6 Ways to Motivate Employees in the Workplace

Motivation is a critical element of employee engagement and organizational success. While employees need to have internal motivation, leaders are also responsible for creating a motivational culture where employees are able to contribute their best work.

A recent Gallup poll showed that 70% of employees are “not engaged” or “actively engaged” at work. Another national study revealed that less than 1 in 4 non-management employees are fully engaged. Stated another way, 70-75% of your employees are not motivated or productive.

There are two faces to motivation. Intrinsic motivation arises from the employee finding value in their work. Extrinsic motivation results from the desire to obtain outcomes that are separate from the work itself. Both types are essential to ensuring employees are highly motivated in the workplace.

So, how does a manager create an environment that motivates employees to give maximum effort? A 2014 TINYpulse Survey asked over 200,000 employees in more than 500 organizations, “What motivates you to excel and go the extra mile at your organization?” They were given an opportunity to choose from a list of 10 ways to motivate employees. At the top of the list, identified by 20% of respondents, was “Camaraderie and Peer Motivation.”

The motivators were:

· Camaraderie and peer motivation (20%)

· Intrinsic desire to do a good job (17%)

· Feeling encouraged and recognized (13%)

· Having a real impact (10%)

· Growing professionally (8%)

· Meeting client/customer needs (8%)

· Money and benefits (7%)

· Positive supervisor/senior management (4%)

· Believe in the company/product (4%)

· Other (9%)

These results should give managers cause to pause and reconsider just how motivating their workplace is. Let’s consider the top six motivators identified in the survey which collectively represent 76% of employee motivation. Is your organization creating a motivating environment, and what steps can you take to heighten employee engagement and productivity?

Camaraderie and peer motivation

Would your employees agree that their peers are hardworking and dedicated? Do they pull together to together to accomplish challenging tasks? As a leader, you can foster camaraderie and peer support among team members in several ways:

· Hire employees that have the technical skills to do the job and are a fit for your culture.

· Set a common vision and educate everyone on each team member’s role in accomplishing the vision.

· Engage in open communication and meet regularly to discuss progress and identify where help is needed.

· Encourage an environment where team members are proactive in offering to help others when they are overwhelmed.

· Foster cross-departmental teamwork.

· Reward collaboration to accomplish goals.

· Create an environment of peer-to-peer recognition.

The Best of the Best organizations (top 25%) in our Employee Opinion Survey data were rated 23.6 percentage points higher than other organizations when asked if different departments in the organization cooperate well together.

Intrinsic desire to do a good job

Whether your organization offers a service or builds products, your culture need to be infused with purpose and meaning. Today’s workforce is more concerned about making a difference than making a product. Employees join organizations because they believe in the purpose for its existence and the impact it has on the world around them. When employees believe in the work they do, they have an intrinsic desire to do a good job. Tap into your team members’ intrinsic motivation by taking action in the following areas.

· Promote the company vision in all you do.

· Inspire employees by constantly reminding them of the “good” your organization offers and the impact it has on improving people’s lives.

· Report organizational contributions and involvement in charities.

· Design jobs to be meaningful and challenging.

Feeling encouraged and recognized

Leaders needs to take every opportunity to recognize their associates when things are accomplished that support the organization’s vision and values. Great leaders also encourage peer-to-peer recognition. Leaders can recognize their team member’s contributions in several ways:

Send an e-mail complimenting the person’s work.
Write a personalized thank you note.
Leave a voice mail valuing specific contributions.
Tell an individual why you appreciate the opportunity to work together.
Create organization-wide “Recognition Rituals” to recognize top performing individuals at meetings or in company newsletters.
Provide support and encouragement when team members experience hardships or difficult times.

The Best of the Best organizations (top 25%) in our Employee Opinion Survey data were rated 19.1 percentage points higher than other organizations when asked if they feel appropriately recognized for their contributions.

Having a real impact

Employees who feel they make a difference and their job matters will be more engaged and motivated than those employees who don’t see the value of their contributions or know how their job connects to the bigger picture. Two brick layers doing the exact same job can see their work completely differently; one is laying bricks while the other is building a much-needed community hospital. Make the following actions part of your daily routine to help team members know they make a difference:

· Help each team member recognize the impact his/her job has on the accomplishment of the company vision.

· Provide team members with metrics to measure their progress and achievement of goals.

· Give team members the opportunity to take the lead on a project or at a meeting.

· Promote innovation and creativity.

· Arrange opportunities for associates to share their new ideas and accomplishments with the entire organization.

· Communicate customer testimonials.

· Share industry awards with the entire team.

Growing professionally

It is difficult to be motivated when you are doing “more of the same,” and the future doesn’t seem to hold promise for variety or advancement. The times when we feel the greatest sense of accomplishment are when we have been challenged. Employees are motivated by the prospect of growth and promotion. The following ideas will help ensure that people in your organization are growing:

Provide training, mentoring and coaching.
Invite individuals to meetings they normally would not attend.
Have people represent you at meetings.
Set stretch goals at levels that are not easy to reach, yet not impossible.
Rotate leaders or employees into positions where they need to acquire new knowledge to be effective.
Assign individuals projects they have never done before.
Encourage everyone to set “learning goals.”

Meeting client/customer needs

Engaged employees create happy customers, and they take great pride in meeting and exceeding customer needs. You don’t want a workforce that simply serves customers, you want to WOW! them. Implement the following opportunities within your organization to provide extraordinary customer service while at the same time motivating your staff.

Work with your employees to create an extraordinary customer service vision.
Set measurable customer service goals.
Establish methods to measure customer satisfaction.
Develop customer-friendly systems and processes.
Respond to customer complaints, fix problems and follow up to ensure satisfaction.
Provide training and support to all employees.
Empower your team members with the authority to exceed customer expectations.

Remember – you can’t motivate anyone to do something they don’t want to do. But, leaders have the power and responsibility to create a motivating environment in which employees are personally motivated to go the extra mile and thrive in their roles.