Resolutions, Motivation, and Employee Engagement!
As we all start off the new year, I am sure we all have good intentions of doing things
differently. While in our personal lives these resolutions may be related to health, fitness,
family or travel, in our business lives many of us have goals of things like business
growth, and employee engagement. The two of these tend to go hand-in-hand. In fact, a
study conducted by University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School found
that organizations with above average employee engagement, garnered 2.3 times more
revenue growth over a three-year period than companies with average employee
engagement.
You may be thinking, “This all sounds great in theory, but HOW do I increase employee
engagement?” That is a great question, because without out some sort of plan, goals or
resolutions (no matter how well our intentions), can swiftly fall to the wayside.
Upon some research of successful habits of companies that have high employee
engagement, here are the top 6 that seem to be common factors.
1.) Hold motivational meetings-While this may seem like I’m recommending to gather
staff for pep talks and reading off motivational quotes, alas, that is not what I mean
(although some quotes could be fun and helpful!). Rather, I am referring to getting your
staff together and reviewing as a group what were some wins for each staff member, and
what were some losses.
The wins help boost morale and make people feel good about their accomplishments.
Sharing what they may have struggled with opens the floor for some valuable feedback
from co-workers who may have a solution for the same exact struggle. This helps the
person who was struggling, and also makes the co-worker with the solution feel helpful
and valuable.
2.) Get input on business decisions- If you notice a bottleneck (an area where things
may be getting jammed up) in your business, and have a possible solution, run that
solution by your staff. For example, maybe you notice a spike in clients asking for a rush
on orders; you might say to your staff, “Hey, I have noticed we have had a surge in
people asking for us to rush their orders, and this puts extra stress on us. What do you
guys think about adding in a rush order fee for these requests?”
Asking employees input lets them know you value their opinion, and as a double-win in
this instance, it also shows you recognize that these requests require extra effort on their
part.
3.) Find reasons to celebrate together- Whether it be birthdays, holidays, etc.—find
reasons to celebrate with your team. It can be as simple as having cake in the break
room on people’s birthdays. If you want to solidify that bound outside the office, you can
do happy hour events or team dinners. If meeting outside the office might be more of a
struggle, you could also do a staff breakfast. You can just have coffee, muffins, scones
and things of that nature available. Perhaps see if staff would want to meet 30 minutes
prior to work so everyone can hang out and eat together. Or if that is difficult due to
schedules with child drop-off and such, you could offer up the first 30 minutes of the
work day for this if it isn’t something you do all the time.
The more reasons you can find to have your team talking and bonding, the happier they
will be.
Happy people=productive people.
4.) Run goal related contest-Every business has certain goals they want to meet.
However, some companies may tell their staff what targets they’re trying to reach, but
then pretty much leave it at that. They might check in to see where everyone is on
reaching their targets, but this doesn’t give a ton of motivation for them to reach them.
Even if there is an extra commission available for reaching that target, numerous studies
have shown that monetary rewards don’t always work.
Instead, it tends to work better if it is an experience related prize. Some things you could
consider would be taking staff to lunch, buying a pair of concert tickets, or a spa
treatment. The trick to these is to know what types of things your team values, and offer
these up as prizes. Which leads me to our next suggestion…
5.) Implement surveys-I don’t mean this in a traditional sense; such as, “What don’t you
like?” The type of survey I am referring to has more to do with goal related contest and
celebrations. Such as:
What types of things would you be most excited to receive as an incentive to help the
company reach its targets?
What types of places/events would you enjoy for staff celebrations?
What’s your favorite type of food?
Who’s your favorite band?
I assure you taking the time to find these things out, and implement their use WILL help
your company’s bottom line. More than ever people want to feel valued and appreciated.
They can show up and just “earn a paycheck” anywhere.
6.) Provide growth opportunities-As an untraditional work “benefit”, provide growth
opportunities. This could mean continued education, or specific types of classes. Again,
this may be something you inquire about on your surveys.
What types of interests do they have?
What is their dream job?
The growth means growth of them as person, not merely making them better at the job
they perform day-to-day for you. Although, providing them opportunities to learn
something they have never had the time/money to invest in, or something that will help
them get to their bigger goal (even if that means losing them as an employee one day),
WILL absolutely increase employee engagement, loyalty and dedication.
So, what are your resolutions for motivating your staff this year? Even if you can’t afford
to implement all of these, pick one. Just start with that, and I bet when you see the
difference you will want to do more!
Side note: Come check out our warehouse for any furniture needs you have this new
year! Have something specific in mind? Call us at 314-266-9083!