Business growth is driven by the people who work to support you. It relies on engagement and commitment to your brand — but what can you do to nurture and boost employee motivation in your team?
According to Forbes, only around 15% of your team feels truly engaged at work.
These are people who invest in their work and stay committed to your organization because they feel fulfilled professionally, and are emotionally engaged with your long-term goals.
As for everyone else? The vast majority of your workforce might seem relatively satisfied in their roles, but don’t be naive. By not taking action, you’re doing a disservice to your team’s potential. In this article, we explore the following four ways you can transform your team into happy, motivated, and engaged brand advocates:
- Regular catch-ups and improved communication
- Setting goals and providing opportunities for progression
- Adapting your company benefits to be more people-centric
- Rewarding achievements and success
Although boosting engagement and motivation in your team won’t be easy, it’s certainly worthwhile to nurture your business’s organic growth. Let’s dig into how to make your employees feel more engaged and motivated to do their best work.
Regular catch-ups And Improved Communication
Developing a social and communicative work culture is an integral part of boosting employee engagement — but defining and harnessing this idea is easier said than done.
Without supporting communication, your team will struggle to find value in their work, which can often lead to operational inefficiencies and feelings of lethargy or demotivation.
Creating a good, communication-driven workplace culture is all about making your team more engaged in their role and more connected to the business as a whole.
What does this mean? Behind the jargon lies a simple message: make your team feel part of the family, rather than another cog in the corporate wheel.
Here are two ways to improve employee engagement through communication:
- Hold regular catch-ups and work socials. Catch-ups come in all shapes and sizes, from coffee mornings to challenging escape rooms, but all serve to bond your team and forge connections outside of the office. The key is to tailor your social events to the things your employees enjoy and avoid things they don’t.
- Encourage professional engagement through brand advocacy. You should provide the platform for your team to be your shop window. For example, tools like GaggleAMP refocus an employee's passion by encouraging them to be thought leaders and brand advocates on social media. This drives better marketing results and gives you a reason to acknowledge your team members for their efforts.
Regular catch-ups and improved professional communication allow your team to feel part of the family by forging friendships and sharing the credit for the business’ growth.
Setting Goals And Providing Opportunities For Progression
To better engage and motivate your team, you should create a coaching culture that promotes from within, rather than looking outside the company for new senior talent.
Without clear opportunities for personal development and progression, employee engagement dwindles because there is little upside to showing growth if your team cannot break through the ceiling.
But how can you create a better coaching culture that improves employee engagement? SMART goals (as outlined in this Smartsheet guide) are among the best strategies for providing training that leads to professional growth:
- Specific: focuses on the outcome your team want to achieve
- Measurable: sets a tangible target to hit
- Achievable: avoids putting too much pressure on a single individual
- Relevant: tailors the outcome to the business and its operation
- Time-bound: has a deadline for employees to aim for
Setting clear SMART goals breaks daunting projects down into manageable tasks, giving your employees more control over their work and future — this applies across the board, from wrestling with client work to achieving more nuanced professional goals.
Adapting Your Company Benefits To Be More People-Centric
While salary is an important consideration for many professionals, there is evidence to suggest the cash you’re paid isn’t an effective motivating factor. Instead, your business should look to offer more intrinsic, people-centric benefits that cater to your team’s needs, wants, and desires if you want to boost employee engagement throughout your company.
A people-first approach fosters loyalty amongst your team. With this in mind, here are two popular work benefits to consider when adapting your offering to be more people-centric:
- One course of action is to support travel and daily commutes. Traveling for work takes a physical and financial toll on your team, particularly when it comes to the price of fuel. Supporting travel costs is a great way to motivate your team by reducing the stress of getting to and from work — and according to iCompario, there are many tools available to control running costs like fuel for your business, which is an appealing trade-off for better employee engagement.
- Another option is to introduce flexible working hours. Now remote working seems to be around for the long haul, it’s important your business appreciates the pressures of home life and works to create a better balance. According to Flexjobs, introducing flexible working hours means fewer missed days of work, less employee turnover, and better career longevity.
Your company perks can motivate and engage your team so long as you get them right. Think about what your employees need and find a way you can lend a helping hand.
Rewarding achievements and success
Almost 70% of employees say they’d work harder and feel more motivated if they were better appreciated — so hard work and well-earned success should never go unrewarded in your business.
Think back to your SMART goals and think about how you can reward continuous and consistent effort. Here are some popular (and largely effective) ideas to get you started.
- Personal shout-outs during team stand-ups
- An employee of the month award
- Bonuses and commission schemes
Recognizing outstanding performances plays a vital role in boosting employee engagement. Not only does this recognition make the individual feel more valued, but it also sets an example and gives others something to aspire towards.
