How to keep your employees motivated

by Startacus Admin

What steps can you take to ensure your staff remain motivated & committed? Jason Downes, MD of Powwownow highlight a few things that have worked for him over the years.

Simply getting your employees to do their job is a relatively easy task but inspiring them to go the extra mile is a much trickier one. That’s because reaching for the stars and believing you can really make a difference involves something far less tangible than a job description and a decent pay packet: It demands emotional investment.

Most of us take on a new role with bags of enthusiasm and lots of big ideas, yet all too often our passion and good intentions fall by the wayside once the honeymoon period’s over and the day-today realities of the job kick in. 

Yet keeping employees motivated is essential to the health and wellbeing of your business, whatever its size and whatever the industry. Doing so will enable you to fully harness the potential of your biggest asset: Your workforce.

The business benefits of keeping your employees motivated include:

• Enhanced productivity and creative thinking.
• Reduced staff turnover.
• Increased positive sentiment and good will.
• Better environment and culture.
• Stronger sense of morale.
• Greater likelihood of attracting the best talent.

So what steps can you take to ensure your staff remain motivated and committed? Here are a few things that have worked for me over the years:

Have a strong vision

Letting your passion for your business shine through and giving your staff a clear idea of the strategic direction you want to take is key to gaining their emotional buy-in. Make them feel like a vital part of the picture: Everyone’s an essential part of the wider business and is really important to its success, whatever their level.

Go big on career progression

Giving your staff something to aspire to and work towards is a great way of boosting job satisfaction and making them feel like they can really go places with your business. Be sure to invest in training as required and define in advance KPIs against which to measure performance and success. Encourage autonomy and ownership, then watch your workforce flourish.

Recognise and reward hard work

Big achievements always attract lots of attention but progress comes in all shapes and sizes, so it’s important to ensure the smaller things don’t go unnoticed. You don’t have to make a big deal of it: A subtle pat on the back can work wonders, no song and dance required. You might also like to look at incentive schemes, enhanced benefits packages and other perks. Even something as simple as ‘pay day pizza’ or free fruit every Monday can go a really long way when it comes to motivation.

Give constructive feedback

Not everyone gets everything right all of the time, so if things don’t go according to plan - or you notice someone’s failing to perform to the best of their ability - be sure to address the situation instead of hiding under a bushel. Handle things with diplomacy and positivity, while providing the right support to change things for the better, and your feedback will be seen as part of an important learning curve rather than something more negative. Trust me when I say people respect this kind of up front approach: it positions you as a strong leader and helps them become better at their job.

Listen and act

This one’s all about two-way communication. Encourage a culture of openness, so your staff feel confident contributing ideas that may be outside their normal remit. And keep your ear to the ground for issues that could potentially cause dissent, as it’s surprising how quickly small and inconsequential bugbears end up becoming hugely demotivating. Listen to your team and act on their concerns – knowing their voice is being heard is a hugely empowering and motivating. 

Cheers Jason, a good read. 


Talking employees, if you are looking to find talent for your startup - Via our partnership with careers marketplace Jobbio you can do just that & post your first job for free too! Hooray! Find out more about that here.

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.

• #employee
• #employee motivation
• #motivation
• #personnel

Published on: 23rd November 2017