Four Ways to Motivate Talent during Challenging Times

No matter the current state of the economy, your organization must continue to grow and move forward to survive. That depends on building an effective, highly motivated team. How can you keep performance strong when your organization is constantly buffeted by outside influences? Consider these four motivation strategies.

Build a Performance-Based Culture

Clear expectations and metrics give employees an accurate vision of what is expected of them. If you keep your staff focused on achieving specific goals, they are less likely to be distracted by external challenges. Offering quantifiable, realistic objectives and providing consistent feedback show team members when they are performing up to par. Where possible, encourage healthy competition among your team to further drive performance. Many employees are motivated by measuring themselves against their peers.

Solicit Feedback

You won’t know they best ways to motivate your workforce until you ask the people who work for you. Don’t waste time and resources on motivational tactics that may not work for your staff. It’s easy to quickly adopt a program that worked for a colleague or is featured in a business publication, but in a real life application, it’s critical to find out what your team needs most to succeed.

Create a Positive Workplace

In challenging times, knowing that they are coming to a positive workplace every day can keep employees motivated. Treat your people with respect, act with and reward integrity and create a team-based atmosphere where everyone works toward a common goal. When budgets are tight, it can be tough to come up with rewards to help motivate your staff, but make the effort to come up with inexpensive perks. Order lunch for the team; allow occasional jeans days or offer comp time to make up for overtime hours.

Ongoing Training and Education

A training program or reimbursing outside education will help your employees see that you care about their futures – and assure them that they have one with the company. The better educated and trained they are the more value they bring to your organization and the longer they are likely to stay. Create a clear promotional path for those who would like to advance their career within your company, so that they don’t need to go elsewhere to make the most of what they have learned.

The executive search consultants at BrainWorks can help you develop strategies that value and recognize your team’s contributions, increase retention and recruit highly motivated people for your team. To learn more contact us today.