If you are the manager of a team, more than once you will have noticed that when employees are motivated, their performance in common tasks is much more effective. Numerous studies state that a motivating work environment is capable of increasing employee productivity by 20 to 40% , as a result of a greater predisposition to achieve goals. Ultimately, motivated employees work harder and better.
Therefore, it is necessary for managers and team leaders to know how to build a stimulating work environment, capable of keeping the workforce in this state in the long term.
Why is employee motivation important?
Motivation is one of the main triggers of change. It’s capable of transforming teams to make them more optimal, efficient and productive, three factors that serve to push them to achieve goals and overcome challenges and unforeseen events.
It’s also an important focus of concentration: when employees work motivated, they focus on their tasks and persist with them until they are finished. And, if by chance some difficulty appears along the way, motivation helps them to think outside the box, to be creative, and to innovate to find the solution.
It is also one of the factors that helps improve talent retention: when employees feel that they can grow and meet their needs within the organization, they’re less likely to want to go elsewhere.
Now, how can we achieve a motivating work environment that benefits both the company and the employees?
Below, we propose 6 simple ways to establish a motivating work climate that you can apply to your organization with less effort than you imagine.
6 ways to create a motivating work environment
1. Create a safe environment
One of the most frequent mistakes made by managers is to use fear as a strategy to motivate employees. While it may be effective in the short term, future results couldn’t be worse.
Threatening dismissals or devaluation in the rank if the objectives are not achieved ends up causing a hostile work environment in which employees feel insecure, frustrated, resentful and, of course, unmotivated. In fact, at the first opportunity to leave your side, they will.
But, a work environment that shields the psychological safety of its workforce, in which supervisors care about their employees and make them feel valued and respected, translates into a workforce that is more predisposed to commit to the objectives of the company, and they will work harder to achieve them.
2. Cultivate a growing environment
Motivation can be understood as a seed that needs to be watered daily. Newcomers may be highly motivated to prove themselves, but to keep them that way, we need to give them the attention they deserve on a regular basis.
In this sense, the job of the managers is to nurture the environment in which the collaborators develop so that they feel comfortable, and where motivation can grow like a tree from its seed. In return, employees will give us 100% of their potential.
3. Turning words into deeds
One of the most influential factors in a leader is being an example to follow. Therefore, you cannot demand from your employees a behavior that you are not willing to develop.
If you want your collaborators to arrive on time, be the first to arrive. If you want a job to be done well, be the first to do things right. And if you want your employees to be motivated, make yourself a role model of motivation that others can imitate.
4. Make the workspace fun
A great and fun work environment doesn’t mean that it’s not serious or less professional. But without a doubt, it will make it very pleasant so that employees want to go to work with enthusiasm.
Boredom is the worst enemy of motivation, so try to reserve spaces where employees can have relaxed chats and entertain themselves for a while during their break time.
This also includes daily communication. As long as you are not with important clients and the situation allows it, you can relax the tone in your conversations. You don’t have to be always serious! Be yourself and let your collaborators be too.
5. Use the law of attraction
According to the law of attraction, whatever we focus on and pay attention to, it will come to us. If you are only worried about a lack of motivation, you will only see examples of it around you.
However, if you focus on having motivated teams, you will look for solutions that will lead you to find a way to learn strategies that allow you to create an atmosphere that encourages it.
6. Be consistent
In a previous post we explained that the commitment of a team is like a long-distance race . The same thing happens with motivation. Getting motivated employees is a constantly evolving process, as their needs also grow, change and evolve.
As the teams achieve goals, their motivation will decline, and as a manager, you must find a way to provide them with new challenges that keep them on fire. If you don’t, the only thing you will see is how its flame goes out little by little.
How do you know what your teams need? Team Insights can help you.
If you want to know the state of motivation of your collaborators, see their evolution in real time and identify what aspects as a company are your strengths or what you can improve to create a perfect motivating work environment, our tool can become your best ally.
Request a demo and discover all the potential that Team Insights can offer you.
