Managing your workforce can sometimes feel like triage. You are putting out small fires constantly, reacting to the next problem rather than being proactive to built a culture that your employees enjoy.
When you’re dealing regularly with issues like bad attitudes, emotional outbursts, decreased productivity and cynicism from your employees, you may be looking for a bigger way to motivate your team. This year has placed a lot of stress on employees, so in many companies we’re seeing the results of that added stress in our workplace.
Motivating your team, particularly in challenging times, requires some intentionality but it doesn’t have to be a lot of extra work for your leadership team. Most employees are looking to be informed, appreciated and recognized as individuals in the workplace. Finding meaningful ways to do that is the key.
Recognize Their Work
When your employees are working hard during a difficult season, going out of the way to thank them and acknowledge specifics about how hard they work, the quality of their work, and their commitment to the company is really important to their morale. Finding big and small ways to recognize the team helps people to feel like what they do matters and gives them a sense of purpose in their role.
Connect Them With Your Brand’s Story
How does the work that your team is doing matter to the world? For many businesses, your end user is not on the minds of your employees as they go through their workday. But, giving them a sense of purpose behind their work can fuel your employees for years. Tell them the story about why their work matters to the world. Is your company producing quality automobile parts? Tell them the story about the families you’ve kept safe because of your craftsmanship. If you’re cranking out cardboard boxes, connect your team with the story of how you kept people supplied during a global pandemic when shipping patterns changed worldwide. There’s always a story to be told, and your employees need to hear it.
Communicate Well
When employees feel like they’re the last to hear news about your company, it creates a disconnect between the leadership and the team. Clue your team in, help them to feel a sense of ownership for the company by communicating well with your team, even if their input is not needed for a decision.
We’d love to help your team to be even more effective in motivating your employees. We’ve written this book that we’d love to share with you at no cost, Human Resources Guide to Effective Communication, in which you’ll find dozens of great tools and strategies for upgrading your internal communications. Click here to get the eBook free in your inbox.