A major part of any manager’s role is to provide a positive work environment where employees can thrive. Motivatingyour staff is vital to the success of your team and organization. You cannot move forward on projects when your workers perform slowly, come in late and behave badly. More often than not, this type of behavior is the result of a lack of motivation. What can you do to make your employees feel valued? Below are some tips on how you can motivate your team:
Training – Most employees want the opportunity to sharpen or add to their skills. Offering and encouraging training can be mutually beneficial. Not only will this make your staff members feel appreciated and valued, the added skills will help them excel in their current position and perhaps increase performance.
Recognition – Positive recognition is one of the best and easiest motivating factors at work. Sincere appreciation of a job well done can go far. Creative rewards such as gift certificates, an afternoon off, a spa day, a round of golf, a new title, or being mentioned in the company newsletter are a few ways to recognize employees. Even a simple email that acknowledges an employee’s efforts can go a long way.
Coaching– Coaching assists in employee development. The only cost that is encountered is your time, and taking that time to enhance an employee’s skills means you care and that your team member is valued.
Listen and act – Employees often feel their feedback goes unheard and unappreciated. Soliciting input is not enough; you have to acton employee suggestions and feedback if you are going to make your team members feel like they have a voice.
An independent consulting agency that focuses on employee, team and organizational development, Sandra Summerhayes & Associates designs and delivers training sessions and seminars for various organizations throughout Ontario. They work closely with businesses to help them improve their working environments by conducting a needs analysisto identify departmental gaps and then create and execute action plans. For more information, log onto www.sandrasummerhayes.com.
