How To Motivate Your Employees

One of the hardest things to do as a manager is convincing the lazy to work hard. Many managers resort to threats and disciplinary action only to see little to no results. This Gestapo management style will not serve you well in the long run. The short term results you may see will be overrun by an aura of discontent around your employees. If you want to truly motivate your employees, it will take a delicate balance of caring, consistency, and consequence.

Caring

Your employees need to know that you care for them. This can be a tricky task to accomplish. Many people are skeptical of any good willed gestures towards them. You can’t just approach your employees and tell them how much you care. No one will buy it. You can prove to your people that you care by building relationships with them over the course of months, or years. Work doesn’t always have to be about work. Talk to them about their life, family, or weekend and you will earn loyalty from your employees. Just make sure you aren’t too invasive with you questions. People like to talk about themselves, but you shouldn’t get too personal. If you can gain their loyalty and trust, they will be motivated to work hard for you.

Consistency

There should be one set of rules for everyone. No one person is special from the rest. The second you show favoritism in any regard, you will lose the loyalty you spent so much time developing. Treat everyone the same. If you talk to someone about their day, talk to everyone about their day. If you discipline someone for being tardy, you should use this rule for everyone who is tardy. Make sure that you have a set of rules that everyone needs to follow with no exceptions. You cannot motivate your employees through inconsistency.

Consequence

Consequence is rarely used in its proper capacity. It is either overused or underused, but rarely used properly. If you overuse consequence, it will lose its meaning. People won’t fear being consequence because it happens all the time. If it is underused, your employees will step outside your guidelines too often. It will be much harder to motivate your employees if they feel that they can get away with anything. Proper use of consequence will lead to a motivated and disciplined workforce.

There are many other ways to motivate your employees, but to have a long term motivated workforce you need to develop a management style that will support it. Bonuses and performance contests are always good, but if you don’t have the management style to back them up the results you achieve will be short lived.

By Christopher Lawerence

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