Keeping your employees motivated and happy isn’t just important for morale – it’s important for your bottom line too. Happy employees are more productive, create more satisfied clients and make fewer mistakes. And it doesn’t necessarily need to mean paying them more either!
- Don’t micromanage. Empower people to get on and do the job. A good part of leadership is stepping back.
- Mistakes happen – learn from them. When someone makes a mistake, don’t destroy them, take the lessons that need to be learnt and incorporate into business policies & processes
- Encourage people to disagree with you. Encourage employees to (constructively) speak their mind – they’ll find it liberating and motivational and you’ll tap into a stream of good ideas.
- Develop your staff. Provide constructive feedback and learning opportunities for employees to develop new skills. Research suggests that people feel proud of accomplishing harder work.
- Praise good work. Recognise your staff for a job well done and they’re more likely to produce consistently good work – without expecting more money.
- Stay focussed. Stick to one main goal at a time. It’s better to make progress in one area than to make little or none in five.
- Be empathetic. Create the right environment and make employees feel as though they have someone to talk to if they need it.
- Encourage ownership. Increase accountability for projects enables employees to take more pride in their work. When people see the results form their work they tend to perform better – so ensure regular feedback & reviews.
- Improve team morale. Host regular team events and meetings and treat your team with respect & courtesy. In turn they’ll respect you back.