As the owner of a small business, it’s hard to add motivating employees to your already too-full task list. But it’s really not time-consuming because you can build it into the tasks you’re already doing and also build it into your culture. Then you can have your supervisors, team leads, managers, and even your employees motivating and encouraging one another. It’s essential to build a culture to motivate employees to deliver better business results.
What Does a High-Performing Team Look Like?
Motivation and encouragement from team leads results in high performance. But before we dive into the steps managers should take to motivate employees, below are some characteristics of a high-performing team:
Shared Vision
High-performing teams also have the same vision. Each team member is focused on delivering the best results and solutions, and everyone works together to achieve the company objective. By sharing a unified sense of purpose, high-performing teams drive remarkable outcomes that drive profit.
Mutual Respect from Shared Values
At the heart of a team that performs well is a shared set of values that creates a bond, sense of unity, and respect. When team members can aspire to a set of shared values, they respect one another and leadership. Then the team works together to overcome obstacles to deliver the best results and achieve success as one entity.
Clear and Continuous Communication of the Vision and Values
Employees of high-performing teams, see and hear the vision and values daily. From signs in the breakroom and messages on home screens to open communication and the way management talks and treats them, employees regularly see examples of the vision and values at work. They get good feedback and they’re part of team collaboration efforts.
Engage Your Leaders
As the owner of a small business, it’s impossible to be the only one who encourages and motivates team members and expects increased productivity and high performance. That’s why it’s essential to build a leadership team where managers motivate employees to deliver better business results
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Steps to Motivate Employees to Deliver Better Business Results
To motivate employees, you and your leaders should first provide employees with clear, achievable goals, in other words, SMART goals, and establish a system of measurement to track their progress. A good goal setting process should help employees understand what’s expected of them, how they should go about achieving it, and how they’ll be evaluated against it. Without clearly defined objectives and a way to track them, team members can easily become unmotivated and unproductive.
Clear and Continue Communication of the Vision and Values
To drive high performance, leaders should clearly and relentlessly communicate the team’s vision and goals to make sure everyone is on the same page and working toward the same objectives.
Offer Continuous Feedback
Research shows that regular and specific feedback results in higher performance. Period. However, simply telling an employee they “did a great job” isn’t enough—feedback should be specific. Generic compliments are OK occasionally but you and team leads should frequently include specifics like, “that was a great use of organizational skills,” or “you presented your ideas on citations clearly and concisely.” Including specifics in your feedback helps employees feel their efforts are acknowledged and appreciated, which helps motivate them to continue to produce quality work.
Praise Publicly—and Correct Privately
When it comes to motivating employees, public praise sends a clear message that the employees’ work is noticed and appreciated but nobody likes to be corrected publicly. The only appropriate place to discuss performance-related issues or have a conversation about accountability is in a closed office setting.
Use Rewards for Motivation
To motivate employees, think outside the box and create a series of rewards throughout the year. Having a grand reward, say a big trip or a three-day getaway is great but small rewards can motivate employees too. By giving things like flowers, candy, a favorite treat, $15 gift certificates to a coffee shop or for a massage, you can motivate your employees. Some highly valued rewards don’t cost the company, like getting off work 2 hours early, coming in 2 hours later, or even an extra vacation day.
Make Your Purpose and Why Clear
In today’s competitive world, employees find it motivating to join a cause where they can make a meaningful contribution to something bigger than themselves. Connect your company to a charity related to what your company does, like the gym owner who donates new sports shoes to youth. At Inspire Results, we offer coaching at no cost for non-profits. When employees feel like they’re part of a larger mission, they’re more dedicated, passionate, and motivated.
Use Our Proven Coaching Methods to Build a High-Performing Team
Are you struggling to build a high-performing team? You’re not alone. Building an effective team that consistently produces high-quality results can be a daunting task. But with our help, we can do it together! At Inspire Results Business Coaching, we use proven coaching methods to help you build high-performing teams that deliver better business results. Using our SERVANT Whole-Business Model, we help you:
Create a current and future Organization Chart- Identify people’s strengths and create job descriptions
- Get people in the roles they’re best at
- Strengthen trust among team members
- Achieve team focus and effectively manage conflict
- Ensure clarity
- Create a culture of accountability
- Focus on collective outcomes and celebrate
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you motivate employees to deliver the results you want.
