It may seem obvious that motivation is an important aspect in ensuring a well-functioning workplace. However, that may be easier said than done. There are plenty of ways to motivate teams. Some employers may find it difficult to motivate teams during regular days. If your workplace is in a tough spot, how do you go ahead and motivate your workforce?
If you want your team to succeed, they must be driven to interact with you, with one another, and with the task at hand.
Some individuals are really good at encouraging themselves. Nevertheless, after last year and all of its problems, even the most naturally motivated teams may be struggling to find the motivation to get things done. And what about folks who struggle with motivation even in the greatest of circumstances? Most likely, the epidemic drove their motivation to an all-time low.
Nonetheless, motivated teams outperform (and feel better!) at work. As a manager, it is your responsibility to keep your staff motivated, engaged, thrilled, and progressing.
In this article, we will be going over the six best team motivators you can count on to work—especially during difficult times.
What is Motivation?
Before we move forward, we must first understand what motivation actually is. We may intrinsically understand motivation, but when asked to define it, we may find it difficult to do so. We may even have to explore what motivation really means for us.
Think of motivation as the essence that continues to push you forward. It is the force that gets you out of your bed and makes you do what you do. And generally, we are motivated in two ways: push or pull.
Push motivation is motivation driven by needs or desire. Pull motivation is primarily based on passion—it is doing something because you actually want to.
Why Be Motivated?
Without motivation, your team may do their work—but not to the best of their abilities. A motivated team achieves quality, productivity, and substantial growth.
And if you are facing difficult times, there is no better time to make sure that your team is motivated. It may be just the thing to keep your team pushing when the going gets tough.
What drives team motivation?
Many employees are feeling burned out as a result of negotiating the uncertainties of the pandemic, adjusting to working from home, and juggling work and home/family/personal obligations — and finding motivation in the face of that burnout can be difficult.
That is why, as a manager, it is critical to understand what inspires teams and how you can leverage it to encourage your team.
A recent Harvard Business Review article described a research that identified three positive motivators that often lead to greater performance:
- Play: Allowing people and teams to explore, experiment, and have fun may be a powerful motivator.
- People are motivated to accomplish better when they believe their work has purpose.
- Potential: The ability to develop and grow is another important component in inspiring and motivating teams.
If you incorporate these three components into your management plan, you will encourage your team and inspire them to do their best job.
So, how do those driving aspects manifest themselves in practice?
How to Motivate a Team?
Now that we understand what motivation is, how do we go ahead and motivate teams?
1. Celebrate Individual Successes to motivate teams
Every individual desires to have their hard work recognized. This desire is shared by employees and employers alike—and you can motivate teams through this shared value. You need to acknowledge the efforts individuals put into accomplishing a task or meeting a goal set for them.
People tend not only to enjoy being appreciated, but they also strive harder when they see others succeeding around them. Celebrating other people’s successes motivates individuals because it makes them feel like they have been successful too.
As previously said, some people are inherently more driven than others. Such people might be one of your most powerful team-motivational resources as a manager.
Spend your time and effort supporting the team members that are the most motivated and upbeat. With a 1-on-1 meeting software, arrange regular conversations and ask how you can help. Give them responsibility for planning team meetings, initiatives, and projects. As many chances as you can provide them to lead and coach others.
Offering your naturally motivated employees a visible, leadership-focused role can help them spread their joy and enthusiasm to others. The staff will consequently be more inspired and upbeat.
2. Create a Sense of Belonging and Identity
People are social beings. We thrive when we feel like an integral part of a group: this is true for employees as well. When they feel like the company actually cares about them, their productivity increases, and it becomes easier to motivate teams.
Even simple things, like making sure someone knows their role in an organization, or giving someone a nickname, can go a long way in ensuring people feel they belong in a team.
3. Establish Goals and Provide Feedback to Motivate Teams
Establishing company-wide goals with specific deadlines makes it easier for people’s efforts to be seen in terms of tangible results. When individuals know that their hard work will lead them towards a goal or help achieve one, the chances are high that you have managed to successfully motivate your employees.
And once you have established goals, it is vital to maintain the momentum. You need to provide your team with good feedback that makes them feel they are on the right track.
When employees know that their work is actually achieving something, they will do even better next time around.
Identify the most enthusiastic and determined members of your team and invest your time and energy in them. Arrange regular meetings with them utilizing 1-on-1 meeting software and ask how you can help them. Provide them the responsibility of arranging team meetings, projects, and initiatives. Offer them as many leadership and mentorship chances as you can.
Giving your naturally driven staff a role that is both more visible and leadership-focused will help them inspire others. As a result, the team will be more motivated and upbeat.
4. Reward Good Work With Tangible Incentives
When individuals clearly understand what is expected from them and see that their efforts are being rewarded, there is little doubt that they would not be motivated. Rewarding people for good work through bonuses motivate teams because it makes an effort seem worthwhile in more ways than one.
Rewards may be used as tools to motivate teams when economic growth seems stagnant or even shrinking. It helps motivate employees to keep going while giving value at the same time. Employers can also easily track giving out bonuses through paystub generators.
5. Having Fun at Work to motivate Teams
People love to be happy at work. It makes their day better, and it makes them feel like they are not wasting time on a job that could have been done by anyone else.
There is no way around the fact that having fun while working motivates employees and makes them want to return to work every day. This can take many different forms, like watching movies or taking trips. Whatever it is, having fun at work makes for a motivated team. Make sure to generate invoices for all these bonus expenses to make them easier to keep track of.
Employee motivation does not have a one-size-fits-all answer; various teams require varied motivators. Thus, if you’re wondering how to encourage your staff, just ask them!
Arrange a meeting with your team and ask what they require from you in order to feel more inspired at work. Follow up with one-on-one conversations to further understand how to encourage specific employees. Finally, using the knowledge you gathered from your team, inspire them in a way that suits them.
6. Encourage Camaraderie
When employees feel like they are part of a team, the chances of them being motivated go up. When people know that their colleagues have their back and vice versa, it creates an environment where everyone is more likely to motivate each other.
It promotes teamwork which can lead to better results in general. This is something that employers should try to achieve at all times.
You may have ideas about where you want to motivate your team to go, but if you truly want to drive them, you must offer them a sense of power over that path. Arrange regular team meetings (for example, once a quarter or at the start of a new project or effort) to ask your staff how they want to see the team grow and change.
What are their perspectives on the current situation? Where are the present prospects for growth? And how can you collaborate to develop, alter, and evolve in a way that resonates with the objectives, purpose, and preferred direction of the team?
Final Thoughts
Motivation is a crucial factor in creating a productive workplace. And if you are in turbulent times, then motivation is something that a team all the more needs. It only serves to push everything forward and bring everyone upward.
