Motivate and dominate – 5 motivation strategies to increase productivity

A great indication of a successful manager is one who has employees who are motivated to perform their jobs at a high level. It is easy to see that higher employee motivation leads to more productivity and therefore more profitable business growth. Therefore, it is important for a manager to understand motivation and how to garner it from their employees.

Motivation, and what triggers it, has been studied for decades and workplace leaders have used assessments to determine an employee’s personality and better anticipate their behaviours. But assessment scores alone will not show you all you need to know, it is important for managers to get to know their staff and learn how to be more specific in their approach to motivating them and understanding their goals and aspirations.

As great as it would be, there is no one method to motivate your employees. Your employees are all very different from one another, so different factors affect their motivation. Some people are motivated by money, others by rewards, some prefer recognition, and some people just motivate themselves to achieve. Supervisors and managers need to utilise a number of different strategies and techniques to increase their employee’s motivation and productivity.

We have compiled a list of motivational strategies for managers to apply in order to harness the most productivity and results from their staff, and to provide a happy, thriving working environment.

Motivator 1 – Trust

This is one of the most important aspects in any organisation and it is a two way street. Employees want to know that their manager is looking out for their best interests, which motivates them to succeed. In turn, leaders also want to know that they can trust their staff to do their jobs properly. It is up to the manager to ensure this trust is built with their employees and to be able to communicate effectively with each individual and foster positive relationships.

Motivator 2 – Reward System

Incentives are a great way to promote motivation. Employers can use many types of incentives or reward programs to increase productivity and motivation among staff. Incentives can come in many forms, whether it be bonuses, paid time off, travel perks, or vouchers. It offers employees something to strive for and gives them a bit of healthy competition.

Motivator 3 – Recognition

The simple of act of letting an employee know they are doing a great job and recognising their efforts can do wonders for their motivation. As humans, we like to hear when what we are doing is appreciated and it creates a sense of accomplishment. In turn, this motivates us to keep achieving and keep receiving recognition. Of course, there is no need to recognise everything someone does, but make sure you take the time to congratulate a job well done.

Motivator 4 – Career Advancement

Employees are much more likely to achieve if it means that a career advancement lies ahead of them. As a manager, you can sustain this motivation by ensuring there are avenues and opportunities for your employees to advance in their positions. You can also provide them with opportunities for further qualifications or on the job workshops. It lets them know they are valued and makes them more committed to their positions. In fact, LMA’s L.E.A.D Survey 2013 showed that 79% of employees said that opportunities for training and development is ‘Quite’ or ‘Very Important’ to their decision to stay in their current organisations. Visit LMA’s Principles of Learning to establish the best direction for implementing learning in your organisation

Motivator 5 – Happiness

At the end of the day, if employees are happy in their jobs they are more motivated to do the best job they can. As a manager, you need to be aware of whether your employees are satisfied or not. Don’t assume that simply having a conversation with them regarding their happiness will be enough, they may smile and say yes if they think it is what you want to hear or if they are worried their job is on the line. The process to happiness and job satisfaction can be influenced by ensuring the previous factors are evident in your company and letting happiness be an organic process.

As a manager, it is important that you are focused on ways to continuously improve your business and staff. Finding ways to keep your staff motivated to perform at their best is a key part of any managerial role. If managers can understand the factors that lead to employees performing at higher levels, they can increase the performance of entire departments.

Can you identify ways that you can implement some of these motivational techniques for higher productivity in your business?