How to find what motivates your employees and then empower them

‘’People do things for their reasons, not yours. So, find those reasons’’ — Carnegie

Employee motivations, aspirations and dreams may not line up with yours, but everyone is somehow motivated. Some are motivated to earn money, some to go to the beach after work or continue their education. Some may even be motivated to grow, learn and excel in your organization.

Employee motivation is a really interesting thing. It is not easily measured however it can have huge positive effects on your company by creating high levels of efficiency, reducing costs, and increasing employee retention rates which in turns increases profits.

If you have experience managing people or running companies you might have noticed that employees who focus on the work and genuinely enjoy the job are more likely to be engaged than ones that focus on just their salaries.

The less that employees focus on their salaries, the more they can focus on fulfilling intellectual curiosity, learning new skills, or having fun. And these are important things that make people perform best.

So how can you, as a leader or manager, find out what really, deeply, genuinely motivates your people?

Here is what you need to do:

1) Ask them

The simplest and most effective way to get insight into your employees’ motivation is to just ask them. More often than not, they will give you a straight forward answer which this could lead into discussion about their goals, their aspirations and even expectations from you. And you might be surprised to find out that some people simply don’t know what motivates them, therefore his is a good opportunity to help them discover their motivation.

2) Observe

Some staff really want to know everything about the company such us, our performance, our results, our vision while other just want to be given clear tasks which they can accomplish daily. The job of a leader is to really understand everyone on their team well enough to grasp what they need from you to be their best and to deliver it.

Watch employee performance and see what their preferences and habits are at work. Observing their performance at work is a great way to get priceless insight into what makes them tick.

3) Personal Life

Hopefully your people will be working with you for a long time, so it’s best to start building that relationship as early as possible. Try and find out more about their personal lives. Learn what their interests and hobbies are. This kind of information will provide you with ideas on how to motivate them to do their best.

However, keep in mind that building relationships is a process and it cannot happen overnight. True relationships take time to develop, therefore make sure to adjust your process as you learn new things about them over time.

Understand that what motivates one person will not motivate another. Everyone is different, therefore finding those personal differences is what will set you apart from other employers. Without personalization, it could be a waste of resources trying to give employees something they don’t want or need, or don’t even understand.

Whatever it may be, do your best to find each person’s driving motivation.

Once you find what motivates your people, you will know how to reward and push them to do the best that they can. Knowing their motivators allows you to be able to better to connect with them and keep them working hard and loyal.