A Dozen Ideas to Motivate the Troops and Create a Better Working Environment:
- Reward good performance to encourage repeat performance. Think what happens when you acknowledge and reward or praise a child’s performance.
- Ensure all employees know exactly what is expected of them. Clearly defined roles, duties and lists of scheduled tasks creates a positive atmosphere and a continuous striving to achieve.
- A disciplined working environment is a positive working environment conducive to achieving results. Think of the armed forces. Discipline in business, however, means order and control, which is not the same as authoritarianism.
- Ensure that all staff have the necessary tools and equipment available so that they can perform well.
- Give each employee the opportunity every day to perform the duties that they are best at and enjoy the most.
- Ensure that each member of staff receives regular recognition or praise for work that has been done well. Regular means on a daily basis or, at the very least, weekly.
- Employee progress reviews (one on one) should be conducted at least once a year (preferably twice) with particular emphasis given on enhancing employee self-esteem not depleting it. Keep employees in the know with regards to the future, e.g. possible promotion, transfer, pay rises, new training programmes etc.
- Staff members should have regular opportunities to learn and grow through new training. There must also be regular and on-going mentoring/coaching sessions from a superior.
- Encourage employee suggestions and dialogue. Get them involved and let them know their opinion counts by taking the necessary action.
- Corporate entertainment and social events, whilst costly, are a great way of motivating the troops and creating a happier, more open and thus better working environment.
- Brain storm ideas to create a better working environment.
- It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.
Ideas from a Spring Harvest recording – 1999, At Work Together – Jill Garrett from Gallup