You have undoubtedly come across the situation when even the high-performing employees find it hard to get work done. Keeping a decent level of employee motivation is not an easy business, but we have got you covered. We have compiled a list of motivation hacks for your employees, which you can use to set your workers in motion.
1. Committing to a tiny task
If someone in your team is struggling to get the big and indigestible task done because of the huge scope, they might feel overwhelmed or even attacked by the amount of work assigned to them. Believe me, it is a common motivation killer, but the hack is to separate the task into smaller, more manageable tasks for them. It will ignite the light, and by seeing the one small piece done, your employee will commit to doing the rest as well.
2. Stay aligned with a personal goal
Nothing motivates more than the vision of reaching their personal goal at the workplace. It is a great motivation to workers if your short- and long-term business goals are partially aligned with their own career goals.
You have clear homework to do: find out what motivates each employee in your team and act accordingly. Say someone in the team has been waiting for a promotion for a long time. In this specific case, you can motivate them by giving the rise after having finished the project you have onboard at the time.
3. Get the help of the old friend – money
A financial bonus, raise, or a one-time reward is always there like a good old friend․. If an employee is struggling with motivation, you can offer lunch for a significant milestone. Celebrate a small achievement with a tangible gift – a trip to somewhere significant around the town.
4. Practice Active Listening
Being a good listener in business is a crucial skill, but at this point, we advise you to practice active listening to figure out what can be a motivation for workers in your team. Simply start by asking about how they feel. Do they recognize that they are lacking something specific that could motivate them at the moment? You can also ask directly whether there is something you could do that would encourage the employee to work.
5. Some exercise, please
Physical fatigue might also lead to demotivation. Encourage your employees to get up and move around or do some stretching, which is feasible in the work environment. Exercise and stretching boost the positive hormones and make the employees motivated, relieved from stress, and ready to give it a go. It is best to practice this motivation hack, especially after lunch, because most of us have the feeling of dizziness after having a meal.
6. Have fun together
To boost your employee motivation, you can organize fun games at the office and relax. This will help you create bonds and also relieve a significant amount of stress. A quick round of alias or other card games at lunchtime or coffee break will work. A short funny video can also be a mood elevator and will distract from the routine work.
Here are just a few games you can play at the office for more energy and motivation:
- Alias- It is a board game where the goal of each player is to explain words to each other. The words usually include famous people, movies, professions, adjectives, verbs, various things, and concepts.
- Broken telephone- Stand in a long line or circle. The starting player must think of a short phrase and whisper to the one next to him/her. And so on, and so forth, until the message reaches the last person in the line. The latter must announce the sentence, which is usually not the original one. Most people fail in transmitting that message.
- Werewolves- This is one of the most favorite games played at the office. It is quick and easy to teach. The players get their roles secretly. The werewolves must convince the villagers that they are innocent, while the villagers must find the secret werewolves among them.
You can find hundreds of similar games online and motivate the employees who need them most.
7. Minimize distractions
Distractions lie deep beneath any demotivation, so you can solve the problem of employee motivation by removing them. Well, not remove but at least diminish, minimize whatever you can. For example, if you are working with IT people, you could remove all the noise around, helping them concentrate on their tasks.
8. A different approach to the same work
If you feel like your workers are frustrated and demotivated by a specific task, try a psychological trick. Rename the task, apply a different approach to presenting the value the task has for both sides. You are viewing the task from the business motivation side, but naming the task the other way around with a more positive name can help recover the lost motivation.
Besides the task, pay attention to how employees react to the task given to them. If they don’t like a specific task, find the reasons why. Maybe it is too complicated for them. One of the employees may do the same job in 10 hours, while others can do it in 20 hours. Give more time to those who work a little slower; otherwise, they’ll be demotivated and unable to complete the task.
9. Ability to Choose
A very effective motivation hack of employee motivation is the presence of choice. Try not to tell people what tasks are assigned to them, but give them a choice.
By creating a sense of ownership, the personal choice, you are more likely to have motivated workers. Most people hate being told what to do anyway, so you are winning here by giving them to choice of what to do. If they have chosen their task, they are more likely to be committed to completing it on time and with the expected quality.
10. Planning out motivational programs
When hiring employees, you can thoroughly discuss with the candidate what precisely can motivate them at work. Even if you are practicing technical hiring, make sure you also ask for their motivation triggers. As soon as you have found out the personal motivations of your team, try to create an employee motivation action plan. You can combine or mix out all types of ideas your workers have given you.
11. Organize Training Programs
Remember that your employees have chosen to share their career journey with your company, so it would be nice from your side to make it a successful one.
Plan out effective and targeted training programs, provide them with the desired knowledge they need to perform your job better. Training not only boosts employee motivation but also brings about productivity and dedication.
12. Have a place your team can relax
This could be a great motivation for workers. Especially during a hard day relaxing in a room with sofa, magazine stacks, books could help a lot. If they want to take a nap during the lunch break and regain their energy, they should have a place for it.
13. Let them bring their pets with them
This may sound a little crazy to most employers, but having a pet at the office can be an excellent business motivation. If the employee wants to bring their dog to work, don’t worry about having its furry pals at the office. Dogs are stress relievers. Just petting them can have many advantages. If your employee is demotivated and needs a little time away from the office, they can take the dog for a walk and come back relaxed. Having dogs at your office will make the atmosphere more friendly.
After reading all these motivation hacks, you can use for employee motivation, choose just a few of them and start implementing them at your office. Gradual implementation will have positive effects on the whole work environment. After using the motivation hacks mentioned above, you’ll notice how often your employees smile and how fast they complete the given tasks.
Motivation is the key to success. If you want to have a successful company with the most talented employees, start caring about each of them more, and the fruits of it won’t let you wait.
