How to keep your best team members engaged
Getting a job is a great thing, it gives a sense of achievement and responsibility. Imagine how you felt when you got that first job, the thought of earning something, and contributing to that organisation must have made you feel happy. There are a lot of reasons why people look for employment. Some do it just to gain that sense of achievement, some for the experience they hope to gain from the job, and some because of the attractive pay. As an employer, you will obviously have people in your organization who have various differing reasons for working, and it is your duty to harmonize the interests of these people to ensure optimal performance in the workplace. The main thing to do, is to keep these people motivated and challenged so that they do not feel redundant.
Ensuring people grow at work.
Growth is a constant; every idea, organization, and person must participate in this process, so it can be regarded as one that takes place when triggered by a person or idea. It could be negative or positive. In the physical sense of a person, growth is when you age and mature. In the abstract sense, growth is when you add to your knowledge and skills. When we talk about growing on the job, we are referring to the feeling of gaining new insights, skills and knowledge. At the office, it is important that your employees feel that they are growing. It is vital for you to ensure that whatever job they do helps them grow. There are a number of ways to prevent them from feeling redundant at the workplace.
The advantage of this growth is that they will be able to deliver the best possible results. The aim of any business or organization is to generate profit and achieve longevity, but the adverse effects of stagnant employees is that the aim of your organization will not be achieved.
As an employer, the development of employees depends on you, because you are in the best position to implement ideas that can help them grow. Introducing new management ideas is one thing that can be done to ensure employee growth. Employees could also be tagged in groups to share ideas, thereby increasing togetherness.
How to challenge your team
With a new challenge comes the need to develop new skills. If employees do not feel challenged at work, then there is every possibility that they will leave. If the mode of operation at your organization does not change from time to time, employees may become complacent, unchallenged and unmotivated. Unmotivated employees are bad for the health of your business.
How do you challenge your employees/team members?
First, you need to be aware of the changing nature of your business, i.e. the innovation taking place in your niche, so that you will be able to fashion a framework for your employees. For example, say your organization focuses on delivering goods to people. There is the recent innovation of drones in this industry, and it is your duty as an employer to ensure that your employees brainstorm ideas that will help your organization acquire a drone, and deliver goods at a faster pace than the competition. Brainstorming ideas and research strategies will challenge employees and keep them on guard. Challenging employees with regards to new innovation is a sure way of ensuring that your organization grows.
Another way to challenge your employees is to make sure their work is closely aligned to the overall objective of your company. People want their work to make a difference in the larger scheme of the company objectives. Making a difference via diligent work is of the utmost importance to people; that is why you need to know how best an employee can contribute to the company goals. The moment an employee knows how his work contributes to the strategic objectives of the company, he or she becomes challenged and this will lead to an elevated performance at work.
Thirdly, give employees more responsibility at work. Employees will feel challenged if you delegate more responsibility to them. You can give an employee an assignment along with the responsibility to see it through. That assignment will then be owned by the employee. People like to be given an opportunity to solve a problem unsupervised, and you should exploit this fact in your employees. Assigning an employee to a new role or giving them a responsibility theyâve never held before will challenge them, lead to their growth on the job and give your company a boost. Even if they fail at first, your job as their manager is to help them identify the problem, and then give them power and energy to find a solution. They will learn from this experience and will succeed next time.
Appreciation is fundamental. Every employer should know that appreciating an employee will challenge others to fall in line. With appreciation comes recognition, and it is important that diligent employees are appreciated and recognized, because this will create a healthy competition between others to determine who will be next to be recognized. Appreciation could be demonstrated in monetary terms or awards at the companyâs social gatherings. There is nothing that will magnify performance more than public recognition and appreciation.
Finally, you can challenge your employees by showing them the people who benefit from their work and listening to their comments. As a result, employees will feel challenged to do more and contribute to society at large.
Motivation and challenge go hand in hand. The importance of these two cannot be understated as they form the bedrock of your companyâs progress. Employees are humans, and the rule of motivation applies to them too. If people are not adequately motivated and challenged, it is normal for them to act in a nonchalant manner, which could affect productivity.
Last Updated on January 16, 2024