As an entrepreneur, your aim is to build a successful company that continues to grow and develop. To fully achieve this goal, you will need to employ a staff that is highly competent and able to grow your company. Although they may have the raw skill set needed, as a leader, it is your job to spark the flame that will enable your employees to feel the extra motivation needed to drive a company to the next level. Apart from ensuring that you employ the best team in the first place, part of your role as a good leader is to find ways to motivate and inspire your staff. Motivated team members are more productive, so it is critical that entrepreneurs master the art of motivation.
There are many different ways to motivate staff; some may respond to a pay rise, others simply need words of encouragement or praise. Part of management is to understand and implement the best motivational techniques for each employee. Here are some of the most successful and innovative ways to drive your company forward.
Empower Employees To Take Ownership
Get out a pen and paper and write down the proudest moments of your working life. Perhaps it was when your company launched, made its first sale, or even hit a certain financial target or goal. That feeling of accomplishment and achievement was made extra special because you were either solely responsible for hitting those goals or at the very least you were heavily invested in the project.
By providing your team with ownership of projects, they too have the opportunity to see something they put a lot of time into and care about, and succeed from start to finish. They understand the risks and rewards of the opportunity and being able to prove themselves could motivate them by providing continued intrinsic value. Another tactic is to use publicly displayed to-do lists, whereas everyone can see completed tasks as they are achieved. This provides your staff with the chances to demonstrate others what they have achieved, as well as feel more accountable and motivated to complete a task.
Encourage Task and Skill Diversification
Put yourself into the mindset of your staff. Try and understand what a day at work consists of, and then ask yourself if there is any way in which it could be improved. Let’s imagine for this example that you have one employee who has to schedule sales presentations. They don’t ever perform the presentation or provide feedback on how the presentation went, they simply manage the calendar. Is this their dream job? Maybe they’d be interested in building or delivering the presentations. Are they likely to be fully motivated and look forward to work every day? The reality is that they will quickly become disillusioned with their role, and either their productivity will drop, or they will quit the job.
However, if you share the tasks around, and train those members of staff to the point where they can actually do the presentation, then they can have variety in their work days. They will be more motivated in trying to book a presentation if they know they will have the opportunity to pitch to the client, and potentially earn a commission. Variety in the workplace is essential; try to come up with innovative ways to keep your staff interested and motivated.
Acknowledge Your Employees
Everyone likes to be acknowledged for their excellent work, particularly if they feel that a lot of what they do goes unnoticed. A good leader will notice and highlight the little things, which will then encourage that employee to keep putting in the extra effort. It is both quick and easy for your team to lose motivation by feeling underappreciated, but by paying attention to the small details and highlighting them, your staff will feel valued and motivated to keep working hard.
Mix Things Up
Routined days could quickly become monotonous. To help break up the day and motivate your staff, throw in the occasional surprise here and there. This could be something as simple as a surprise breakfast for everyone, to closing the office early on a Friday afternoon, or even inviting a guest speaker or planning a team building day. The idea is to get them excited about coming to work, motivated to be their best, and loyal to the company. Sometimes it is the little touches and cool surprises that can make the biggest differences.
Invest In Your Staff
Many entrepreneurs steer away from investing in their staff’s training due to the fear of losing them and wasting the time and money, but employees need to see that there is a chance of progression in the organization. With no training on the horizon, staff will feel they are stuck in a dead end job and not be motivated to try new things. This will not only eat away at their motivation for your company, but it could also motivate them to look elsewhere for further employment. Think of training as a worthwhile investment, which will not only benefit the individual and motivate them to work hard, but the organization as a whole. As a leader, it is your responsibility to encourage growth and motivation, and to push your staff to excel in every aspect.
At Novel Coworking, we are dedicated to delivering the best experience for both our team and customers. We are always keen to lead by example and are constantly looking for ideas and concepts to improve both the service we offer and the morale and motivation of our team. If you are interested in touring one of our facilities, please contact us.