| Motivating your employees is key to the success of | | | | enhance or enrich specific roles/positions to capitalize |
| your company. Here are seven ways you can | | | | on this untapped potential and increase opportunities |
| effectively increase your employees' motivation - | | | | for challenge and variety. |
| starting today! | | | | 4. Identify what employees find fulfilling.Ask them about |
| 1. Ask each of your employees for what and how | | | | their ideal workplace or job - they will typically describe |
| they'd like to recognized. Do they want to be | | | | an image that taps into their intrinsic motivation. Help |
| recognized for the quality of their work or the | | | | them find ways to build elements of their ideal into their |
| quantity? For the way in which they do their work | | | | current job. |
| (cheerfully, efficiently, innovatively)? Do they want to | | | | 5. Review organization policies and practices. |
| be recognized individually or as part of a group? | | | | Determine if your organization enhances or inhibits |
| Publicly or privately? Look for opportunities to boost | | | | employee motivation. What outcomes do employees |
| motivation by providing the recognition that each | | | | receive? Do they value these outcomes? Do these |
| individual is seeking. For many people, a simple "thank | | | | outcomes encourage employees to put forth greater |
| you" in the form of a note on their desk or a voice-mail | | | | or lesser effort? Adjust practices, policies, and/or |
| message will go much farther than a monetary | | | | outcomes as appropriate to positively impact |
| reward. | | | | employee motivation. |
| 2. Evaluate the roles/jobs in your organization. Do they | | | | 6. Define expectations. Work with your employees to |
| involve a variety of challenging opportunities or have | | | | establish clear, measurable goals for their roles/tasks. |
| they been distilled into boring, repetitive tasks? Take | | | | Link these goals to the overall objectives of the |
| advantage of opportunities to expand or enrich jobs | | | | organization and ensure that feedback is available to |
| roles to increase variety, autonomy or decision-making | | | | help employees track their progress toward their goals. |
| authority. | | | | © 2008 Timothy I. Thomas |
| 3. Seek untapped resources. Ask your employees | | | | You have my permission to reprint and distribute this |
| what skills/interests they possess that they are not | | | | article as long as it is distributed in its entirety, including |
| currently using on the job and/or what skills/interests | | | | all links and copyright information. This article is not to |
| they would like to develop on the job. Look for ways | | | | be sold or included with anything that is sold. |