Top 10 Ways to Motivate Employees to Increase Productivity

Since employee motivation is extremely essential for the growth of an organization, managers and supervisors need to know how to motivate their employees. This article explains the basic steps a manager or a supervisor can take to keep his employees motivated for a long time.

1) Set up the right environment

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Employees need to be motivated by themselves. The duty of a manager or a supervisor is to set up the right environment where employees can motivate and empower themselves.

2) Money isn't always a good motivator.

A well paid job can often help people from becoming less motivated, but it usually isn't helpful in making them more motivated. The truth is that different people are motivated by different things. While money is important for some people, some others cherish more time with family or greater recognition within the organization. A manager or a supervisor trying to motivate his employees should try to understand what motivates each one of them. You can usually find what motivates your employees by asking them, listening to them and observing them.

3) Don't frighten your employees

It may help if the boss yells a lot. But this usually works for only a short time. Fear alone can't keep employees motivated for a very long time. So stay away from the practice of frightening your employees.

4) Motivate yourself

A manager trying to motivate his employees should be motivated himself. If he is enthusiastic about his job, it will be easy for him to make others enthusiastic too. So before you start motivating others ask yourself whether you find your job motivating enough. What can you do to better motivate yourself? If you know what motivates you, it will be easier for you to understand what motivates others.

5) Align the goals of the organization with the goals of the employees

Always work with the objective of aligning the goals of the organization with the goals of the employees. Just having a few motivated employees won't help unless they all work towards realizing the goals of the organization.

6) Use motivational systems

To motivate employees you can use motivational systems. For instance, organizations can establish compensation systems and employee performance systems. It is also possible to make some changes in organizational policies and procedures to support employee motivation.

7) Practice what you read

Leadership skills aren't necessarily cultivated by just reading management publications. You need to practice what you read.

8) Show genuine care and concern

Show genuine care and concern for your employees. Get to know them on a personal level - their families, their favorite foods, names of their kids etc. This has to be done with sincere interest, otherwise your will sound manipulative.

9) Learn to delegate

Give due importance to teamwork. Don't do everything yourself. Good leadership involves delegating responsibility and authority to employees. Let them decide how they want to carry out the tasks. When you delegate, your employees will get the impression that you want them to take stronger roles in their jobs.

10) Reward your employees

Everybody seeks recognition and appreciation - your employees aren't any different. So don't hesitate to appreciate them when you see them doing well in their jobs. This is a critical lesson for manager and supervisors. Clearly convey how an employee's performance contributes to organizational results. By showing your appreciation, you will be able to motivate them to do better.

Top 10 Ways to Motivate Employees to Increase Productivity

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