As a small business owner, you understand that motivating your employees is imperative to the success of the Company. But certainly not all employees are as motivated as “the boss” is in regard to giving it their all each and every day. In a recent SHRM Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement survey, only 69 percent of employees felt they were consistently putting all their effort into their work. If you as a small business owner are struggling with this, below are some strategies that can help motivate your team.
Share your vision
If employees understand your vision (such as the main reason the business was started and the actions that need to be taken to help realize that vision), they will realize the importance of their role, which will likely result in them feeling motivated to complete tasks and projects. Knowing your long-term goals and mission often inspires employees to contribute more, which also helps increase employee morale.
Empower individuals
Consider asking your employees for input on a new initiative or allow them to work on a project together with limited supervision. Taking more of a hands-off approach can show that you trust employees to get work done. Employees that know their boss trusts them to complete their tasks often makes them feel supported and motived to complete their tasks more effectively and efficiently.
Support new ideas
Having an open door policy in regard to suggestions and ideas not only can make employees more feel comfortable in having a discussion, it can also help employees feel valued and that their voice matters. If employees feel encouraged and supported to come forward with new ideas, it is important to let them know their input is valued and appreciated and it might also motivate them to come up with even more ideas that could help grow your business (such as a new product line or additional service offering).
If one of your employees comes to you with an idea they have that they think could help increase sales or grow your company, it is important to hear them out and be supportive (even if its not an idea you are on board with. Nothing kills employee motivation quicker than having their boss tell them that’s a horrible idea, why are you wasting my time?) If it is not something you as the business owner are interested in (or you don’t think it will work), try to take some aspect from their proposal that you think could work and encourage them to keep working and build on that particular aspect and direct them on how they should proceed to get the idea to where you want it to be. Having this feedback and direction should keep the employee motivated to keep working on the idea to get it where it needs to be. On the other hand, if it is something you are interested in, also provide supportive feedback and work with them to get the idea off the ground, while also giving them full credit for coming up with the idea in the first place.
Encourage teamwork
Creating a team environment can help motivate employees as this often causes employees to hold themselves to a higher standard in order to work toward a common goal as part of the team. The motivation here is to not let the team down. Being part of a team often motivates employees to perform their tasks more quickly and to produce higher-quality work.
Maintain a positive work environment
Maintaining a work environment that promotes safety, growth and goal attainment can lead to employee success and happiness, both personally and professionally. A positive work environment can help increase productivity, and it can make employees feel like they are a valuable asset to your business, which often motivates them to keep working harder and to produce high-quality work.
Reward employees
Rewarding employees is a simple yet effective way to motivate employees. Rewards can include things such as a periodic bonus structure or can be as simple as a gift card, buying them lunch, or leaving a treat/snack at their desk, or even extra time off work (or the ability to occasionally work remotely) for a job well done. Try finding rewards that appeal to most team members.
Publicly recognize employees
As a business owner, you understand it is important for employees to feel a sense of accomplishment and pride for a job well done and for them to know you value their contributions. Publicly recognizing employees can also motivate other team members because they may strive for similar recognition, which could help boost overall productivity within the organization.
Share feedback
Providing feedback on an employee’s performance not only informs the individual of how you as the business owner feels they are performing, but providing this information to them is important because it lets them know the areas they are doing well in and the areas that need improvement. Knowing this information could motivate the employee to keep working hard or to take the necessary steps needed to improve in those areas. In addition to this feedback, training the employee in the areas they are not as strong in (while encouraging them to continually work on this area) shows them that you care about their performance and that you want them to succeed, which should motivate them to improve and keep working hard. You can also set clear, achievable performance goals with the employee and collaboratively reset the goals once they are accomplished.
Celebrate milestones
Another way to motivate employees is to celebrate milestones, whether that be you hit your monthly or quarterly revenue goal, beat last year’s numbers, or did something that has never been achieved before. All of those are reason to celebrate, as it takes hard work and a dedicated team to achieve new milestones, so celebrating those accomplishments not only makes employees feel good and shows them that their hard work is appreciated, it could also motivate employees to keep working hard in order to accomplish even more in the future.
