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Posts Tagged ‘Motivating’

To create a more inspiring workplace you need to honor your everyday heroes who provide exceptional customer service and live your values above and beyond the call of duty. Tell their stories to inspire and motivate other employees. For other great ideas and free resources go to www.humoratwork.com

Employees want to be thanked, thank-you very much.

How do you motivate employees during a downturn without the use of money? Ragi Singh, head of HR at AIA Singapore shares his experience how did helped employees deal with change management when AIA was undergoing massive changes in 2009.

Are you a cheerleader for your employees at work? Leading employees requires some cheer leading, according to humor in the workpalce expert Michael Kerr.

www.video-e-newsletter.com Motivating Employees Buffalo NY. This video will show you how The Target Group of Buffalo, NY can help your company recruit, motivate, and retain a quality work force.

A potential employer I am talking to does not like the idea of granting stock options. I think he feels that once someone has a piece of the company, they are less motivated to work. Do you have any evidence to the contrary? To me, part ownership compels you to you work HARDER. Are there studies?

One of the challenges facing many managers is how to motivate their employees. Is money the strongest motivator or are there other factors which affect how people perform at work? By having a motivated group of team members, you will achieve far more than by having to manage a group of unmotivated people. Motivating employees is not something that most managers can do naturally; that’s what they need to learn the secrets and skills behind motivating employees in today’s ever-changing workplace. During this program your managers, supervisors and team leaders will learn not only what motivates employees to come to work and do a good job but how to provide the correct type of motivation to keep people doing their best at work.

www.video-e-newsletter.com Motivating Employees Buffalo. This video will show you how The Target Group of Buffalo, NY can help your company recruit, motivate, and retain a quality work force.

Establishing various types of reward systems can be an effective tool for motivating employees. A base salary is motivational only in the sense that it keeps workers showing up — reward systems provide the pull to excel at the job once they are there. Like any other motivational tool, not all workers are impressed by rewards. For those that are, it is important to develop a reward system that meets your overall company objectives.

If all or most of your employees are assigned the same basic tasks, such as retail associates in a store, then developing a reward system is easy. Set targets for overall sales (minus refunds) or specific items or even amount per transaction and reward individuals who meet the target. If everyone meets the goal, it is too low — you are trying to motivate excellent performance. Retail toy stores are famous for holding battery sale contests among the sales staff — and you thought the check-out guy was just being helpful!

Keep in mind that people motivated by reward tend to compare their own output, and what they are getting in return, with everyone else. If another worker is less productive but is paid a higher salary or bonus, reward-motivated employees will become less productive. Some companies try to counter this by discouraging salary disclosure, but, really, have you ever worked anywhere that you didn’t have a good idea of what everyone else made? Your best bet as an employer is to set fair salary ranges for all comparable positions and use incentives (rewards) to encourage outputs that go above and beyond the expected.

For any reward systems you put in place, there are a few critical aspects that must be incorporated to be effective. Be sure that each employee’s basic job description is well-defined, and set clear objectives regarding what it means to go “above and beyond” the expected level of output. All rewards should be directly tied to the precise behaviors and results you hope to encourage.

Avoid giving across the board bonuses just to be fair. Incentives must reward extra effort and hard work to be useful. Employees who do not meet expectations should not be rewarded at all — that is, be wary of setting raises and promotions on any basis other than productivity and merit. Seeing an unproductive member of the staff promoted will dishearten every reward-motivated worker. It is absolutely critical to be fair. Any perception of favoritism or imbalance in the reward system will completely defeat the purpose of implementing it in the first place.

Reward systems are very effective for many workers if handled correctly. Be fair, be consistent, and reward the efforts that will push your business to success.

As a leader, motivating employees is a critical element to your success. Leadership is about influence. It starts with the initial contact made to recruit new employees, proceeds through the entire welcome process, and continues everyday until the employee departs the organization.

Recruiting: New Employees and Critical First Impressions

New employees arrive full of enthusiasm. Whether this is their first job or a career change, it is a big decision; the employee wants to believe that they made the right career choice.

To be fair, the employer has made a significant investment in recruiting and is optimistic as well. Leaders will do well to continue motivating employees with that same positive approach throughout their welcome process.

Retention: What Motivates Employees?

While recruiting and the welcome process establish critical first impressions, day-to-day leadership determines retention within an organization and the desired loyalty that motivates others. A good leader knows that people respond similarly to how they are treated. When employees feel that they are treated with dignity and respect, they exhibit a much greater sense of loyalty toward their boss.

For example, when a coach makes it a habit to teach first, the players tend to respond positively because they feel like their growth and development is an important part of being on the team.

Conversely, when the coach does not teach the fundamentals and ensure the desired level of understanding, the perception is that results or “winning” is more important than our need as individuals to develop and grow.

Unfortunately, when leaders lose sight of their role as a coach, mentor, or instructor, the loyalty that inspires employees to stay the course and give that extra effort slips away.

Simply put, when we believe our boss has our best interests at heart, we feel appreciated and we are more inclined to put in the extra effort needed to succeed.

How to Motivate Employees

Ideally, each of us wants to be a part of something greater. We want the experience of being on a winning team and the pleasure of sharing our success with our teammates.

Just like youth sports, we want to participate in activities that we enjoy and those where we have the ability to learn and grow. We want to be challenged and to be proud of our accomplishments. We want to know that our victories were well-earned because we worked hard.

Take a look at whether you manage or lead and whether your team has that sense of loyalty necessary to remain committed to your most challenging goals.

Those who lead most effectively are able to consistently inspire loyalty from others.