A business is as profitable and good as its hard working employees. If your employees aren’t giving their best, is your business the best in the industry?
Unmotivated and unhappy employees cannot be expected to put their best foot forward and make your company thrive. Employees are the strongest pillars of any business or company and its these pillars that need to stay strong and hold on for long. However, these pillars can fall weak and have their bad days, which is when the leaders of the organisation need to support and motivate them.
Employees need constant motivation and push to do better or continue to do well. You cannot expect new and creative ideas to come forth from unmotivated employees who are not striving towards a goal or feeling excited about their work.
Here are some effective methods which can help motivate your employees and get them to feel uplifted about their work.
- Due Appreciation and Praise
Leaders are more often than not caught up in piles of work and forget to appreciate their employees when their work is good. However, the opposite isn’t true. When there is a poor performance, leaders might jump at the first opportunity to criticise and let their employees know that they aren’t happy with their work. It’s time to turn the tables and strike a balance.
Let employees know when they’ve performed well and when their work has caught your attention. Regular feedback to employees will help and guide them with their work. Appreciation goes a long way in keeping an employee motivated and happy at work. If they know they are doing things right, they are bound to do it even better. Managers and leaders can either say or write regular words of appreciation or have a corporate event dedicated specifically to appreciating and praising their employees.
- Eliminate Boredom
When things get boring and dull, that’s when employees lose their motivation and it starts affecting their work productivity. As leaders and managers it’s your duty to ensure that employees do not get bored and do not find their work life too monotonous. The environment at work needs to be kept lively and there needs to be something new for the employees to enjoy. Plan activities, corporate away days, games that will eliminate boredom and give employees the necessary break that is needed to refresh minds before getting down to work. You should plan weekly activities, fun games, team building exercises so that there is always something going on to break the monotony of work life.
- Give Freedom To Employees
Giving freedom to employees to come up with and suggest ideas at work is going to make them feel good about their job and also make them feel important. Employees who feel they are trapped within their fixed job description tend to be more unhappy and frustrated. Let them voice their opinions, ideas and also take decisions. Every decision doesn’t have to be made by the leaders and managers, so try and give your teams the freedom to make decisions so that they can feel that they matter and their leaders trust them enough to make wise decisions at work.
- Ask Your Employees
A good leader would always want to know if there is something bothering his/ her employees and keeping them dissatisfied. If you can see the performance of your employees dipping, then call them in and ask them. There could be a genuine reason behind the low performance of an employee that you aren’t aware of. This will make the employee feel cared for and after sharing their concerns with you, they might feel better which will eventually reflect in their work. It’s always good to talk to your employees and find out what’s going on. Keep it simple and straightforward.
Conclusion
Keeping your employees happy and motivated is a challenging task but no good leader is free from it. Every leader has a team to lead and that means a diverse group of people who need to do their best at work. But to do their best, they have to feel their best and that is something that leaders have to ensure. The environment at work plays a big role in ensuring that your employees feel good about their work and do their best each day. So, as a leader take charge of not just work but also smiles at work.