How to motivate your team

Motivating your team is more than being about the happiness of a single employee. It plays a huge part in the culture, the overall performance of a business, and ultimately the long-term success and growth of the organization.

Highly motivated staff are more likely to deliver higher standards of work and keep in line with timeline expectations. Why is this important? There are many reasons, but if a company wants to continue growing, it cannot do so without its staff all pulling in the same direction.

What are the direct benefits of an engaged team, and how does this affect an individual and/or the business overall? We discuss three key reasons here:

• Optimal performance: If an employee is not feeling motivated then the level of work and speed in which things get done is almost certainly going to suffer.
• Increased engagement: There is no way of downplaying just how pivotal a positive work environment is for not only an individual, but the business, too.
• Lower staff turnover: Team motivation can help a business avoid losing staff. It’s not just about losing talented members of the team either, as when an employee moves on, the company must put resources into recruiting and training new staff, which can take weeks, if not months.

Whilst most outcomes from motivating a team are positive, that does not mean there are not certain scenarios that a manager should not be wary of when implementing changes.

Higher levels of motivation can create pressure to maintain peak performance levels, which is, in general, unrealistic.

There is also the importance for a business in recognising and understanding generational differences, and why promoting a diverse workforce should be encouraged. Generation Alpha are next in line to begin entering the workforce, and with that brings new challenges and characteristics that businesses and managers may have not had to consider before.

To thoroughly utilize both, it is vital that a business understands the key differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and the benefits that it can provide.

Intrinsic motivation is the art of an employee engaging in an activity because their satisfaction comes from completing a task to a high standard and is less likely to be driven by things like rewards. It brings with it a variety of positives, with the key ones being enhanced engagement, greater satisfaction from activities undertaken, and improved performance all-round.

Extrinsic motivation on the other hand is when an employee engages in a task to gain plaudits, earn rewards (monetary, awards etc.), and avoid any negative outcomes that may be the result of their work. The key benefits may be that behavior changes are noticeable, and a previously disengaged employee becomes more switched on and eager to pull in the right direction for the benefit of their team.

Having considered just a few of the pros and cons to both types of workers, it is important that a manager finds the right balance for an employee and for the organization.

The key distinction between well-being and ill-being is the different states of mental, emotional and physical health.

Wellbeing is the positive state of health and happiness that an employee feels, whereas ill-being will relate to the negative emotions and dissatisfaction that someone may be feeling. That could be to do with their work-life or personal-life, with the likes of the ‘cost-of-living crisis’ having an impact on almost everyone's daily lives.

Some proven strategies for motivating a team can be defined as:

• Setting clear goals and expectations so that employees have achievable, measurable, and relevant objectives.
• Regular feedback, whether constructive or recognition of brilliant work. This helps employees to feel valued, encourages continued effort, and promotes a healthy team dynamic.
• Empowering employees to have the freedom and autonomy to take ownership and make decisions on their work.
• Having a recognition and award programme in place is advisable. This can be formal, or informal where, for example, a senior leader within a company compliments an employee's recent work in passing.
• Facilitating open communication and creating safe hubs for employees to have an open discussion. This can help team members feel connected to the team, their manager(s), and the organization as a whole.

Ultimately, the responsibility for team motivation is down to leadership within a business.

It involves contributions from various levels and teams from within an organization, and it is pivotal that these teams (such as directors, team leaders, managers, and senior leadership) work together to harbor a highly motivated and inspired workforce.

Measuring motivation levels within a team is an important aspect of an organisation understanding valuable insights into employee engagement and the overall workplace culture.

Regular check-ins with the team are one way of measuring where motivation levels are at. This can be formal and informal, with benefits to both.

Employee surveys are another important tool for a business which is trying to understand their employees. Offering the option of anonymity when conducting surveys should also be encouraged, as anonymity can help employees feel that they are safer sharing honest feedback.

Finally, data-driven insights from monitoring performance metrics are also key for a business, as it can showcase productivity, the quality of work, and whether goals are being met.