“Six Strategies To Maintain Employee Motivation” Rebecca Skilbeck Forbes magazine. Key learnings;
High-functioning teams do exist: organisations such as Google, Atlassian and Microsoft show us it can be done. These teams share a common denominator: their leadership constantly motivates and inspires employees.
Set goals to create meaning
Goal-setting gives employees meaning in their day-to-day roles: employees who are brought along on the goal-setting journey are 3.6 times more likely to be engaged than those who are not. To motivate employees, you should:
- Establish what’s expected of them
- Help them visualize what success in their role looks like
- Explain how their contribution makes a difference to the business
Celebrate milestones big and small
It’s not just the big wins that should be acknowledged: setting and celebrating mini-milestones keeps employees motivated in their day-to-day roles.
In addition to yearly or quarterly goals, set goals to track what your people are achieving on a weekly or monthly basis. These don’t have to be performance-driven or KPI-focused. They can be social or cultural, or they can focus on personal development – for example, setting a goal for dealing with challenging stakeholders.
Celebrating milestones is also about understanding the challenges your people are facing. When a mini-milestone isn’t met, take the opportunity to see what’s blocking your team’s progress, how it can be overcome, and whether the end-goal needs to be re-assessed.
Empower problem solving and learning
Create space for your people to solve their own problems. You can provide support and guidance, but it’s important to let employees lead with their own ideas and solutions. That way, they’ll know their skills and perspectives are valued. Of the 560 employees surveyed in Deloitte’s Talent 2020 report 42% of respondents looking for a new role believed their current job did not make good use of their skills and abilities. Nurturing a culture where problem solving and learning is encouraged means:
- Listening to your team’s ideas
- Embracing their unique skills
- Encouraging self-directed learning
- Allowing them to take ownership of their work
- Creating a safe space where failure is framed as a learning opportunity