The Best Ways To Motivate Employees And Get Results
Employees are motivated by different things and having a clear understanding of what drives each person on the team is critical. When I was an operator in the Navy SEAL teams, the motivation was clear. To purge the world of our nation's enemies. Having a deep belief in the mission and being blessed to be part of that unique brotherhood was all we needed. When I became an entrepreneur and business leader, however, I had to quickly learn how to balance the motivations of a diverse team. I have my own opinions on the best ways to motivate employees to achieve the best results, but I also wanted to explore the opinions of other senior business leaders. Here is what they had to say.
“To build personal accountability for each employee in the team to achieve the goal set out before them. We win as a team and we lose as a team, just like in sports. Set up a reward that will be shared by the entire team if the goal is met, rather than just management.”
Nick Shirk, COO at SomethingGreek.com
“All people are different and people are motivated by different things. The first step to effectively motivating your team is to gain a deep understanding about each person on your team. Find out what makes them tick - what makes them feel good about their work. Leverage your findings to create a strategy to keep each individual member of your team motivated to do great work.”
Brandon Lewis, President of Lewis Revenue Group
"Give them what they want. If they want more money, give them more money. If they want more time, give them more time. And if they want more credit, then give them credit. It's basic. You have to give people what they want to extract what you need. But, make sure you don't give anyone more than what they're worth. It's important to balance the numbers to stay in the profit zone."
Sean Azari, CEO at Breakthrough Social
"It's easier said than done, because you have more than one individual to motivate. The best way is to stick to your role of a leader or manager, show authority and try to reduce conflict. But that's possible only when you know the cause of conflict, which may be due to demotivation. Find out the reason and you're good to go. At times employees are demotivated only because nobody is trying to motivate them. So be that positive figure and you'll see good results.”
Pauli Mosser, CEO at Vippin Urkka
“Love your staff and respect them first as people understanding that work is just one key part of their life's journey. Identify and encourage their key strengths and gifts and give them roles, responsibilities and opportunities that require them to draw on those strengths to be successful. Understand what motivates them knowing that each person's motivations are unique and dynamic, depending on their stage in life.”
Rob Boegheim, Managing Director & Chief Explorer at Hema Maps
“The most effective motivation occurs when the team understands and accepts the mission and goals of the organization. Motivation begins with hiring talented individuals who believe in the company. It then continues when those individuals are allowed to exercise their talents and creativity freely with full support of management."
Kathleen Marsh, CEO and Co-Founder of Musicnotes.com
“The most effective way to motivate a team is primarily by having strong leadership. A strong leader will set clear goals for the team (so everyone knows what they're working towards) and empower the individuals (so they can get on with their job). Showing appreciation also motivates the team to want to perform well again, next time.”
Daniel Fisher, Gold Dealer and CEO of Physical Gold
“Your team will be highly motivated to perform if you make them feel appreciated. Internal motivation is more powerful than external motivation. External rewards have their place, though nothing is more motivating to a team member than feeling appreciated by their team leaders and management.”
Aric Shelko, CEO of BatteryClerk
“One of the most effective ways to motivate a team is to make sure everyone is in a position where their strengths and talents are being utilized. When people do work in an area where they excel, they are naturally motivated to do good work."
Rahul Ithape, Founder and CEO of Nakshi
The commonalities in the feedback I received are clear. Great leaders understand that it all starts with defining a clear mission and designing a culture that supports that objective. The SEAL community is extremely selective and protects the culture at all costs. Good companies do the same thing. Once the mission and purpose has been well-defined, leaders must then take care in selecting the right people who share similar values and believe in the mission.
Then, empowering the team and giving them the autonomy to make decisions is critical. This gives them a sense of ownership and connects them to accomplishing the mission. When employees feel connected they will give more of their time, talents and energy towards meeting or exceeding the goals of the organization. And when they feel connected to the cause, this leads to greater self-discipline, insight, collaboration and taking collective action towards common goals.
Rewards and recognition are also part of the motivation formula. In the SEAL teams, accomplishing the mission and getting a small paycheck was the reward. There were no pats on the back. That approach doesn't work out here in the civilian world! Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards must be a part of the program. Intrinsic rewards include things like growth, professional development and a sense of accomplishment. Extrinsic rewards include bonuses and public recognition. Keep in mind that rewards must be values-driven so that the team can easily connect the dots between performance and the organizational culture.
Every team and individual are uniquely different. Find he best formula that works and be consistent. Inconsistency in the motivation model can crush morale. Often times, managers and leaders will either keep rewarding the same people because they are top performers, or even worse, ignore them because they feel the person is already motivated enough. Everyone on the team needs motivation.