Discover the 8 Ways Managers Can Encourage Workplace Motivation

BY SUSAN M. HEATHFIELD Updated July 25, 2020

The most important brainstorm you will ever experience about employees and motivation is to realize that you can’t create motivation for people. No matter how much you need and want motivated employees, you are not capable of filling an employee up with motivation. As a manager or coworker, no matter how hard you try, people choose on their own whether to experience motivation at work.

HOT TOPIC: Great Managers

An effective manager pays attention to many facets of management, leadership, and learning within an organization. So, it's difficult to take the topic of management success and say that the following ten items are the most important for success. Legions of articles and books profess to have answered this question. Many are variations on the same theme. Others profess to add a new characteristic or skill.

There are, however, seven management skills without which you won't become a successful manager. These are the key and critical skills which will help you lead your team and encourage employees to want to follow you. And, when employees want to follow you, you have accomplished a key component of managing employees.

Managers who want to succeed also understand that they are the most significant factor in whether employees are motivated to want to show up for work. Managers play a key role in all four of the levers that drive whether employees are motivated and contributing to their workplace (reward system, culture, job design, and performance management and resource allocation).

A bad manager is frequently cited as a key reason why employees quit their jobs.

The most important issue in management success, however, is being a person that others want to follow. People have rational reasons for following such as reaching career goals, attaining money, and gaining power. They also have irrational motivations that "arise from the powerful images and emotions in our unconscious that we project onto our relationships with leaders."3

Every action you take during your career in an organization helps determine whether people will one day want to follow you. Without followers, you cannot lead and manage. So, use these seven tips to be the successful manager that you aspire to become.

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Thoughts for Managers About Workplace Motivation

If you can't cause employees to experience motivation, is there anything that a manager or supervisor can do to encourage employees to experience motivation at work? The answer to this question is that there is a whole lot that you can do.

Every time employers do an exit interview with an employee whom they would really have liked to have retained, they realize that people leave supervisors or managers more often than they leave employers or jobs. They also leave workplaces where they see no opportunity for advancement and where their career progress is not assured.

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Managers Have 8 Responsibilities in Supporting Workplace Motivation and Retention

·?????????Thinking about employee motivation, here are eight management actions that cause people to stay with you as an employer. In work environments where factors such as these don't exist, employees are much more likely to leave their jobs.

·?????????You need to pay attention to employees and help them feel important. This involves asking them how they are doing, thanking them for their efforts, and keeping commitments you've made to them. The more that you can do to help employees increase their self-esteem and the feelings of self-efficacy they experience, the better able they are to contribute successfully.

·?????????Employees need to know that you value them and that they are respected as fellow humans. A phrase that is often cited to explain this phenomenon is "we are all equal as people, we just have different jobs." Think about this as you interact with your reporting staff, coworkers, and customers.

·?????????Keeping commitments is as simple as attending a scheduled meeting rather than postponing it because everything else is more important. The employee will feel as if everything else is more important—because you are demonstrating that it all is.

·?????????Recognition is a key factor in employee motivation and people like to hear words of praise from their boss. They also enjoy their manager offering sincere thank yous to them for their approaches, accomplishments, and contributions.

·?????????You need to provide solid direction so your staff knows that they are accomplishing important goals. One of the complaints heard most frequently from employees who are unhappy about having a bad boss is that the boss did not provide clear expectations and direction. Employees who don't have clear direction are never sure about how they are performing. Not knowing how you are performing is a barrier to employees making improvements. and a negative for employee motivation

·?????????The power of a supervisor's feedback cannot be overemphasized. Employees, especially millennials, like feedback every day. They prefer specific feedback that reinforces the contributions the organization needs from them.

·?????????Provide staff the opportunity to learn, grow, and make career progress. In any study of employee engagement and motivation, a career path, and knowing where they are going in their career opportunities are important to employees. Again, millennials, who are used to full schedules and solid direction, need this the most of all of your employee groups.

·?????????Finally, help employees feel like members of the “in-crowd.” This means that they want to know what is happening as quickly as everyone else—and—even earlier, if possible. This includes knowing the overall goals and direction, of your organization, understanding where their job fits within the bigger picture, and understanding the development of and changes to overall company strategy.

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CONCLUSION

Do all of these activities wisely and well and you’ll be viewed as a positive, motivating supervisor or manager and you'll keep your best staff. Employees want to work in the environment described in these eight important points. Employees, after all, are adults and want to contribute and feel good about doing their jobs. #thapalace

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