Five Easy Employee Motivation Tips

By nature, leaders are often very motivated people. As such, leaders may not intrinsically comprehend why some employees lack motivation in completing a job. Part of motivating people to do their best requires that managers understand what incentives will drive employees to do what the organization wants them to do, noting that this can and will be different for each employee. In order to best lead the entire organization (self-starters and slackers alike), managers can abide by the following motivation tips:

1. Talk with your employees: The best way to understand how to best motivate your team is talk to them, both individually and as a group. Gage how team members are feeling regarding the current system and what can be done to improve. Jot down their ideas and tell them what's on your mind too so that they can better understand where you are coming from.

2. Follow-up on employee feedback: Understanding your employees is great, but in order to show them that you are serious about them, you have to act on their concerns. Obviously, if employees are asking less work and more pay (or something equally as silly), then tell them that they are being realistic. Chances are that your employees will have some great ideas and feedback for you, so using these for the benefit of the company will be a great motivator for the team.

3. Be clear on what the team (and individual) priorities are: You can't expect your employees to be properly motivated unless you know exactly what they should be focused on. Determine what is most important to the organization before spurring the team to action.

4. Set clear goals: Once you are clear on what must be done, ensure that everyone understands his or her own individual goals, as well as the collective team goal. Don't set unrealistic goals, though, because these are often demotivating.

5. Offer fitting rewards: Since you have already talked to your employees, you should know what incentives are most important to them. Self-starters may not need a lot of prodding, but laggers may need to know what they will get if they meet the goals that you have set out.

At this point, is important to step back and realize that most employees will not have your leadership drive, so you may not see immediate results. However, by staying in regular communication with your team, remaining positive and acknowledging progress, your entire team should be motivated for success, especially with you as their role model.