10 Tips to Motivate & Engage Your Team

Has your team lost its drive? Do they show up to work but just go through the motions? Wondering how to get them more engaged with your company and their own careers?

As a leader, you're in a position to steer your team to greatness. Not every strategy will work for every team, but we're sure you'll find one or more tips below that will help you to motivate and engage your team.

 

1. Set Clear and Attainable Goals

Do all of your team members know what tasks are high-priority and which are not? If they don't, they may meander through their days, punching their time cards but not really making substantial progress. When you set clear, attainable goals, you give your company and your employees clear direction. You also give them reasons to celebrate. As your team reaches goals, you can celebrate your successes and then launch into new goals.

 

2. Encourage Collaboration

Even if the members of your team are all doing the same job, they all come from different backgrounds and have different strengths and weaknesses. Encourage them to share their ideas, offer suggestions, work together to solve problems, and implement the solutions they come up with. Not only will they feel more valued, but they will be much more engaged.

 

3. Improve Their Work Environment

Is your office a nice place to be? Is it clean and organised? Is the lighting decent? You don't have to spend a lot of money to make your office comfortable for your employees, but attention to their work environment can go a long way toward keeping them motivated.

 

4. Offer Opportunities for Self-Improvement

One reason that people burn out in their jobs is that they feel they're "going nowhere." Learning and growing are important human desires, and if you provide your employees with chances to develop new skills and learn new things, they'll stay more motivated and engaged. Delegate some of your work to your team members. This is a win-win because it lightens your load and helps them to learn new skills.

 

 

5. Pay People What They're Worth

Are your employees' salaries consistent with the employees of similar companies in your geographic area? If not, you may want to consider making adjustments. People often leave positions for even small increases in pay. It's a shame to lose good people because you're underpaying them.

 

6. Reward Success

As your employees rise to the occasion by reaching goals, recognise them for their hard work. Children aren't the only ones who appreciate rewards; adults love them, too. You can offer cash bonuses for hard work, but this is rarely necessary. You'll have the most success when you find out what your employees value most.

Some people value family time above everything else. If you have employees like this, reward them with an afternoon off after they've worked hard and achieved their goals. Some people like concert tickets or restaurant gift cards. Find what works, and show your team that you really appreciate all of their hard work.

 

7. Stop Micromanaging

No one likes being micromanaged. It's hard enough to get your work done without someone staring over your shoulder. If you have a hard time stepping back and letting your employees run their own show, put yourself in their shoes. If necessary, find something else to do when you would otherwise be hovering over their activities or glancing at their computer screens.

 

8. Keep Meetings to a Minimum

Useless meetings can really zap motivation and engagement. They pull people away from productive work and send a message that your agenda can trump your employees' agendas. Reconsider your current meeting schedule. Does everyone currently attending your meetings really need to be there? Do you start meetings on time and stick to essential topics? If your meetings are a drag on motivation and engagement, create and distribute your meeting ahead of time so people can be prepared. Invite only the people who really need to be there, and keep it as short as possible.

 

9. Improve Communication

Without regular, effective communication, leaders can easily lose track of their teams. With great communication, however, you can be aware of the ideas, attitudes, concerns, problems, and successes of each team member. Learn to really listen to your employees. They're the ones in the trenches, and they see things from a different point of view. By communicating well, you can also learn about each team member's ambitions and help them to achieve their personal goals.

 

10. Create Healthy Competition

A little competition every now and then can spur your team to new heights. For example, you could divide your sales team in half and have a competition to see which team closes the most sales before the end of the month. The winning team gets lunch on the house. You could also rank the top performers every week and offer rewards for hard work. A little competition can go a long way toward bringing back lost enthusiasm.

Start with just one of these tips and then expand to another. As your team increases its motivation and engagement, you'll be able to achieve successes that were unreachable before.  

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