How to motivate your team – Some easy steps

Recent research has shown that only about seven per cent of workers recognise how their work contributes to the ‘big picture’, and this lack of motivation can really hold back your team.

Therefore, one of the first steps for any manager wishing to instil more motivation into their team is to hold a meeting to connect their work with the big picture.

At the meeting, you should also remind your staff of the vision and mission of the organisation, and that everyone in the company is on the same team.

Where the working environment may be poisonous, you must also step in quickly and let the staff know you are right on to it.

Do this by outlining the reasons why they have such a ‘toxic’ reputation among the rest of the company.

The next step at the meeting is to ask all of the team members to consider their future.

This will make them think about their role in the organisation, and also decide if they are fully committed to the company.

Ask them if they want to continue to be a part of the company team and its vision and mission.

And most importantly, if they won’t support the company, give them the option of leaving; as they probably shouldn’t be there anyway.

In fact, anyone who is not completely dedicated to the company will probably already show this in the poor quality of their work.

The next step is to ask how the department as a whole can assist the team to help the company achieve its goals.

By writing down the employees replies, you can begin to determine your departmental goals and ideas.

Once these goals are identified, your next step is to turn them into ‘smart goals’; with specific actions and deadlines.

Select some of your best performers and give them the responsibility of tracking the progress of the goals, one person per goal.

And don’t forget to ensure they realise they are 100 percent responsible for ensuring each of the goals is met.

Also, if you include those goals as part of each employee’s performance review, that will motivate them even further.

Finally, reappraise and update all of your employee job descriptions across the department, as this should help you to not only achieve greater success, but also gain better-motivated employees in the long-run.

By Mike Peeters