lessen the effect of praise while putting the negative feedback in the first place. As people are more affected by the negative than by the positive, they might believe they did a lousy job and that they need to rework their efficient process.
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Support individualism
Workplace etiquette is one of the biggest issues for staff. While each office should have a set of rules, that doesn’t mean you should smother any individualism or free expression. In fact, you should stimulate employees to proactively participate to create a more cohesive, more efficient team.
Giving your staff some freedom is the best method of empowerment. Supporting individualism is critical for larger teams and corporations where introverts often get “swallowed” by all the policies and other employees. By putting people first, you can also eliminate the feeling of isolation and irrelevancy, both of which can be disastrous for productivity.
As a manager, your main task is to spend some quality time with each employee and learn about their on-work and off-work preferences and overall life goals. Give your staff some leeway in terms of how they dress and what kind of stuff they have on their desk.
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Involve employees on all levels
The best way to motivate employees and increase productivity is by creating a feeling of ownership. If people believe they’re an integral part of the company and perceive it as their own, they will start working much harder.
Give your staff as much freedom as possible when they perform certain tasks. Allow them to create a custom methodology to make the job easier for them. Most importantly, ask them to participate during company and staff meetings and provide feedback, which you will occasionally implement.
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Make it fun
Almost every manager nowadays is trying to make the office as fun as possible. Unfortunately, as there are so many different characters on your staff, it’s sometimes hard to find an activity that would be suitable for everyone.
As mentioned before, office parties are an easy solution that would cater to everyone. Short, local trips and picnics are another fantastic option, while you might also consider adding sports activities in the mix. Lastly, you should consider funny end of season award ideas that would celebrate employees’ individuality and performance.