Motivation for the Long Haul
2020 provided many challenges never before experienced, and many employers are wondering how to motivate their teams for the long haul. Whether you are trying to keep your business afloat or have thrived during the pandemic period, the first step is to acknowledge the challenges and celebrate even the small wins.
Taking a moment to reflect and reset is vital to motivating people for the long haul. People are motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically. Intrinsic motivation is internal and comes from engaging in behavior that makes you feel good such as working on a passion project. Extrinsic motivation is external and comes from wanting to earn a reward, such as a bonus, or avoid consequences such as a layoff.
Research has shown that internal motivation is more effective in achieving results as it's tied to "why." Having a purpose is an effective motivator.
At this time of year, many employers are setting ambitious goals for the year ahead but need to find ways to motivate employees. As a manager or leader, there are several steps you can take to create a sense of purpose and inspire motivation within your teams.
Share your future vision. Communication makes employees feel important and recognized. Start by regularly communicating goals, financial results, and long-term initiatives that provide people with a vision of the future and fit into the plan.
Create a vision statement, a picture of your organization's desired future, and share it with employees. This creates an understanding of where the organization is going and encourages commitment to your vision.
Create realistic and purpose-driven goals. Many people are motivated by a strong desire to make a difference but get bogged down in goals that don't add value. Focusing only on the bottom line can leave people feeling like they're just part of a numbers game. As a leader, your role is to link goals to a purpose and the overall vision.
Build meaningful relationships with your team, which helps build trust and compensate as appropriate with a performance-enhancing rewards strategy. Make it a priority to get to know your people to mentor and coach them along the way. Meet with each person on your team and help them understand how their goals contribute to the organization's future success.
Recognize and reward the behaviors you are trying to encourage. People who feel recognized and respected for their contributions are more engaged and will work at a higher level. Invest in your people by showing that you actively care about their goals and are willing to help achieve them. Actively eliminate or reduce practices that don't add value; invest in technology to help people work smarter and eliminate repetitive manual work.
Reflect and reset. Acknowledge the good times and the bad. If a goal is not met, don't punish and instead seek to understand why. Reevaluate goals frequently to ensure they're still relevant. If business conditions have changed for the better or worse, acknowledge the current situation and reset expectations moving forward.
Motivating employees requires taking an active role to draw out the best in your people. Taking these steps will help ensure commitment for the long haul.
If you need help with your team or have an interest in reliable HR consulting services, executive coaching, leadership, and strategic planning workshops tailored to your organization, contact FutureSense at info@futuresense.com.
About FutureSense
FutureSense is a management consulting firm that provides integrated solutions to build and sustain human capital capacity. The firm can work with you by offering support and guidance to manage your workforce. To learn more about FutureSense, please visit FutureSense.com.