Guest post by Joe Flanagan

Boosting employee morale doesn’t need to be complicated and as a leader, ownership of this responsibility belongs to you.

Given the extensive variety in personal and professional experiences, teamwork doesn’t necessarily occur naturally. A talented manager demonstrates strong leadership capability by identifying how to best incentivize individuals within their team. Providing an accurate combination of direction and motivation can mean the difference between leading a mediocre team or a high performing one.

Stakeholders

The contemporary practice of incentivizing staff by treating them as stakeholders is a method that has witnessed great success. Providing employees with incentive by issuing them a stake in the outcome is reason enough to forge such positive partnerships. Experience tells us that this arrangement results in greater return for the individual, as well as increased profits for the company. Formerly it was only high flying employees such as C-Suite executives that were granted stakeholder access. Given the monumental benefits of increased productivity, teamwork, profits and self-motivation, this practice is spreading like wildfire across organizations today.

It’s the little things

Celebrating professional accomplishments is important, but equally as important are celebrations that take place outside the office. Acknowledging important milestones such as birthdays and weddings provides a personal touch and encourages staff to feel respected. Taking time out to acknowledge significant events that happen outside of the workplace, as well as in-house accomplishments, will go a long way towards proving that you value your staff as more than simply workers.

Internal promotion

Promoting from within creates significant impact in relation to boosting employee morale. The recipient is recognized for outstanding work accomplishments, while their colleagues observe that internal promotion is real. When staff recognize practical scope for advancement exists within their own company they become more committed to working towards their own promotion rather than searching for external means to advance their career.

Internal promotion also encourages collaboration and team work among employees as they recognize that they’ll be working with the same faces long into the future. Regular succession planning will assist you to identify high performers and execute a strategy to incentivize them to achieve their personal and professional goals, while simultaneously striving to achieve the corporate goals of the company.

Inject Variety

Considering many staff spend more time at work than at home, identifying ways to mix up the work environment will go far to adding spice to their life. Avoid monotony creeping into work life by injecting variety into how things are done and the location where they are undertaken. This could include offering remote work a few days per week, including extra flexi-time for high performance or sending staff away to events that combine learning new skills, networking opportunities and a change of scenery.

Does your team meeting really need to be held in the board room every single week? Is there a way XYZ job could be completed more efficiently or effectively? Stale staff are as useful to you as two-day old bread. Therefore, if variety really is the spice of life, why not shake things up every now and then?

Questions: what are some interesting ways to inspire your staff to achieve individual goals? How do you improve morale on your team? Please  leave a comment in the space below.

 

Joe Flanagan is the Senior Consultant at Velvet Jobs, they provide outplacement services, a resume builder and job search facility. Joe also provides advice across the web to HR professionals and job seekers across a variety of industries.

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The Product Management Perspective: As the product leader, look for ways to increase the engagement and commitment of the teams you work with. Your influence will make a major difference in the ultimate outcome of the products you take to market.