Four ways to keep your staff motivated 

Four ways to keep your staff motivated 

Motivation is a burning topic in companies as performance depends on it. A motivated person can do better than a demotivated more competent as she will do all required efforts to succeed. 

Genertally speaking, performance is related to 3 elements:

1. What the person knows (knowledge and know how)
2. What the person can (related to the environment)
3. What the person wants (her motivation)

For the manager, the question is : how to create and maintain his team motivated?

First source of motivation at work: explaining to employees what is expected of them

• The first source of motivation for anyone is to know what is expected from her. What’s her role? Her place? The pitfall here is to define tasks and not objectives.

Defining tasks doesn’t give the meaning of the position. At the same time it limits the possibility of the  person in charge to own her job and perhaps improve it.

The basics is to define everyone’s role in the company and the relations between the different jobs so that everyone has a clear vision of the enterprise and the consistency of the process.

Second source of motivation in the workplace: giving appropriate feedbacks

• The second source of motivation is the feed-back given about the person’s realizations .Even if the feed-back isn’t a total satisfecit, it guides the person in how to improve her performance. The pitfall here is to give a judgmental feed-backits good or bad. What’s important is to explain how its bad or good and recommend ways to improve. At the same time, receiving a feed-back makes someone feel he is seen and recognized in what he does.

Third source of motivation at work: rewarding to federate

• The third source of motivation is to show  satisfaction and reward.

When someone receives a bonus, an invitation to a celebration, a breakfast or a lunch, a travel, etc.. he knows his efforts are appreciated so it reinforces the feeling he belongs and is secure in his company . The pitfall here is  to distribute satisfaction and rewards in an inconsistent manner, which will provoke in the contrary the feeling that work and efforts have no value and demotivate everyone.

Fourth source of motivation in an organization: promoting employee empowerment

• The fourth source of motivation is autonomy.

The autonomy level of anyone in his job creates his motivation. The more he has the power to decide of his schedule, his method of work, of  signing his notes, etc, the more he feels responsible and proud of his work. 

The pitfall here is to delegate beyond what the person can do so that she fails. Delegation has to be progressive and paired with training so that the person can learn new skills and grow, which is again a source of motivation.

At last, all this wouldn’t work if the culture of the enterprise is not consistent with this style of management. Each entreprise has codes and values that guide the relations with the staff and clients. If these codes aren’t shared, understood and accepted by the personnel, they will not feel part of the company and will leave at the first occasion.

Motivation is the key to create the best performance and staff loyalty.

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