"10 Sure Tips for Motivating Employees"
By Bill Howatt

One fact that all companies are learning is that in the good and bad times, in the profitable and lean times, one consistent factor is they will always need motivated and productive employees, based on the current economic models that business exist by today. The purpose of this brief is to provide a few tips that I would like to suggest are best practices for motivating employees. These are the kinds of behaviors a company can do to increase the TRUST FACTOR in their employees. Money, bonuses, picnics, t-shirts, etc. only get you so far; to get over the top, consider some of these tips. They take time and effort, though what doesn't? The outcome will be you will have more productive, happier, healthier employees.

Ten Tips

1. Three helpful communication considerations for leaders:
   a) Employees must know they can talk with their direct report without fearing intimidation;
   b) Employees must perceive that their leaders will listen and respect their input;
   c) Employees must see that some of their communication is acted on.
2. Employees must see the company is interested in their personal and professional development. Companies are looking more at overt training (e.g., keyboard skills, technical kinds of courses) and covert (e.g., life management training, knowing that the employee who is balanced at home has a better chance not to take life to work).
3. The employee knows that there are clear rules and expectations that all employees are treated firmly, fairly, and consistently.
4. Variety is important to employees. Employees for the most part like to have different duties, and are not stagnated into dead-end repetition, with no perceived opportunity to do different tasks and jobs.
5. The employee is connected to the relevance of what they do. They are able to see their role in the big picture, and can associate the pride factor and meaningfulness of what they do for the employer. So they feel a sense of ownership vs. entitlement.
6. The employee has as much control over the job as possible. For example, they can set their own hours and make decisions. The bottom line is the employee needs to feel they are making decisions so that they can feel more accountable for what they are doing. Employers in some cases will need to be creative in how they help employees get some sense of this tip.
7. The employee perceives that they have supportive relationships with their direct reports and superiors. They see the organization as a team, not an us vs. them place of work.
8. The employee perceives they are involved in a useful feedback system, and that the employer follows through on employee planning and development. Feedback needs to be meaningful and authentic; it cannot be looked at as an exercise or drill.
9. The employee is a part of the planning process yearly for the company's vision, goals, and expectations for performance. Each employee must believe that they are a part of the process to reduce the number of disconnects, and to keep the organization alive and vibrant.
10. The organization has leadership succession plans in action to develop as much talent from within to increase the Loyalty Factor -- strategies such as: leadership development for as many employees as possible, mentoring programs, internal and external coaches. The goal is to create a learning leadership organization of highly motivated and productive people.