How to Keep Employees Motivated During Tough Times
We each have a unique perspective on the world. People in 2019 were optimistic about 2020 and beyond. They were hoping that the previous year would come to an end and that the new year would offer wonderful things. Promotions at work, the launch of new companies, the birth of new families, and vacations are just a few examples. Then everything came to a halt.
Our generation was confronted with a massive epidemic at the start of 2020. Our world has been flipped totally upside down by the coronavirus. There have been many difficulties as a result of it. People died as a result. Businesses were shut down. The general public was split on how to proceed based on science. On our way to a new normal, we’ve hit a lot of bumps on the road.
Employee motivation has been destroyed by the degree of difficulty and challenge. The viewpoint has changed. The world’s attitude has shifted from encouraging individuals to pursue their goals to telling the same people that they are fortunate to be working at all.
Employee motivation does not improve as a result of the new viewpoint. Employees must now understand new norms and regulations in order to operate long-held jobs. Employee motivation, if anything, is on the decline. As a result, company leaders, managers, and owners must begin to consider staff motivation and morale.
When faced with adversity and uncertainty, your emphasis should turn to finding methods to inspire your workers and team. It is critical to the success of your company. As you may be aware, when a business is productive, it is also efficient. When a company is efficient, it expands and becomes lucrative. The greatest investment a CEO can make is in finding a method to inspire their workers since this affects the company’s overall health and well-being.
What is the definition of employee motivation?
Employee motivation is defined in this article as the actions that motivate workers to perform at their best.
Every organisation’s aim should be to encourage its workers to be the most productive and efficient they can be. Everyone benefits when your employee succeeds.
It’s tempting to put everything else before employee motivation. There will always be problems to deal with. Lead generation, follow-up, fulfilment, and a variety of other tasks need your constant attention. What if I told you that if you look after the people who look after the systems, your company would operate more efficiently?
Invest time in employee motivation instead of putting 100% of your effort into perfecting processes and procedures. When you employ someone who is highly driven, they will be very productive.
Always put money into your company’s most valuable asset: its employees.
The two kinds of motivation are described in two words. Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation are the two types of motivation.
Intrinsic Motivation
Used to describe the act of motivating oneself. It’s the capacity to self-motivate using an internal compass. This compass points to a goal that, if achieved, will provide a feeling of achievement to the user. The achievement is satisfying in and of itself. There is no requirement for a monetary incentive. A person who is intrinsically driven will develop motivation via an internal reward system.
Our workers should be organically motivated, if possible. When an employee is driven by self-fulfilment and self-satisfaction, little to no further encouragement or motivation is needed. Having an employee that is naturally driven is very important. All the incentive they’ll ever need will come from inside themselves, not from you.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation is the motivation that comes from outside of oneself.
It is a different word for employee motivation. Extrinsic motivation differs from intrinsic motivation in that it is external. When an employee is driven by an external incentive, this is known as extrinsic motivation. It’s also worth noting that extrinsically motivated workers are driven not just by the promise of a reward, but also by the fear of punishment.
Extrinsically driven employees are most motivated when they know a reward awaits them after the job is completed. A salary increase or something as simple as a cup of coffee from their favourite café may be the incentive.
Extrinsically driven people are more concerned with what they gain or avoid by doing the task. The extrinsically driven individual is happy if they avoid punishment, reprimands, or coaching sessions. Extrinsically driven people are delighted when they get a concrete result. Extrinsically driven people live for two reasons. To get pleasure (rewards) and stay away from suffering.
What Is It That Kills Motivation?
Let’s take a minute to talk about what kills motivation before we go into methods to motivate your workers.
1. Micromanagement
Micromanagement is a term used to describe the process of micromanaging.
The practice of micromanaging people is all about control for the micromanager. You will feel safer if you have greater control. The more control you exercise, however, the more your workers will feel mistrustful, mistreated, and devalued. When your workers are dissatisfied, their motivation decreases, and the company suffers as a result.
How would you feel if you were being watched at all times? What if your boss refused to delegate tasks, got excessively engaged in your job, and prevented you from making decisions? Would you be motivated if your boss chose to scrutinise every detail, required frequent reports, and insisted on being copied on all emails? If it doesn’t inspire you, understand that it will destroy staff motivation in your company.
2. A lack of organisation and structure
Employees are told who does what, who reports to whom, and how things are supposed to be done through structure and procedures. These are very essential in terms of increasing motivation.
Solid structures and processes give rise to effective, efficient, and motivated workers. The goal of such systems is to establish a work environment that encourages employees to be motivated and productive. One of the quickest ways to demotivate workers is to lack procedures and structure. The employee’s stress level will rise if he or she lives in many layers of complexity since there isn’t a simple method in place. As the employee’s stress level increases, so does his or her motivation.
3. Ambiguous Expectations
It’s essential to remember that we all have expectations about how things should function. Where we fall short is in successfully communicating those expectations to people with whom we engage. In reality, many leaders summon their followers to a high degree of expectation without ever disclosing what that level is.
Millions of workers are expected to live up to a standard they don’t know how to meet. You can’t accomplish anything if you don’t know what you’re doing. The employee will never fulfil the expectations if they are not properly stated and articulated.
Employees that know where the goal is located are the most driven. The employee is set up for failure when the company has high expectations that are never expressed. If I were an employee who knew there was no way to win, I would be completely unmotivated and eventually seek a new job.
10 Employee Motivational Factors
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but I wanted to highlight some of the most important elements that boost employee enthusiasm.
1. Job Security
Job security is a significant priority in today’s cultural environment. A large number of companies will close their doors, lay off workers, and reduce their general operations by 2020. The few workers who were able to work from home were fortunate. However, a significant number of individuals went from working in a job they like to being jobless. With this in mind, a person who finds a great place to work that supports job security is driven to do all possible to retain their employment.
2. Having Their Work Recognized
Being acknowledged at work is an important element in increasing employee motivation. Every employee aspires to be known as a hard worker who goes above and beyond. It keeps them showing and encourages them to go to the next level when they are personally and publicly acknowledged for their effort.
3. A Safe and Healthy Workplace
Employees are demotivated by toxic work conditions. A healthy atmosphere, on the other hand, improves morale and keeps employees coming to work. Take a peek at what Google has to offer. They work in an atmosphere that fosters passion, camaraderie, and good times. Google’s work conditions encourage excellent performance by concentrating on stress reduction. In exchange, the employee arrives refreshed, energised, and ready to work. An atmosphere that promotes health has a lot of power.
4. Progression in your career
Employees want to know that they can improve their careers. Working in a “dead-end” job demotivates workers since it implies that they will never be better than they are right now. Do you want to inspire others? You’ll have one highly motivated employee if you invite them to articulate their purpose and provide them with a clear route for advancement.
5. Affordable Wages
Employees seek to protect their own interests. Employees will be extremely motivated if they know they are earning enough to live well, whether they are single or support a family. The higher the salary level they may get, the more motivated they will be and the harder they will work.
6. Make Smaller Objectives
Your company should have a five- or ten-year business plan that shows trends, objectives, and performance indicators. Long-term objectives may be broken down into smaller, more manageable milestones by the best leaders. Each milestone is a stepping stone toward a larger objective, yet we concentrate on the short term rather than the long term.
Quick victories serve as powerful reminders of the high quality of work completed. A succession of fast victories is what individuals need to get and remain motivated. It not only motivates your workers, but it also boosts their self-esteem.
We must now, more than ever, concentrate on short-term stability rather than long-term development. The organisation establishes itself in the short term. You’ll need fast victories that inspire workers to work harder and drive the goal forward.
7. Be Transparent
The more an employee’s confident in you, the more motivated they will become. The level of transparency with which you provide information is critical for establishing clarity, certainty, and trust. Employees get unsure when they feel out of the loop. Employees are less motivated when they are unsure about their future. It’s essential to remember that a lack of openness will lead to a loss of employee enthusiasm and confidence. When a company loses confidence, it doesn’t take long for them to shut its doors.
8. Rather than motivating the team, focus on individuals.
The emphasis is often placed on “team” development and motivation. This emphasis may be the result of a leadership culture that emphasises “us” rather than “me.” It may also be the result of a time-conscious leader who utilises team motivation to complete a task, inspire his team, and save time. People like being a part of a team, but they also enjoy receiving individual attention. When your leader takes the time to build you up individually rather than as part of collective activity, it’s something unique.
9. Discover what motivates each employee to work.
Humanity’s deepest yearning is to be recognized. There’s a part of each of us that secretly hopes someone could see us for who we are rather than what we can bring to the table in terms of skill. Learning about your employees’ personality types is one of the most effective methods to boost their motivation.
10. Be open to new ideas.
If the years 2020 and 2021 have taught us anything, it is that people want to be a part of something. Each action was a declaration that “we have been forgotten.” You can guarantee that if these movements are gaining traction throughout the country, they are also gaining traction inside your company’s environment. Rather than avoiding the discussion, learn to participate in it. People don’t require you to agree with them, in my opinion. People, I believe, want to feel as though they have been heard and listened to.
Employee motivation is closely related to inclusion. This lack of connection has severe consequences if a person does not feel heard or included. Loneliness, sadness, resentment, and alienation may result from not being involved.
A healthy person is a motivated person, and a connected person is a healthy person.
Conclusion
There is no magic formula for inspiring people. The simple notion that if we assist people to accomplish their objectives, they will be motivated to help us achieve ours is the truth about motivating workers.
Everything begins with you. The direction of your company will be determined by how you show up for your employees and leadership. If you show your workers that you care, offer them your time, and invest in them, they will be motivated to keep pushing your objectives forward.
Recognize your workers as individuals who care about life, have goals and ambitions, and are working for you as a way to accomplish their heart’s desire while learning how to inspire them correctly. That should be made easier. Assist them in their victory. If you follow the steps outlined in this article, you will notice a significant improvement in your company’s performance. Your workers will go from just being there to becoming highly present and motivated employees who are ready to take on the responsibilities at hand.
Remember that individuals are at the centre of everything.
You must begin and finish with a heart and focus that invests in people if you want to lead effectively, inspire your workers, and develop your goal.
