7 Creative Ways to Motivate Employees

Your employee’s are the building blocks to your companies success, and as an employee they do not always have the drive and motivation that you do. What can you do to put the spring in your employees step and have them motivated and (dare I say) happy to come to work everyday. Lets go:



1. Team Player



The first and a very important way to boost employee morale is to increase the sum of the entire parts, meaning everyone should be doing their fair share. Your star employee and your slacker in training do not see eye to eye, and if they are put on a project together or are working in close proximity to each other, there is a chance for the good guy to bring his work ethic down a notch. How do you increase team work? A great way to do this is to host an out of office meeting. Choose a place that is comfortable and casual. Have a theme for the meeting, have everyone assist in setting new work team goals or discuss a work project. By removing the work environment, your employees will have an opportunity to get to know each other better and develop mutual respect. This will add cohesion to your team. What could be more motivating then working with or beside your new "friend"?



2. Spotlight Individuals



Okay, your new team is rocking it! Now it is time to shine the spotlight on that one individual who is doing more and giving everything they have to your company. How do you make one person shine brighter than the others, increasing the desire and motivation in others to also be shone upon? Begin by giving a group announcement about your key player to recognize exceptional service to your company, this may embarrass them but they will also feel proud. Use a board of some kind to post names and the recent achievements by your star players. This will enhance the skill of your dedicated peeps and inspire others to "make the board".



3. Career Path



Do your employees know where they can go from "here"? An employee with a clear direction or vision of their future within your company will give their complete devotion to it. Have you ever worked at a place that was shady at best for foretelling what your future held for you if you remained with them or a company that promised everyone the same promotion? Me neither, but it sounds horrible doesn’t it? A great thing to do here is to choose successors or potentials and ask them where they would like to be in 5 years with the company. You also want to make sure they plan on staying with you as well. Then you can map out the course that their career can take with you. This leads us to our next motivating factor…



4. Education



Employees that are educated through a company feel a greater sense of loyalty and motivation to stay with and assist to improving it and helping the organization grow. Get your top players more education, but also give them choices. If you have someone heading down a sales path with you and they are interested in Human Resources encourage them to take courses in that. You never know how this can shape the future of your organization or how it can improve your sales team to have that knowledge. Educating your staff also lets them know you care enough about them to invest in their future.



5. Business Cards



This is often overlooked as a needless expense, but let us remember that the most important word that anyone can ever hear or see is their own name. You can buy a box of cards pretty inexpensively, they are a company write off as well as a valuable untapped resource. You will be building a stronger, motivated, committed team and more focused individual effort by implementing this strategy. Give them a title on the cards if you can and let them pass them out to customers and their friends, this could be a great source for repeat business and springing your employees step.



6. Say "Cheese"



If you have a day where you can gather your staff or gather the groups of individuals that work together, take a picture of your work team. Then take this picture that everyone thinks they look just awful in and post it somewhere. If you have a bulletin or a staff room wall, great. This will remind every one of work being a fun place and as your guessed it motivate them a little more to being at work.



8. Brilliantly Clean



A clean work environment, not only keeps your employees healthy but it also keeps them motivated because it shows them that you value them and their work space. Keep them healthy and happy! (Also think Scrub Masters)



Work is a place where most people (unfortunately) begrudgingly go to everyday. By utilizing a little of your time and a huge part of your creativity, work can be fun or even a great place to head off to everyday. Make the most of your employees that devote more than just their time to you and help to create an amazing team that enjoy working together and doing things well. Happy employees, equal happy customers, which equals increased profit, just in case you needed the motivation as well!