The benefits of motivation
Taking the time to find out what motivates your people can help you:
- reduce employee turnover – motivated people are loyal, engaged, and less likely to move on
- make your business progress more quickly – being motivated makes people work harder, smarter, and go the extra mile
- reduce costs – motivated employees care about your business, and they’re more likely to be cost conscious and follow your business processes
- create a thriving and happy workplace – doing their jobs well adds to people’s wellbeing. They develop professionally and personally, and are happier overall.
Personality types
Knowing your team personally will help you find the right motivators for different people and learn how to apply them.
For example, an outgoing team member may value being thanked in front of the team. A more introverted employee may prefer an email or private word of thanks. Some employees may feel motivated when you regularly check in to see how they’re doing, while others may feel it’s micro-managing.
Personality tests
Tests like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator questionnaire are a popular way of discovering people’s preferences. By answering a set of statements, people can identify how they make decisions and perceive the world around them. This will be based on sensation, intuition, thinking, or feeling.
Use these tests:
- as a team building tool
- when shaping your culture
- when performance-managing team members and giving feedback.
Don’t be too rigid in how you interpret the results: they’re just preferences. These types of tests are conversation openers, not reasons to put people into boxes. Most people can adjust their default behaviour when they need to.
How to motivate people
Follow these tips to motivate your employees.
Manage expectations
Be clear about how you’d like people to complete projects or tasks and behave in line with the business’ culture.
When managing expectations, consider:
- people’s skill level
- what motivates them
- their base of understanding.
Demonstrate fairness
Make sure every part of your business is fair on customers and employees. If employees think you are running your business unfairly, it can affect morale.
For example:
- do people feel Saturday night and holiday shifts are shared evenly across employees?
- does everyone have the same chance of being promoted?
- do customers get good service and value for money?
- are people paid the same for doing the same jobs with the same skills?
Set goals
People generally feel happier when they have purpose. Agree on goals that support both the aims of your business and employees’ professional and personal aspirations.
Give people ownership
Make your employees feel like they own projects and the work they do.
For example:
- ask people to take part in business planning and strategy development.
- let them make decisions and take on more responsibility.
- encourage them to share ideas.
Don’t give employees more responsibility than they’re ready for. Delegating decisions or tasks to people who don’t have the right skills can reduce people’s motivation if they feel overwhelmed.
Promote learning
Give people the chance to grow. Ask them how you can help them achieve their personal and professional goals.
This could help someone find more motivation, if they were losing it, or stop someone from looking for work somewhere else
If you send someone on a training course ask them to share what they learn with the rest of your team, and give them the chance to use their new expertise. Your business will benefit from your employees’ new skills too.
Offer financial rewards
Aim to pay as close to market rate as you can. Your employees may feel undervalued if they’re underpaid.
If you can’t afford to pay market rates, offer other rewards. However, performance-related pay like bonuses might not work for everyone.
For example:
- some people might find the pressure to perform higher than the benefit of getting the bonus.
- people used to getting a regular bonus might consider it as part of their wage.
Be there and be available
Being around and visible helps you build relationships. It’s a chance to walk the talk and get a sense of how motivated your employees are feeling. Let people know it’s ok to talk to you about things.
If you’re never there, you might become disconnected from your employees. This might slow work down, or let your employees believe you don’t care.
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