FIONA MACINTOSH: What motivates your employees?
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Motivation is a tricky thing - it affects all aspects of our lives and low motivation can have a negative impact not just at work but in our personal lives too. But it can be hard for employers to recognise what motivates their teams, especially when everyone has very different needs and goals.
Let’s be clear - when I talk about motivation I’m not referring to a showy spectacle on stage from a fired-up speaker provoking a wonderful rush of inspiration. Yes, it’s good to feel inspired. But the truth is, motivation isn’t a one-off event - it’s an ongoing process. Because the “synthetic” inspiration that comes from another person is manufactured from the outside, it simply can’t last when the source of that inspiration is gone. It must come from within us.
If we truly want to impact employee motivation and wellbeing in the workplace with lasting results that stay with us longer than the walk from the auditorium to the car park - we need to understand more about what motivates the individuals in our teams and how this is different for each person.
However, many of us don’t really know what motivates us, never mind what motivates each of our employees. Sometimes the things that we think are key motivators - pay packet, promotion or a good pat on the back, are not what really fuel our enthusiasm or drive our actions.
And everyone is different. You might be highly motivated by meaning and purpose and making a difference, blended with collaboration and belonging, whereas someone else might be more interested in the profit margins and meeting targets. How might these different motivations impact your relationship? How can they be harnessed to work in balance and complement one another?
When individual motivators are not being met it leads to lowered expectations, lack of business and personal growth and ultimately burnout. However, when a team is highly motivated, you get engagement, loyalty and maximum performance.
That’s why exploring motivational mapping is so important - it allows employers to assess their teams holistically and discover what truly motivates them. Understanding and appreciating why they want to do a particular thing or why they behave in a particular way.
Motivational mapping is a powerful tool that helps managers and leaders identify what drives their employees in the workplace. It will help you understand which factors motivate your team members to perform. It also provides insight into how you can use those motivators to create a productive environment of wellbeing where everyone thrives with reward strategies that actually work. They make our invisible drivers, visible and quantifiable.
If you want to boost sustainable employee motivation and improve workplace wellbeing here are some simple steps that can have a big impact within your organisation…
4 STEPS TO HELP IMPROVE MOTIVATION IN THE WORKPLACE:
1. Understand what is it that truly makes people tick - Most people are unable to accurately identify their top motivators. However, when presented with the Motivational Maps results, they immediately recognise themselves in the profile and start to understand why they do the things they do.
2. Recognise that what motivates you, may not motivate others - Different people have different things that motivate them. It is important to understand their motivators and provide a nurturing environment where those needs can be met for them to perform at their best.
3. Help your team understand and appreciate themselves and each other better - This will enhance teamwork, develop collaboration and help them learn how to feed their own motivators to improve their wellbeing and happiness.
4. Motivational Mapping - Discover what it is that really drives each individual in your team. Learn how to feed people’s drivers with targeted incentives, rewards and recognition to boost performance and productivity.
Understanding what motivates you and your employees is paramount to positive workplace wellbeing and the success of an organisation. It improves working relationships and productivity, enhances appraisal processes, employee recruitment and retention, and supports change management.
It goes deeper than mere inspiration and it’s more than motivation - it’s the driving force behind our behaviour and the thing that makes us jump out of bed and go to work each day with a sense of purpose.
I have some FREE Motivational Maps to give away to 5 lucky readers. Please email fiona@ morethanmotivation.co.uk by March 31, explaining how Motivational Maps could help your business, for your chance to win.
■ Fiona Macintosh is a professional member of the International Stress Management Association, holds a CPCAB-accredited Level 5 Diploma in Mental Health & Wellbeing Awareness and is a Licensed Practitioner of Motivational Maps. Fiona can help you develop a wellbeing strategy, undertake stress risk assessments to protect your workforce and provide team and leadership development for your organisation to maximise performance.
www.morethanmotivation.co.uk | fiona@morethanmotivation.co.uk
