There are many factors in business today which can harm your company or your brand. It is important to ensure one of these variables is not a lack of employee motivation. If your team is suffering and unmotivated, then odds are you have a big issue. In order to keep employees happy and motivated, make sure the workplace avoids some of the following common morale killers.
It should be understood that employees need to placed in an opportunity to learn, grow, and advance. While not every employee longs for this, most are aiming high and expect to grow in their roles. Without development, employees can become discouraged and the workplace will suffer as it grows monotonous and static. Putting your employees career first and providing them an opportunity to develop themselves professionally will yield major results. This lets everyone know that the company is investing in them.
Recognizing an employee’s efforts also goes a long way. An employee who feels their ideas are not appreciated can often find themselves not trying as hard, because why should they? If hard work goes unappreciated, people grow apathetic. Even saying “thank you” can go a long way. This particular scenario should be an easy fix. Sometimes it is a result of poor management or just flat out bad leadership overall. A poor manager can harm an entire team, which hurts the company. The brightest and best performers need effective leaders to truly excel. Identify and position your best leaders at the top, and do it as soon as possible.
Identifying leaders is only one side of this equation. Be sure to identify the underperforming or destructive employees. A bad hire can wear on employee morale just as much as other factors. If you can identify a negative employee who you feel brings everyone else down, then you need to make the proper moves to protect your team. Let them go or find them a better fitting position.
By identifying these factors, you are portraying to your team that leadership has a clear vision of who they want, what they want, and where they are going. It communicates to your staff they are in the right hands. A clear vision allows employees to focus as one and move in the same direction. This results in confidence, higher morale, motivation, and overall team happiness.
And finally, hire people who are better and smarter than you.