Learning how to inspire your team is the best way to get a positive return on your payroll investment. Actual motivation, though, can be hard to come by. Whether it’s because corporate structures rarely keep realistic motivation methods in mind or because each individual employee has his or her own needs, many motivational strategies tend to fall flat. Fortunately, there are some methods you can use to inspire your team to better performance.
Inspiration doesn’t always come easily. Fortunately, there are certain methods that generally work when you’re trying to inspire your team. Below are ten methods that have not only been proven to be effective, but that are easy for owners of businesses of all sizes to implement.
Working hard is never as good as working smart. If you want your team to hit its goals, they need to have clearly-defined goals and objectives. If things change, let them know why there’s a change and what it means for the project. Keep your employees in the loop so they know what they’re working towards at all times.
Motivated employees don’t want to stay still. They want to constantly improve their own skills so they can further their careers and get better at the jobs about which they are passionate. Make sure to provide training within your company so they can improve their skills and be sure to let them know about outside workshops and webinars that will help them to excel. Your team members will bring this new knowledge back to the office and use it to help everyone else.
It might seem like a small thing, but a smile can go a long way. Make your office a legitimately positive place to work. There are several ways to make your office a more positive place, but remember that being genuine is always the best tactic. Employees know the difference between real positivity and a forced smile, so always err on the side of the former if you want to keep your team working at their best.
You can’t think about how to inspire your team without giving them some opportunities to learn from their mistakes. An employee who cannot see his or her own growth is an employee who cannot put in maximum effort. It is vital that your employees have a career path and that they are given a chance to own their own verticals. While doing so might make some managers feel less confident, the truth is that those who have passion about moving forward are those who will put in the most effort in the here and now. The more your employees own their progress, the harder they’ll work to make it a reality.
Success is not always its own reward. If you want your employees to work to be the best, they’ve got to be treated in the same way. Your best performers need to be clearly rewarded for going above and beyond. Make sure that you’re rewarding the best, not punishing those who fall behind – doing the former makes people work harder while doing the latter will only breed resentment.
Open door policies are bragged about at all levels of management, but they’re rarely implemented. It’s vital that a good leader not only leaves his or her door open but that he or she also acts on the conversations that happen due to the policy. Of all the various ways of motivating your team, being available to hear their complaints and suggestions is perhaps the most immediately rewarding.
Your employees need to know that you’re rooting for them. It’s very easy for even members of a great team to feel like they’re just cogs in a machine, so remind them that you care. Celebrate when they win and help to pick them up when they fall down. Make sure that you actively help every member of your team to achieve their own goals and let them know that you’re doing so because you really want to see them succeed.
One of the keys to being a good leader is to practice what you preach. If your business has core tenets or public goals, make sure to live by them. If something is important for a new hire, it needs to be important for the CEO. The greater the degree to which you can live up to your own ideals, the better your team will perform.
There are many great reasons to celebrate your wins as a team. Not only does doing so help your team to feel rewarded when they’re doing great, but it also helps your team to remember that they’re all an integral part of your success. Making sure that it’s more than just management that gets rewarded for major successes is a good way to make sure everyone keeps working to their utmost potential.
The tips above can be useful when you’re learning how to inspire your team. As you continue to improve your business and it continues to grow, you’ll need to adapt these methods to ensure that you’ll be able to motivate larger groups and get a return on your team’s investment. Also be sure to visit PayTech and download the new employee welcome packet to help improve your company’s hiring process efficiency.
