Ways to Determine What Motivates Your Employees
Understanding what motivates your employees is critical to success. Make sure that you know what helps them do a better job and encourages them to stay. You also want them to feel that you care about them. Here are some ways to determine their motivation.
Ask them
The best way to know what motivates your employees is by asking them directly. Find out why they go to work each day and what makes them excited to go home. You can support your employees based on their responses.
Understand their culture
If you have a diverse set of employees, it helps if you understand their culture. You will know what matters most in their culture. You can also improve your leadership style to accommodate these cultural nuances.
Take employees out for dinner
You will get to know your employees better if you’re outside a formal working environment. You will also see their true characters. You don’t have to do it all the time. If there’s an opportunity, make sure you take them out for a meal and ask personal questions. Of course, they will only share they feel comfortable about. The point is you will know the employees more, and you wouldn’t normally have that conversation in an office setting.
Start a competition
Starting a competitive environment lets you see what your employees are made of. You will know what they’re willing to sacrifice to succeed. You will also see what they’re capable of doing. Of course, you don’t want an environment where everyone starts hating each other because it’s too tough to handle. You still want a friendly atmosphere, but competition makes things somewhat exciting.
Talk to other employees
You don’t have to start a conversation where other employees will look bad. The point of this conversation is to know other employees from the perspective of someone else. They might not be comfortable telling you what motivates them, but they’re open to it with their colleague. Hence, this conversation can go a long way.
Conduct a survey
You may also survey your employees about things related to work. Hosting this survey will also give you a glimpse about what excites everyone. You will also get a bigger picture before you delve into the individual differences of your employees.
Understanding your employees’ motivations is only the beginning. You will still go through a longer process once you know what makes them excited. The next step is to create changes at work to make it more suitable to the employees.
You should also change your leadership style to ensure your employees feel comfortable with how you manage them. They won’t see the need to cooperate with you if they dislike you. Sure, they will still do the job, but you can’t see their passion in doing it. These changes should gradually happen to improve the work environment.
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