When it comes to the office, most people have the attitude: I just have to be here; I don’t want to be here. That negative attitude is clearly going to impact the quality of work that comes out of the office. You can’t make people who feel that way perform to their highest levels. The good news is there are ways to improve workplace motivation and to prevent this type of problem. Here are a few strategies:
Give Sincere Feedback
Too often, workplaces are sources of useless or nonexistent feedback. At one extreme, you may have a boss who demands a lot but offers no praise or commentary for a job well done. At the other end, you may have a boss who always says everything is wonderful and makes no distinction between quality work and drivel. Neither extreme is going to be effective workplace motivation.
Good feedback is sincere. When you see someone go above and beyond your expectations, you let them know. When someone provides excellent work, you tell them out. On the other hand, you also have to give constructive criticism from time to time. No one is going to be perfect and ignoring errors doesn’t make them work better it just makes them work oblivious to their errors.
Appreciate the Effort
No one wants to push themselves for a boss who doesn’t care. If you demand that your employees stay late to meet a deadline or come in on the weekends, let them know you appreciate their commitment to the company and to you. You might even want to order out for pizza or bring in doughnuts as a token of your gratitude. And don’t forget to show appreciation for things individual employees do as well. Knowing you care about what the staff is doing will improve workplace motivation enormously.
Model Behavior
Have you ever worked in an office that supposedly valued punctuality but the boss or the higher level managers always came into work whenever the mood struck? If so, you know the horrendous effect this behavior has on workplace motivation. Double standards in the office are rarely going to be praised by the rest of the staff. If you want your staff to act a certain way or live up to specific expectations, you need to model what you want. That’s the only way you’re going to get it.
Care about Others
The easiest way to improve workplace motivation is to legitimately care about your employees. If you just think of them as nameless faces slaving away under your command, chances are they’ve already picked up on your attitude and don’t care much for doing what you want. But when you do know their names, remember their birthdays, ask about specific projects they’re working on, and even say cheesy lines like “Say hi to Bob and the kids for me” at the end of the day, you will be improving their motivation.
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