Motivate the non-motivated

How can you motivate those who cannot be motivated? It is possible! Find out below…

By Becky Mee

You could have the most amazing highly skilled team on this planet but if they are not motivated you will get nothing from them. Keeping the whole team motivated isn’t easy and once one person is demotivated it can easily spread and before you know it, you have a whole team that is unhappy, negative and demotivated.

Here’s a few ideas to keep people motivated:

Talk to them

Talk to them on a regular basis and not just at their annual appraisal. Find out what issues and concerns they may have, what they would like to see improved, what they do and don’t like in the organisation. This then can give you an idea of what needs to improve and what makes people motivated. Ideally this will be on a 1 and 1 basis as people may not speak out as freely if it’s with the whole team. Anonymous feed back is also very good as people will be more open about their concerns. You could arrange an anonymous questionnaire! If more than one person has the same concern you know you need to work on it fast.

Action the feedback

If you have asked for feedback make sure it has been listened to and improve what you can. No one wants to give feedback to find nothing ever gets done about it and a year later you are asking for feed back again! People just won’t bother the next time.

Communicate changes

Communicate the feedback and let them know what’s changing and improving. If something can’t be changed then let them know why.  It’s so important that you communicate with your team as much as possible on this. By communicating you are making people feel valued. I hear time and time again that changes have been implemented but no one has communicated with the people who it actually affects. This can really make people feel devalued. Communicate is key or even better get them involved if you can. You might find an even better solution!    

Set goals

Its important to have appraisals and 1– 2 -1s. This helps each member of staff to work towards key goals for them personally, but also aligns them with the goals for the organisation.  This helps to manage expectations for both the manager and the member of staff.    

Support

Make sure you door is always open. For work problems and personal problems let you staff know that they can come to you in difficult times, it’s important that you know what’s going on with your staff. You may find that someone is struggling and if you know what’s going on you can help them. If you support your staff in times of need, staff will support you in times of need. It works both ways!

Offer opportunities

Your business maybe too small to offer promotion, but think about how training may be an option for staff. Offer your staff the chance to be an expert in their field and to improve and build on the skills they already have. It doesn’t always have to be about promotion or more money.

Providing a lovely place to work

It doesn’t have to cost a lot. Nice touches such as a fruit bowl, a sweet jar or free tea and coffee goes a long way! A place for your staff to relax or a place to play games on their lunch break and just a nice clean area to work in helps to keep your staff coming back. 

Reward people

Rewarding doesn’t have to be about pay rises and bonuses although it is nice! Extra holidays, long service awards, thank you’s and awards are just a number of ways to keep the team motivated, valued and know they are doing a good job. Get the whole team involved and find out who they think deserves a reward or who has the gone the extra mile.