To motivate their teams, companies are willing to throw traditional rules of personnel management overboard.
Pioneers such as Google, Apple and others created a corporate culture early on that attracts determined individuals. This succeeds with more motivation in the workplace. Apple uses it to motivate people to create extraordinary things, and the team subordinates individual goals. Even if other aspects can certainly be viewed critically.
SpaceX and Netflix have also recognized that only talented employees can contribute to motivation in the first place. They recruit only “A players.”
For all these successful companies, there is no doubt that motivated employees are the key to success. They ultimately drive up sales.
These are 6 points HR managers and P&C departments should pay attention to for higher employee motivation.
Corporate culture Boost motivation
The corporate culture is a synthesis of values and standards. You can feel them in the way we deal with each other.
A culture is motivating when clear expectations provide orientation.
It is true that the more deeply rooted the corporate culture and the more widespread it is in the organization, the stronger it is.
Not every corporate culture motivates the team to the same extent.
In fact, cultures are only perceived as motivating if they correspond to one’s own values and familiar patterns of orientation.
Companies with strong organizational cultures are in some ways comparable to political parties. There, too, people with the same values are grouped together, guided by the party’s history and demands.
Motivating organizational cultures do not form by themselves. But they also cannot be promulgated by superiors or created by consultants.
Rather, corporate culture is to be understood as a field that must be continuously cultivated in order to bear fruit later on.
Monetary reward
Financial recognition only contributes to motivation in the short term, but its effect should nevertheless not be underestimated.
It is essential that employees know exactly how to achieve monetary rewards, such as bonuses.
More important than high bonuses, however, remain development opportunities, personal challenges and a sense of fulfillment at work.
That’s why successful companies are increasingly turning to these forms of longer-term employee motivation.
Showing perspectives for more motivation at work
Committed supervisors show their employees what opportunities are open to them in the company.
They want to know how to make the best use of each individual’s skills and potential.
To do this, they need to start the dialogue and listen.
People who are put in the right place work more productively and are more satisfied.
For companies like Netflix, this also means parting with employees whose skills or goals are not (or no longer) in line with the company’s goals.
Encourage constructive feedback
SpaceX started with a team of comparatively inexperienced technicians. Initially, they had neither the infrastructure nor the budget of the competition.
If you need to move your team forward quickly, you need clear direction and an excellent work ethic.
Because when managers regularly provide constructive feedback, employees can also grow personally.
But it is the same the other way around. So feedback goes both ways.
Learning trust
The only rule to follow at Netflix is “Always act in Netflix’s best interest.” This creates freedom, but also requires meaningful goal setting.
Clearly formulated goals are the indispensable prerequisite for productive work. Without it, not only the motivation of the employees suffers, but also the success of the company.
The better employees know the business strategy, the more likely they are to implement it and thus contribute more to the achievement of goals.
In addition, trust in the team creates an extra shot of motivation. More freedom in the design and framework conditions of work leads to greater personal responsibility on the part of employees.
Show appreciation
Employees want to feel that they are an important part of the company. Explicitly expressed appreciation conveys this feeling.
In addition, successful companies create an environment in which employees are accountable for the planning, implementation and results of their work.
This generates appreciation for one’s own performance and creates incentives to constantly improve results.
Tools like teamecho help to always keep track of the team mood in those areas that are most important for employee motivation.
Relevant categories in measuring employee satisfaction include:
- Condition at work
- General Wellbeing & Health
- Work tasks
- Working conditions
- Organizational climate
- Identification with the company
Pure measurement, without deriving concrete measures from it, is of little use.
Every employee survey raises expectations, both among managers and employees. This makes it all the more important to communicate the results to all stakeholders in a timely manner.
Only then can they also be used to promote employee goals and employee development.
Want to dive deeper into the topic? Then check this:
Employee retention in 5 steps
Employees stay when they are emotionally committed. Learn here how it works.
TroGroup & teamecho
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