5 keys for bosses to motivate employees

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5 keys for bosses to motivate employees
A manager must state work objectives, numbers needed, report deadlines and requirements and deliver a clear message to the employee.

Dubai - Feeling valued by their manager in the workplace is key to high employee motivation and morale

By Jaya Bhatia / Industry Insight

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Published: Wed 23 Nov 2016, 8:12 PM

Last updated: Wed 23 Nov 2016, 10:19 PM

Motivation comes from within, from a person's own psyche, the innermost recesses of the soul, secret desires and deep-rooted needs which push us towards satisfaction. But let's see what a manager can do to create an environment in which employees can feel motivated!
As a manager, you can make or break your employees' day. The choice is yours. You are the most powerful factor in your employee's motivation and morale boosting. By your words, your body language and the expression on your face, as a manager, supervisor or leader, you telegraph your opinion of their value to the people you employed.
Feeling valued by their manager in the workplace is key to high employee motivation and morale. Feeling valued ranks right up there for most employees along with liking of the work, competitive pay, opportunities for training and advancement and feeling "in" on the latest news. Building high employee motivation and morale is both challenging and yet supremely simple.
Set the tone for the day
Your arrival and the first moments you spend with staff each day have an immeasurable impact on positive employee motivation and morale. Start the day right. Smile. Walk tall and confidently. Walk around your workplace and greet people. Share the goals and expectations for the day. Let the staff know that today is going to be a great day. It starts with you. You can make their day.
Use motivational words
Gift your employees with your appreciation. The manager can motivate their employees by giving them the right message, appreciating them and using powerful motivational words to demonstrate their value. It is not so difficult to say "please" and "thank you" and "you're doing a good job." How often do you take the time to use these simple, powerful words, and others like them, in your interaction with staff? You can make their day.
Employees must know what you expect
The managers must state work objectives, numbers needed, report deadlines and requirements and a clear message must be delivered to the employee. Make sure you get feedback from the employee so you know he understands what you need. Share the goals and reasons for doing the task or project. If you must make a change midway through a task or project, tell the staff why the change is needed. 
Provide regular feedback
The employees would like to know when they have done a project well and when you are disappointed in their results. They need this information as soon as possible following the event. They need to work with you to make sure they produce a positive outcome the next time. Set up a daily or weekly schedule and make sure feedback happens. You'll be surprised how effective this tool can be in building employee motivation and morale.
Employees need rewards
Hand-in-hand with regular feedback, employees need rewards and recognition for positive contributions. They need a fair, consistently-administered disciplinary system when they fail to perform effectively. The motivation and morale of your best-contributing employees is at stake. Nothing hurts positive motivation and morale more quickly than unaddressed problems or problems addressed inconsistently.
A manager must learn how to create a corporate culture and supportive work environment. This is done through management excellence, a human approach, effective human resource strategies, positive discipline, fair and just treatment, clearly-defined policies, career and personal development training programmes, tools to facilitate communication, team assignments, reward programmes, adequate pay, benefits and company activities.
It is important for employees to know that management is aware of their existence, recognises them, remembers their names and greets them. Individuals and departments need to be thanked for hard work and special feats and be rewarded for contributions. Managers who encourage employees to use initiative and set higher challenges for themselves achieve more positive results than those who cause employees to compete with each other. Personal accomplishments at the expense of others defeat team work and negatively affect service to customers. 
Managers can win over an employee's loyalty and best-treating employees as partners by showing care, listening and sharing, which results in their motivation.
Can this be easily accomplished? When planned with sincerity and care, it most certainly can!
The writer is the HR advisor and career coach at www.jobhuntgulf.com. Views expressed are her own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.


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