8 Ways To Motivate And Engage Employees

Engaged employees are more productive employees. They are focused on, fully involved in, and enthusiastic about their work. Engaged employees are dedicated to organizational success and motivated to do their best, for both themselves and for the company.

So how do you keep your employees feeling motivated and engaged? Here are eight ways to do just that.

1. Listen To Them

Employees don’t want to be bossed around and told what to do. They want to be heard. Creating an environment where you sincerely listen to your employees lets them know that you appreciate their viewpoints, opinions, and feelings. This will inspire them to be more productive.

2. Communicate Frequently & Effectively

This goes along with listening. As mentioned, employees don’t want to be told what to do, especially without an explanation. When you communicate with your employees, they’ll understand where you’re coming from and why you’ve made the decisions you’ve made. This will help in both good and bad times. Not every decision you make will be a popular one, but if you communicate with your employees regularly, they’ll at least understand your reasoning.

3. Make them A Part Of The Team

Encourage your employees to see the importance of team success. When the entire team or organization does well, that’s good news for everyone. Encourage employees to form bonds with one another and to help each other with challenging tasks.

Show all employees how they fit into the overall strategy of the organization. This will ensure that they feel valued and a part of the team. This will inspire them to work harder to make the team more successful.

4. Keep Your Promises

When you promise your employees something, follow through on it. This will show them that you care about their feelings and expectations. If you can’t follow through on something, don’t promise it. If you’ve made a promise that you later find out that you can’t keep, explain why you fell short as soon as possible. By being respectful of your employees’ time and expectations, you show them that they’re truly important to you and your company.

5. Be Consistent

Nothing demoralizes an employee faster than an inconsistent boss. This is true for day-to-day interactions with an individual employee as well as in how you treat different employees. Showing favoritism or giving some employees special treatment (for whatever reason) can very quickly sink the morale of an organization. So can laughing at an employee’s joke one day and punishing them for a similar joke the next day. Be consistent in your attitude, expectations, and behaviors and your employees will feel comfortable working with you.

6. Recognize Their Successes

When an employee does well, make sure that you recognize this success. And this doesn’t just apply to financial successes. Yes, if a team hits a sales goal or an individual closes a big deal, recognize this fact, but also recognize an employee who just finished a big project or who stayed late to set up a computer system. These last two examples aren’t directly tied to your company’s financial success, but they’re still crucial to the organization as a whole.

Your recognition doesn’t have to be huge. It doesn’t need to be a party or a half-day or a bonus. It can be a simple “good job” or “thanks.” These gestures make employees feel needed and important as long as they’re sincere.

Remember to ALWAYS praise publicly and criticize privately. You’d be surprised how often this basic principle of leadership is forgotten.

7. Be Welcoming

Your employees should be able to talk to you. Yes, you are their boss and not their co-worker or friend and yes, they should treat you with respect, but you don’t want them to fear you. You want them to be able to come to you with questions or concerns or ideas and feel safe to do so. Promote creativity and initiative and watch the engagement of your employees start to flourish. Of course, you won’t be available to chat all the time, but you have to be available enough of the time.

8. Pay Attention – FULL ATTENTION

When an employee comes to speak to you when you’re available, give them your time. Listen to what they have to say and don’t get distracted. Put away the cell phone, tablet, and turn off your computer monitor and give them your undivided attention. Not only will this show them that you care, but it will allow you to understand your employees better and recognize what motivates them. It also lets them know that you are involved and supportive. If you can’t do that, then set up a time with them where you will be able to, otherwise, they may not feel respected or appreciated, and that can really do damage to one’s morale.

 

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