If you are a business owner or manager and have people who work for you in your business you have probably ask yourself more than once, “How can I get the best out of my employees when they are at work?” I hear this question often when working or speaking with business owners.
All business owners would love to have employees that are naturally self-motivated, enjoy coming to work and want to do a fantastic job. There is one thing business owners must remember and that is employees feel and see things a bit differently than the owner of the business. Entrepreneurs are self-motivated by creating something from nothing, which is intrinsic motivation or internal motivation.
The employee, sees and feel things quite the opposite, they are usually motivated more by external stimuli or extrinsic motivation, such as a raise, job security, benefits, work relationship, trust, personal growth and serving others. The trick is to keep these things continually going so the employees become self-motivated and then begin to add to the effort in making the workplace a great place to be.
Multiple studies on employee engagement and motivation show that employees are motivated when they are recognized for doing a job well done and being told they are valued by the business owner. Now how hard can that be to do?
Business owners and managers should always be watching and listening to their employees so they can catch them doing good and praise them for it. There is also something to be said about the bonus motivational boosters that can be used to inspire employees, like gift certificates, getting off an hour early, free lunch, or a staff outing.
One of the best employee motivators is having a great workplace environment to be in each day. Others are being valued, the freedom to be creative within their work boundaries, and educational growth to better their position in the company. If you are unsure of what might motivate your employees, just ask them, I am sure they will have plenty of ideas to offer you.
Here are several things that help create an environment where people become self-motivated:
Give your employees a voice
Hear what your employee are saying
Empower, ask questions, and listen
Help employees reach goals (you must set them first)
Make work personal, give them credit and praise.
Let them try new ways to do things, if they don’t work, they learned good lessons
Invest in them. What training is available for their growth
Lead by example
With motivated employees your workplace will continue to re-ignite excitement and passion for what they do each day when they arrive at work. Do they know how they serve others each day at work?
If you are doing the above you will receive an extra bonus from your employees and that is that they will want to come to work each day because they know they are valued and appreciated.
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