ATTRACTING the best employees can be difficult enough. Keeping them motivated can be even tougher.
While most people with ambition and career goals are able to use those to spur themselves on, it’s important that a workplace leader provides an environment that helps motivate everyone.
When you want to get the best out of your team, there are several strategies that you need to consider in order to keep them inspired and aiming for greater things.
1. Communicate
This is something that is so important but so often not given enough attention. And we’re not just talking about sending emails keeping your team updated on the latest company developments. Faceless communication doesn’t inspire or motivate. What does work is talking to your team often and talking to them face-to-face. Make them feel valued, let them know how important they are to the company, its growth and development.
2. Lead by example
You may expect your team to work hard and meet certain goals. So it’s important that you play by the same rules. Being positive in your approach to work, and making sure you complete all your tasks on time can drive your colleagues to do the same. When you work as a team it’s crucial that you are also not seen to take all the credit for successes. If you do, you will quickly lose respect from your colleagues. But if you rightly share the credit, you will inspire and motivate them instead.
3. Empower your team
While you may be the leader of a team, that doesn’t necessarily mean you know everything. So make the most of the people around you and ask them for input and listen to their suggestions – making them feel valued can do wonders for morale. You can also have regular discussions with your team and ask for their ideas on how their performance can be improved – as long as you make sure you follow through on those ideas, rather than ignoring them and continuing with your own strategy.
Workers often want more authority to make decisions, so if you have hired the right people and trained them well, there should be no reason why you cannot give them more responsibility and the power to make certain decisions without always needing to seek your approval first.
4. Offer opportunities for advancement
People always want to know how they can advance their career, what are the opportunities for growth and development. That way, they have something to aspire to rather than the prospect of quickly becoming bored and uninspired in a same dead-end role.
If there are no avenues for career growth, then workers are unlikely to work as hard as there is simply no motivation to do so. And they are also unlikely to stay with the company very long. So give them opportunities and direction on how they can grow as an employee and build a career. You should also offer training to your team so they can continually build their skills they need to further their development.
This is a weekly column by SarawakYES! – an initiative driven by Faradale Media-M Sdn Bhd and supported by Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) Sarawak – to provide advice and stories on the topics of education and careers to support Sarawakians seeking to achieve their dreams. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.