Navigating the challenges posed by Covid-19 throughout 2020 hasn’t been easy for anyone, so successfully motivating your employees for the new year is the key to achieving goals and targets in 2021.
Research shows motivated employees are proactive and look for new solutions to overcome challenges and achieve goals. They are able to evaluate their own work and don’t need to wait for feedback.
This in turn creates more engagement and greater productivity. In fact, companies whose employees describe themselves as feeling motivated are on average 43% more productive, according to research by Hay Group. They have a greater ability to understand the company’s goals and how their role contributes to the overall success of the business.
Setting goals
The question is, how exactly should you prepare for the months ahead? The first step, as a manager, is to organise goals and targets to fulfil over the next few months.
Given the current economic climate and the continued uncertainty over the coronavirus, you must set goals that are realistic. Setting targets that are unachievable will lower morale, not boost it!
Every team leader wants their team to be firing on all cylinders, so the first meeting of the New Year is incredibly important – it’s the ideal time to motivate everyone for the year to come.
Improving motivation
After the year we’ve had, with so little human interaction possible and teams working remotely, its more important than ever to motivate staff and let them know how valued they are.
Aim to encourage everyone to feel more enthusiastic and invite them to come up with new ideas, even a bad idea can be helpful if it gets your team talking and leads to other ideas.
What incentives can you use?
Popular means of improving motivation include incentives such as an employee of the month award, promotions and bonuses. Giving an award for the best performance will encourage the team to strive hard to do their tasks in the best ways.
If you head a sales team; the person with the highest sales figure, the most satisfied customers, or the most useful networking activities has a chance of winning the award. The prize can be something simple, like a bottle of bubbly, or a gift voucher, with the winner announced at the start of the meeting.
Psychologists describe bonuses as an external stimulus to encourage the development of desired behaviours such as enhanced motivation, increased productivity and a stronger work ethic.
A study of 6,500 workers measured the hours of overtime they worked and the level of absenteeism. The research concluded that increasing the frequency of surprise bonuses to reward exceptional work improved employee effort significantly, leading to greater productivity and less absenteeism.
Keeping up enthusiasm
Once you have grabbed your team’s attention and increased their motivation, don’t let this slide as time goes by. In many cases, the first meeting of the New Year makes team members aware of the company’s vision and goals for the year ahead.
However, the problems begin if this is never repeated. Your vision for the company must be at the heart of everything you do – and your team needs to know this too. Don’t let it start to fade as the year progresses.
Whether you’re thinking up a new strategy or allocating tasks for a current project, the question on everyone’s lips should be, “How will this help the company to achieve its vision?
It seems simplistic, but research has shown one of the best ways to motivate employees is to work in a pleasant environment. We are all craving face to face contact once again so when the time comes for in-person meetings, booking a great venue will certainly help with that!
Understanding the concept of a motivational space means extending it to every part of the workplace and even beyond. Booking a meeting room where the team feels comfortable – and believes you’ve made an effort to meet their needs – can have a profound effect on their mood and motivation.
When you book a venue through our sister company &Meetings, you can rest assured all the relevant Covid-19 safety protocols are adhered to – we provide free automatic room upgrades to help with social distancing measures. As soon as restrictions allow; enjoy the convenience of booking your venue online and get 2021 off to the best start possible!
