Maintaining staff motivation is important to your company’s success.
We've talked about how to motivate your team, but as a good leader you need to be able to identify the factors that cause a lack of motivation in the workplace.
A drop in motivation can become contagious if the cause isn't identified and addressed. If you become familiar with the factors that degrade staff motivation, you can design plans to combat it.
Business Insider contributor Vivian Giang provides four signs to look for when employees are losing motivation.
- Decrease in productivity;
- Not producing quality work;
- Increased absences; and
- Increased turnover throughout company.
There are a number of things you can do as a leader once you recognize the signs.
Giang suggests managers do the following:
- Make a personal connection
- Make them aware their skills are needed
- Let them know their work contributes to the bigger picture
- Treat them all as individuals
- Provide constructive criticism
- Support their creative endeavors
- Make sure they know their chances in their ability to advance their career within the company
In addition Giang’s list, here are three more tips we came up with after listening to her interview with LocalJobNetwork.com’s host Tim Muma.
Diagnose the problem and deal with it immediately. Problems that don’t get addressed kill team morale quickly. Not only are they distracting, but they negatively affect employee motivation and enthusiasm. “These problems need to be dealt with immediately before they grow into bigger, more complicated issues,” says Giang.
Lead. Employees are motivated by strong direction from management balanced with the chance to work on their own. Provide direction when needed, listen to employees’ needs, and don’t be afraid to help out when things get tough.
Incorporate fun. Try to add some fun things to improve team morale, raise energy levels, reduce stress, spark creativity, and increase social interactions. Something as simple as holiday decorations or lunchtime games such as wiffle ball or bocce do a lot to raise engagement levels and boost motivation.
Besides having a great product or service, most businesses success is connected to motivated employees.
Look for and recognize the signs your employees are losing their motivation and whatever methods you come up to re-motivate them will result in excited, loyal, and productive employees.
Can you do more to keep employees engaged and productive?
