A happy workforce is often a productive workforce, so if you’re in a position of management don’t forget to uplift, encourage and inspire your team in any way possible! It’s really important to remember that, aside from earning money, many people go to work to better themselves and bring something unique to an organisation, so it’s important they feel motivated and inspired.
Offer encouragement and praise
When you read insightful quotes from successful CEOs, business managers and other professionals, you’ll notice that many people focus on lifting up others and encouraging employees to fly. One such quote by former CEO and Chairmen of GE, Jack Welch teaches: ‘Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others’, showing how important it is to help, encourage and praise wherever you can.
Embrace agile performance management
These days, annual reviews are considered backwards and out of date – after all, how carefully can you monitor your staff if your only discuss things in detail with the once a year? Agile performance management, however, offers an alternative approach, promoting continuous feedback and regular communication between team members and their managers.
Not only does this allow for issues to be ironed out immediately without being given the time to fester, but it also makes employees aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and inspires them to continually work towards something bigger and better.
Provide incentives and rewards
Everyone likes to be rewarded for their hard work from time to time, so whether it’s all-staff bonuses or performance-related prizes, don’t shy away from offering incentives. You could even offer incentives via an element of competition by handing out cash rewards to the best sales person of the month, for example, or (if you manage a call centre), to the person who’s responded to the most calls. Christmas parties are a good time to acknowledge hard workers, but as well as the predictable announcements, you could liven things up here and there with fun, random certificate presentations which are sure to give staff something to smile about.
If possible, you could even introduce an incentives package to all employees. For example, Google offers staffs many perks such as free meals, gym access and the permission to bring your pet to work. Of course this may not be practical for your company, but you can certainly take inspiration yourself!
Share results and success stories
There’s nothing quite as disheartening than working day after day without knowing that your contributions count. That’s why it’s good to share results and success stories at staff meetings and make a big song and dance if something good happens. If you’ve budget to spare, ordering donuts or pizza to the office to say ‘well done’ will always go down well, or you could arrange lunchtime drinks or an early finish as a reward.
Make the work day more fun
With many Brits working more than 48 hours per week, it’s wise to acknowledge their dedication by making days a bit more fun wherever possible. Of course there’s always objectives to set and deadlines to meet, but bringing in a pool table or games machine for staff to play during their breaks is likely to boost morale.
There are many ways to inspire your team, so think outside the box and ensure everyone’s happy.
See also: Young businesspeople inspired by Innocent – Young entrepreneurs today are increasingly identifying with the founders of Innocent Drinks rather than hard-nosed tycoon Sir Alan Sugar, the Financial Times reports.
