5 Ways To Motivate People Towards Great Performance

Among the topmost challenges for leaders around the world is motivating employees. Despite billions of dollars being spent on culture and the Workforce Experience (Wx), more people are claiming that they are not motivated.

Low motivation translates into lower engagement and lower productivity. With only about 1 in 5 people engaged at work, low motivation costs the world trillions in lost revenue. Therefore, motivating people is a critical challenge for all people leaders.

Blaming yourself for not having the rallying effect that a war cry of ‘Spartans!’ from King Leonidas or a ‘Yes, we can’ from Barack Obama is easy. What is difficult is to create a clear and effective motivation strategy. But, by starting with the basics, you can lead your people towards being more motivated, productive, and purposeful:

1. Clarify expectations: Without knowing what is expected from them, people are unlikely to be motivated. Set clear, collaborative goals and ensure you define a communication frequency to provide support and take stock of progress.
2. Create psychological safety: Help people express ideas and opinions without fearing consequences. By creating a culture of open communication and freedom to fail, you can motivate people to achieve great things. Build flexible ways of working that help people to integrate their work with their personal lives.
3. Offer growth opportunities: People feel motivated when they get opportunities to develop – not only through promotions but also larger and more complex jobs. Create opportunities for them to learn new skills, take up new challenges, and explore ways to advance their careers. Training, mentorship, individual development plans, and succession initiatives create mutual gains for people and for your company.\
4. Provide feedback and recognition: People want to hear that their contributions are valued and respected, and make a difference. Share regular feedback that helps them improve and recognize efforts and behaviors that create value. Based on what people want, leverage 1:1 discussions, team meetings, or larger events to share recognition. Informal peer-to-peer recognition or spot recognition programs can be as effective as annual/quarterly events to recognize people.
5. Offer rewards: Bonuses and rewards can be effective motivators. They can take many shapes such as cash or gift cards, reimbursements, extra vacation time, or various other perks and benefits.

Ensure that the rewards you offer are meaningful and aligned with the goals and personal values that people have. 

Unlocking employee motivation is a powerful way to improve individual and company performance. Create a broad spectrum of motivational tools that align with what your people want and elevate the results you get. 

To chat in more detail about motivation, reach out to us at [email protected].

About the Author

Sumit Singla

Founder of eleventHR Consulting.

Sumit has been working in HR & HR consulting roles for 16+ years across sectors and verticals and specializes in organization design, wellbeing, storytelling & design thinking, and performance management. In his career with consulting firms such as Aon, Deloitte, and Accenture, he has successfully led programs aimed at total HR transformation for clients. Recently, as Associate Director for India Consulting at Deloitte, he worked with clients on cultural transformation and HR process and policy design. He also organized and spoke at conferences and events about a variety of topics relevant to HR today. Now self-employed, he works with clients across the globe on a variety of HR solution areas.

Howard Nizewitz 

Howard’s extensive expertise in compensation management comes with a 25-year track record of implementing strategic and successful compensation programs in the financial services and technology industries with a global and regional focus. His tenure includes positions at Barclays, Citigroup, and JPMorgan. Other areas of expertise include HR consulting, Deferred compensation, incentive plan design, and talent management. If you want to learn more, please contact Howard at [email protected] or schedule a free consultation on the compteam.net website.