By Or Shani
When was the last time you were inspired by a poster of a cat dangling from a branch urging you to “hang in there”? Chances are the answer is never, and the same goes for your employees. Plastering the walls with impersonal motivational posters is not likely to inspire your employees to do better work. In fact, it could have the opposite effect.
This kind of empty encouragement is devoid of human connection and risks giving workers the impression that they’re not worth your legitimate attention. I’ve been fortunate enough in my career to work for employers who made me feel proud of the work I was doing. Seeing how my efforts propelled the business forward, I understood my value to the company and felt more inspired to work hard.
This experience was something I wanted to emulate with my own employees when I struck out on my own and founded my business, Adgorithms. Without motivated employees, who are the backbone of any successful venture, we would have been doomed to failure.
So put an office-wide ban on cheesy motivational posters and stick with these three alternatives instead:
Employee Motivation Tip #1: Show your employees the value they bring to the company employee motivation.
Have you received a great compliment from a customer or partner? Share it with the whole office. Celebrate achievements large and small, for employee appreciation is one of the best motivators you can ask for. Communicate your company vision and core values clearly, and make sure each employee knows just how important he is to the success machine. Show employees the companies you want to emulate, as it’s easy to relate to the hard work and dedication of other teams following your same trajectory.
Employee Motivation Tip #2: Genuinely embrace the work/life balance.
Lately, companies have been going overboard in offering perks simply for the sake of attracting employees – in-office yoga, video game rooms, karaoke machines, to name a few. These leaders may say they value a work/life balance, but offering too many in-office perks is really more about blurring the lines between work and life than balancing it.
Give your employees time to fully separate themselves from work so they can focus on doing what fulfills them personally. This is why we kick everyone out of the office at the end of the day so they can take up a new hobby or spend time with friends and family. Having flexible work hours is great, as long as there are boundaries. When they come into work the next day having spent the morning or afternoon surfing, they’ll feel more energized and ready to go than they will have playing a video game for half an hour in the office.
Employee Motivation Tip #3: Lead from the floor, not from your office.
Open-door policies are nice, but instead of making your employees come to you, try going to them. Make them feel like you’re part of their team by taking an active interest in their lives instead of waiting to simply see the results of their work. Yes, we’re all extremely busy with the responsibilities that come with owning or running a business, but if you can’t take the time to get to know your employees better, then you’re ignoring a primary driver of your success.
The more your employees get to know you, the stronger the connection they’ll feel to what you’re trying to do from a business perspective. You also need to be straightforward and honest with them. Don’t sugarcoat your feedback if they are not performing up to par, but talk to each of them like the person they are.
Now that you’ve taken down and burned all your motivational posters, you have to do something about those bare walls. Host a company-wide graffiti contest or hire a local artist to paint murals that depict the company mission or target customers and your business community. You can even put up new customer testimonials when they come in. Just leave out the sappy messages.
