Employee Motivation Tips: 1-7 

This is the follow on article relating to Employee Motivation Tips… If you missed that article, I suggest that you quickly read it first ( Click HERE It will take just a few minutes ) ….before reviewing the below 7 points. There will be  a separate post with Tips 8 through to 15 to completed the list.

Back to Basics was the final point in that article….this is the key when it comes to Employee Motivation and is probably the most valuable of employee motivation tips. By Basics, I refer to going back to the beginning, in fact before the beginning, before that staff member was event part of your company. It is not rocket science but may take some reviewing of your existing structures and processes, we will be expanding on each of these points below in the coming posts :

• Attract motivated people in the first place! – Try not to be reactive to recruitment, don’t just accept people off the street, or just pick one of the first round interviewees because you are under pressure to fill a post. This will come back to haunt you when you are trying to motivate the ‘wrong’ person who is now in your team. The type of advert and where you place it is also critical in outlining your expectations and in sourcing the right “motivated” individual. Also look well ahead of things like seasonality and when you will need to boost the staff base – if someone leaves or is fired, in the short term, pull your team together and explain that rather than bring in the wrong person you want to add only excellence to their team ( for their benefit ) and that they need to help you pick up the slack in the short term.

• Interview the HELL out of them – put them under pressure with key questions ( Look out for our FREE e-book coming on this topic with tips and advice ) push them for real answers and not rehearsed generic answers… people tell you what they think you want to hear or what they think will secure them the job – you need to see through this.  Introduce role plays, get them out of their chair and interacting, take them outside their comfort zone and see how they respond. How does this help with motivation? – Again, it comes back to sourcing the right kind of “motivated” individual and that is half the battle. A well thought out and clever interview process can weed out the pretenders early on.

• Introduce a 7 day UNPAID trial for new employees – You don’t want your bright spots exposed to the wrong people even for a few days as this can de-motivate your top performers, remember, the interviewee needs to PROVE to you that they are what they SOLD to you in the interview. At any point during this 7 days you can call it a day and it is easy to see through people once they start working for you. The strategy here is that you focus on surrounding your existing motivated employees with only the very best new recruits. By screening new staff you protect your existing positive staff motivation.

• After the 7 day trial start with a Short Fixed Term contract – The opening line of this contract should state: “It is expressly agreed and the employee acknowledges that this is not a permanent position and he/she does not have any perception or expectation of ongoing or permanent employment.” If this scares them, you can reassure them that it is to protect the company / existing staff and that based on their performance there can be potential for a more permanent position. If they are successful in long term employment this level of protection will serve to only MOTIVATE them as they appreciate the companies efforts and strategy to only surround them in future with other awesome, motivated people. If this still scares them off then they have doubts about their own ability to deliver and so you have dodged that bullet from the start.

• Induction and Onboarding are critical to any size organization – This reflects your professionalism and gives new staff member an immediate sense of place and belonging. It is also the best place to start educating them on the Company Culture, Vision and Goals. It also reflects your company as having direction and sets the bar on how you will expect them to perform. Many companies have too little focus on this and ultimately it can demotivate an employee very quickly as they loose faith in the company they have just joined when there is no structure in this regard. Spending time with HR, other Managers, Team Leaders and The Boss if possible is very important ( OR if you are all of these, make sure you go through each area separately ) – a short on boarding manual outlining the goals, vision, and basic “things to know when you start” is a great simple start to motivating your staff from day 1.

• Standard Operating Procedures – These are the basic fundamentals of your Operational Processes ( Opening and Closing procedures, time sheets and document completion methods etc… ) and you would be surprised how many companies do not have this either on the wall for each department or in the onboarding documentation. This is the basic nuts and bolts that hold the business together and we had to go back years later and re-write this from the ground up as staff would become demotivated when they couldn’t achieve basics task in a suitable time frame. This time wasting effects morale and staff motivation as YOU want them to be putting their energy and hours into VALUE ADDING tasks and not basic processes, and THEY want to be see their hours spent in pursuit of their objectives.

• Structure and Systems – Many employees value structure, it gives them a sense of peace and assurance. It also allows them to understand the scope of their work within the company and all the correct channels for things like ordering, communicating, proposing, filing, sourcing information, company policy and code of conduct, heirachy and company organograms, job descriptions etc… the list goes on. It allows new staff to be efficient and not be demotivated by time wasted on these issues, and it allows existing staff the confidence to operate within a well thought out “machine”… with more time to focus on the importance of growing or streamlining the business elsewhere. We have found that an informed staff base is generally a more motivated staff base.

Keep your eyes on your inbox or this blog for Tips 8 – 15… In the meantime consider these simple points in relation to your business or team.