Employees are every organization’s greatest resource. They have expertise and knowledge and work together to help you achieve your business goals. However, despite having the right skills and experience, without motivation, it is unlikely that your team can tap into their true potential.
Motivation is vital to promoting teamwork, particularly with more organizations allowing remote work. According to a Gallup study, employees work 20% better when motivated, and highly engaged teams can increase business profitability by 21%.
A motivated team has a positive outlook and engages more with their work, meaning better performance and more clients. But unfortunately, a lot of team leaders struggle with keeping their team motivated.
Listed below are ten proven ways to keep your team enthusiastic about their work.
1. Communicate your vision & set clear goals
According to a study, 63% of employees wasted their time at work because they weren’t aware of what work was a priority and what wasn’t.
An essential step to motivating your team is to let them in on the end goals or what they are working towards. This is a real challenge because sometimes you might ask your team to follow a path they disagree with. However, rather than forcing them to follow your vision, try to make adjustments, and show them why it can be good.
For instance, set SMART goals, and involve your team members in choosing the goals that align with their skills and interests. This way, not only do you make them feel valued, but their interest in the task also drives them to perform better.
2. Create a supportive work environment
No one wants to work in an environment that is dark and demotivating. So, create a workspace that lets your employees have fun while encouraging them to be productive, creative, and
happy.
For instance, ensure your office receives plenty of natural light, has a place to relax, a platform for employee feedback, good air quality, and less noise.
3. Conduct team-building activities
A close-knit team contributes to a better working environment, which can, in turn, lead to increased productivity. And team-building activities are great for achieving this.
Hold planned team-building activities that are motivational and fun. By bringing your team closer, they get to learn about each other’s strengths and weaknesses and can thus work in perfect sync. Additionally, through planned team-building activities that are both motivational and fun, they can be taught important skills such as conflict resolution, planning, communication, and problem-solving.
If you manage a remote team, bring them together by conducting virtual team-building activities.
4. Lead by example
There is no better way to motivate your team than by setting the standards high yourself. No one likes a team leader who is constantly looking over their shoulder and commanding their team.
Inspire your team by working alongside them, sharing your industry knowledge, and assisting them if they hit a roadblock. Additionally, ensure you are a good listener—you should be open to listening to your team’s feedback regularly. Lastly, take responsibility. Whether it is you or a team member that makes a mistake, be responsible for your team.
Your actions will push your team to work harder to meet your expectations and deliver the anticipated results.
5. Reward and celebrate achievements
Rewarding your employees begins with setting their salaries. A survey shows that 63% of employees quit their job because of low pay in 2021. So, ensure your team members’ pay aligns with the industry standards.
The next step is to make your team members feel valued and respected. Your team has invested their time and energy in completing a task. Now, it is time to celebrate the achievement and reward them appropriately. By showing your appreciation, you let your team members know that you have reached another milestone in the organization’s journey and that you are committed to them.
6. Avoid unnecessary meetings
According to Harvard Business Review, 71% of meetings are unproductive.
Whether you realize it or not, a lot of times, meetings can be a waste of time and cost your business hours of productive work. So, before holding team meetings, ask yourself if it’s essential. Can it be done over email instead?
In case the meeting is inevitable, invite only those members who should necessarily attend. Also, create the schedule beforehand and distribute it to your team so they can come prepared. Lastly, start the meeting on time, and keep it as short as possible.
7. Encourage healthy competition
A little competition can be beneficial in the workplace. Encourage your team to indulge in healthy competition. This will help them perform better, improve companionship, and
enhance team management.
8. Offer feedback and offer opportunities for growth
Studies also found that 63% of employees quit because of a lack of opportunities for advancement.
Every professional wants to advance in their career and expand their skill set. So, if they find themselves in an organization offering little room for advancement, they might feel motivated to quit.
An ideal way around this issue is to offer your team members regular feedback and opportunities to learn new skills. If you find that training could help your team members advance in their careers, put together a training program. Furthermore, offer them access to resources that will help them stay on top of the latest technologies, industry trends, and news.
9. Don’t punish mistakes
To err is human. We all make mistakes. The key is to learn something valuable from your mistakes and not make the same mistakes again. So, when your team members commit an honest mistake, encourage them to try again rather than punish them. Also, guide them so they can improve and avoid similar mistakes in the future.
10. Build cross-functional teams
Confused by the term “cross-functional teams.”Well, here is what it means according to Wikipedia:
“A cross-functional team, also known as a multidisciplinary team or interdisciplinary team, is a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal. It may include people from finance, marketing, operations, and human resources departments.”
Building a cross-functional team brings together people with diverse skills, experiences, and backgrounds. Meaning, such a team can promote creativity, problem-solving, coordination, and collaboration and helps achieve business goals faster.
Conclusion
Now, it is time to go forward and motivate your team. When applying the strategies mentioned above, ensure you go slow. You don’t want to entirely change your work environment or team game overnight, as an immense change can be overwhelming for employees. Instead, start
by employing one or two strategies and giving some time for employees to adapt to the changes.
Ideally, start by gathering feedback and solving an issue your team members might face at work. Also, make sure you clearly define your business goals to them. And over time, all your efforts in motivating your team will pay off.
