3 Proven Actions Managers Can Take to Motivate Their Employees

One of the most common complaints from new Managers, and also from not so new, is related to their ability to motivate their team members to do what the organization needs them to do.

This can be translated into, speed, accuracy, attitude, cooperation, initiative, self-discipline, and a long list of aspects managers would like their team members to take action to achieve their objectives.

Many managers tell me: “I explained it 20 times, they seem to understand and agree and, yet, I do not see them doing as expected. How can I better motivate them?”

Motivation is a very complex subject, with many great theories and work done by very brilliant people. Not having myself a background in psychology nor having devoted my career to it, my purpose today will be to approach the subject in the most practical way any manager, team leader, or coordinator could use to improve his or her current level of results with their team, as I learned over years of experience.

Beyond that, I will refer to the great published works on the subject.

So, what can you do, as a manager, to increase the current level of your team members’ motivation?

What worked for me as a Manager was the reflection of what motivated me as an employee. So, why don’t motivate my team the way I felt motivated during my whole professional career?

I propose you three actions you can start taking immediately that worked for me, both as an employee and as a manager. (and, yes, none of them include the one you may be thinking):

1. Know your team members at a deeper level.

Connect with them, listen to their problems, ambitions, dreams, pre-occupations.

Offer them an space for them to share, and seek guidance and support

Make them feel heard and appreciated. And do it genuinely.

2. Look for an alignment between what they most want in life and with what you (your organization) can offer.

Without the previous step you cannot do this.

Create the job conditions to match, as much as possible, what they most want in life.

Do they like stability? Allow them to access more stable positions.

Do they like learning fast? Involve them in more projects.

Do they want more money? Show them how they can add more value.

Do they want more free time? Guide them into more flexible jobs.

For many years I was looking for an international assignment. It was important for me. I considered that it was a great opportunity to expand and speed up my professional advancement.

One day, sharing this ‘dream’ with one colleague working in my department, she said :”If the company would ask me to go abroad, I would resign. I don’t want to live anywhere else”.

I was shocked. Same situation. Similar professional profiles. So different expectations of what the organization can do for you.

If what you offer does not match with your employees’ vision and purpose in life, they will never be motivated to give their best.

3. Empower them in the work they do.

Once you know them at a deeper level, and offer what they want in life, make them an important part of the work being done. Increase the content of their job, see them realize the connection between what they do and the impact it creates in the organization, and its Customers.

I always liked the story where, during a tour of NASA headquarters in 1961, John F. Kennedy stopped to talk to a janitor mopping the floors.

Kennedy asked, “Why are you working so late?”

The janitor responded: “Mr. President, I’m helping put a man on the moon.”

Fill up the content and high purpose of your employee’s work and they will find the motivation to reach out to your expectations.

And yes, increasing the salary (as you many have thought) it’s not among them. You will never achieve sustainable motivation by just increasing the salary, so don’t transform the relationship with your team in pure transactional, when you can make it transformational.

What and when are you going to implement or improve these actions? Who can support you in this process?

Further reading

· I’ve Just Become a New Manager. Now What?

· Why so Many (Good) People Leave Our Organizations and What We Can Do About It.

· First, Focus on the Quality of the Conversations

· 3 Basic Hiring Mistakes Managers Make That Will Kill Team Performance

About me

Hi, I’m Eduard Lopez, and I partner with Managers and Leaders who want to achieve higher level of results. If the topic resonates with you, please Subscribe to our Newsletter.