10 tips for motivating employees - Business Works
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10 tips for motivating employees

H owever you decide to manage it, the morale and therefore the motivation of your team will be increased if you involve them in discussions and decisions that affect them and the way they work. Here are ten tips for you to consider:

Gary Newborough
  1. Ensure that there is a culture of quality and continuous improvement in your team, where the highest levels of performance are expected and offered as a matter of course. This means setting targets both for quantity and quality of output and being committed to achieving them.
  2. Create an atmosphere of working together as a team. Convene team meetings at which you encourage suggestions and progress reports on team activities. It will also mean dealing early with any individual problems that arise, which may disrupt this atmosphere (eg discipline, poor performance etc.)
  3. Make sure people have as much variety in their work as possible. This may mean delegating some parts of your work to individuals who are capable of it, being sure to arrange regular reviews to monitor results and to set clear agreed standards of performance. Invite some discussion, rather than giving closed instructions, and make sure standards you set are stretching but achievable.
  4. Communicate as much information as you can to your people about the decisions and developments. Mysteries and gossip do not enhance an atmosphere of teamwork. Hold regular team briefings where information relevant to the team is transmitted both upwards and downwards. Be positive and show commitment to changes that occur in technology, systems organisations, etc., to make sure that the changes are welcomed and implemented effectively.
  5. Make sure that the workplace is as pleasant as possible - people tend to work and behave better in good surroundings.
  6. Be positive and enthusiastic about your work and theirs - this will help create the right work environment and a sense of team spirit.
  7. Take a personal responsibility for the development and training of each individual, as well as the quality of their output, their morale and their welfare.
  8. Be visible - be seen by your team, this may mean visiting them regularly at their workplaces, so make efforts to "walk the job".
  9. Be approachable, you can only give effective support if you are aware of the work your people are involved in.
  10. Not everyone will be motivated by the same approach. If none of the attempts that you make seem to be having any effect on some of your team, try to identify underlying reasons for this.

  11. Gary Newborough can be contacted via:
    e: editorial@biz-works.net



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