While there are many employee motivation plan accessible online, and you might use them as a starting point, don’t use them “as is.” An employee motivation plan is a personal plan customized for each individual employee. You’ll need a plan for each employee, and a plan to motivate the team as a whole. Motivational plans will take into account the identities and personality types of the employees to be motivated; the time available to implement the plan; and the resources available to implement the plan. Bottom line, create employee motivation plans that you can manage to; they don’t have to be complicated. But do invest time in developing the plans as you will find that they are well worth the effort.
Ensure your employee motivation plans, keep the following in mind and address them in the plans:
- The purpose – what are you trying to accomplish by motivating employees
- Expectations – what is specifically expected of each employee
- Competence – how can you create opportunities that challenge employees and keep them engaged and excited about the work
- Feedback – how will you provide feedback on performance that builds confidence and keeps employees motivated (what metrics are important)
- Support – what kind of support do employees need (this may look different from employee to employee based on their expertise, skills, time in the role, etc); what skills and knowledge do they need to succeed
- Rewards – what incentives and rewards can you provide employees
Now is a great time to begin to prepare how you’ll motivate and engage your employees in 2018.
Need to learn more about your employees in order to understand how to motivate them? Schedule one-on-one meetings with each of your employees. Use this time to ask them about:
- their goals
- aspirations for the future
- what they enjoy about work
- what they want to achieve
- what’s important to them
This knowledge will help you to understand how to motivate each of them individually based on what is important to them.
For example, an employee who wants to move ahead in the organization into a role with more responsibility would likely be motivated by challenging assignment that provide exposure and enables for new skill development.
If you have an employee who is obviously disengaged and unmotivated, probe further. During the one-on-one, bring up the conversation. Let the employee know that you have noticed that (s)he is not as engaged as in the past. Try to determine the root cause through a conversation with the employee. A root cause may not be with the employee. For example, let’s assume an employee took on an extra project that he was excited about doing. But, he did not have the tools, resources, and skills necessary to do the work. The project was not successful. This situation would serve to demotivate the individual.
Sometimes you just have to ask! If you can’t figure out what motivates an employee, ask them!
What’s your plan to develop employee motivation plans for 2018?
