Turn Slacker Employees into Self-Starters: Motivating Staff With Encouragement

Let's face it: Some people are naturally self-starters, while others are not. Some employees will always be looking to expand and learn, contributing 110% on a daily basis. On the other hand, there are those who are not as naturally driven and may need a little prodding to take the initiative (i.e. "slackers"). With that in mind, managers can indeed build employee resourcefulness and overall organizational success, turning even slackers into self-starters, through following some simple steps.

The best way to help employees to become a self-starter is to give each employee ownership over some aspect over the organization. For example, let's say that an employee is somewhat shy and would like to do more work, but may not want to speak up. Making him the owner over something (whether it's large or small) will give this person the authority to make decisions or changes to something that he may not have wanted to before. In the case of the slacker, it makes sense to start small and allow the slacker to work his way up.

Giving employees clear ownership makes them responsible for results and may spur them to become a self-starter. Whether the workplace is a corner bistro or large corporation, giving employees specific ownership in a certain area can work in any workplace and at any level in the organization. For the slacker, this ownership makes it clear that they need to get the work done and they can't try to unload it.

Another way to foster self-starter behavior in the workplace is to let employees know that it's expected that mistakes will be made along the way. Some employees are afraid to take the initiative on a project because they fear being seen making a mistake. Let your employees know that you would rather they make mistakes and try something new on their own rather than not trying at all. This is great advice for dealing with slackers because many are looking for any excuse to get out of work.

Managers can further encourage employees to become self-starters by being self-starters themselves. By spurring new human resources policies or questioning executive management decisions, managers demonstrate that self-initiative is good when they actually do it themselves.

Naturally, some individuals will always be more assertive and self-starting than others, but the above tips can help to build an organization in which all of the players (even slackers) demonstrate self-starting behaviors.