Five Ways to Motivating Your Team

Keeping your team motivated and inspired is vital for any manager or leader.

This is because motivated people are positive and excited about what they are doing - and firmly believe it is worthwhile.

A recent article on the UK training and leadership site MindTools lists the two major driving factors of motivation as:

1. Extrinsic

This is the use of external factors to encourage your team to do what you want them to do. Things like pay rises, time off, bonus checks, and the threat of job loss are all extrinsic motivators. These can be positive, or not-so positive.

2. Intrinsic

This is when a person has an internal desire to overcome a challenge, to produce high-quality work, or to interact with team members. Intrinsically motivated people gain a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment from what they do.

To help motivate people successfully, it is therefore important to find a good mixture of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators.

Obviously, getting to know your employees and what ‘makes them tick’, is crucial.

In a recent article on the Entrepreneur website, US business strategy expert Louise Beavers states that as a manager, involvement with your team is critical - as is self-motivation.

This is because motivated people are by their very nature, hard workers, she asserts.

In this vein, Beavers lists five proven ways to motivate your team in the workplace:

1. Take time out for team building

To help motivate your team, they need more than just a salary and some vacation time. They need to feel they are working as a team to achieve a common goal. One of the best ways of doing this is through team-building activities. Not only do they learn leadership skills - but they also get to know each other better on a more personal level.

2. Show support for your team

As a leader, it is important to provide your team support – together with the tools necessary to achieve the goals you set for them. This support can come in many forms; but basically involves providing the right balance of immediate and long-term support. For example, you may find holding regular briefings helps with productivity in the long run, while in the short-term, it may be useful to run regular checks on those with tight deadlines.

3. Consider offering flexible hours

Working remotely (or from home) is becoming increasingly popular with many workers. Research has shown it provides many benefits, including: increasing productivity and efficiency; lowering stress levels; increasing engagement, and reducing staff turnover. It also helps keep your team motivated and positive.

4. Celebrate your employees

Show your team members you value them by celebrating some of their personal milestones, such as birthdays, weddings, new children or grandchildren, to name a few. Of course, the same goes for when the company achieves a milestone - such as a sales record, award or other accolade.

5. Find a relaxing space

To help your team members be ‘the best that they can be’, consider providing them with a relaxing space to unwind and reduce the stress involved with their job tasks. For example, you could create an area where they can play table tennis or shoot pool, for example, for a short time each day.

Lastly, it is important to remember that to make the above motivational tools really work - you must also strive to become an inspirational and transformational leader.

This is because when you adopt this leadership style, it enables you to motivate and lift your team to new heights - and help it to achieve extraordinary things.

By Professor Gary Martin FAIM FACE