Motivating your team

Christina Dodge provided some simple yet effective tips for building a motivated and committed workplace team. Dodge is a Maine Small Business Development Center business advisor.

“The power of motivation is that motivation drives results and that shows up in increased productivity, better customer service and higher employee retention. It fosters an environment of innovation and problem solving,” Dodge said.

• Schedule check-ins – A key component of team motivation is consistent, regularly scheduled team meetings with a focus on dialogue. “It can’t just be the business owner talking,” Dodge said. “You want to encourage openness and engagement. So, actively listen and look for feedback.”

If it’s difficult to pull staff together for regular meetings, utilize digital tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams which allow people to communicate online.

• Provide recognition & reward – Celebrating the achievements of employees is one way to motivate employees, but it’s important to match the reward with the personality of the employees. For example, some people like public recognition and would be happy to be featured in a social media post or receive a shoutout at a meeting. Others may appreciate a more personal gesture, such as a thank you note or a gift card.

“If you can foster an environment where not only you celebrate achievements, but your staff celebrates those achievements with each other, you are really creating some cohesiveness,” Dodge said.

• Use team building activities – Team building activities can be related to work or take place just for fun. Examples include outdoor activities, picnics or a team meeting that starts off with a game. Whatever the activity is, the goal is to encourage knowledge sharing and cross collaboration rather than competition. If it’s difficult to get employees to engage in team building activities, Dodge suggested using a list of fun questions to serve as icebreakers. These questions can be customized to the business.

Team building activities are also a great opportunity to collect feedback from employees. “These people are working in your business, and there’s no doubt they have some ideas … Employees really want to feel heard, feel part of what’s going on and part of the successes,” Dodge said.

• Provide opportunities for growth – Dodge advised providing employee career advancement such as trainings, workshops, courses or certifications. These opportunities will help employees develop their skills and have the potential to improve the business.

“Hopefully when you hire people, you are seeing opportunities for them to grow beyond what you’ve hired them for. As the business grows and the individual grows, they can advance along with you. I think if they can see that you are committed to their personal growth in addition to the company’s growth, they will be more fully engaged,” Dodge said.

• Deliver constructive feedback – Sometimes employers need to address difficult issues related to job performance with an employee. Feedback should be timely, actionable and relevant. For example, if an employer is unhappy with an employee’s job performance, the feedback should specify what could have been done better and how it could have been done better. Ideally, constructive feedback should be balanced with some positive reinforcement.

Dodge said, “Give them something actionable. It can be a simple comment like ‘Next time, I would like to see you use certain language or do something different.’ This is so they understand, and also so you can evaluate and see if they are taking your feedback into account in the future.”

If an employee’s actions were a one-off incident that is unlikely to happen again, Dodge suggested skipping the feedback session.

• Manage conflict – In Dodge’s experience, managing conflict is a challenging area for small business owners. Managing conflict can be time-consuming, and the employer may fear losing employees. Conflicts, however, tend to snowball if not addressed.

In addressing conflict, the goal is to encourage a respectful open environment for conflict resolution. Employees should not be called out in front of their co-workers nor embarrassed.

“Think about how you would like to be treated if someone were to give you some constructive feedback and try to view the conflict as an opportunity to grow,” Dodge said.

Disputes must be mediated fairly, so that each person has a voice. Even if an employer is upset with an employee, the employee should have the opportunity to share their perspective.

• Lead with empathy – Employers need to understand their team’s needs and lead with empathy by being approachable and using active listening. In doing this, however, the employer runs the risk of being bombarded with the details of peoples’ personal lives. If an employer listens to one employee talk about their marriage, for instance, then it is only fair to listen to the next employee.

“You have to keep this fair and be as empathetic as you can without letting it become a drain on the business,” Dodge said.

Employers must also understand that their employees need to balance their work demands with their personal wellbeing. The goal is to build a positive culture built on mutual respect, inclusivity and accountability.

“Encouraging a family feel within the team can really help people bond and connect with each other and support each other in the workplace. This will benefit the company,” Dodge said.