Motivational techniques to improve employee morale

When you foresee success in your company, you can always trace it  back to  motivated employees. Happy employees gain victory for your company.

Unfortunately, we do not have any defined standards and concepts to motivate employees. We do not have any secret formulae, rocket science calculations, or any questionnaire to populate the answers. One employee may be motivated by the rewards in terms of money; another may be satisfied by the recognition.

Today, attrition coupled with the fear of losing top performers is the major concern of any IT company . Offlate the prevailing  approach of many IT companies to retain its employees is  to woo them by organizing outbound team building activities, team lunch and dinner at the city’s most coveted  restaurants .and last but not the least is throw lavish pay packages  in the name of appraisals.

We can boil down the employee motivation by finding what is needed and means of providing it. Studies have proved that, it is cost effective and better to retain the experienced employee than recruiting a new employee. As my observations goes, the companies are spending a lot of time on recruiting new heads instead of caring for the existing ones.

An employee decides to quit a company when he/she feels betrayed and their voice is neither heard or respected, and when the sense of belonging with the company ceases to exist.

Certain motivational techniques are:

Open communication

Just lay all the cards on the table. Share the pros and cons of the game (i.e.  Share the success and failure of the project) so that the employees feel connected to the company. By sharing the current status of the company, an employee is given the opportunity to analyze the situation and react accordingly. This germinates the sense of oneness in the employees.

Introduce them to the game

Never be a dictator. Never surprise your employees with your decision, but let them be a part of the decision. This motivates them since you are giving them the real picture of the company/project.

Connect the gap between the dots

Make the employees feel, how their contribution matters. Once the employee feels that his work reinforces the company’s efforts in building the customer satisfaction the mercury level of the motivation hits the boiling point.

Delegate responsibility

I see people fearing to delegate task with the fear of losing control over the employee. Break the ice, delegate the task effectively, coach them if necessary and remove the roadblocks from the path. This brings the winning culture in the company and the employee feels motivated. 

Retrospect and introspect

Retrospection sets higher standards and introspection fine-tunes skill set.

Are you encouraging your employees?

Customers and deadlines are your blue-eyed babies! Aren’t the employees???

You care your project and company; do you care your employee?

Have you heard the voice of your employee and have you stood by them when needed? (Hardship, personal problems, and career aspirations)

Are the drums hit or do you hear its cry???Is there a two way communication or just one way communication?

If the answers to all or some of the above questions are a big NO, then come-on wake up, change yourself right now. You will see a beautiful big smile on your employees’ face.

Treat others the way you like to be treated. Yes this is the golden adage. See your company ascending.

Lead the team by example that exemplifies your positive attitude.