10 Small Business Employee Motivation Tips

"Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people." ~ Lee Iacocca

Motivation is important in business as it helps employees to perform at their best. Whether you deal in automotive parts or handicrafts, the following tips will help you inspire your staff to put in their best efforts at work.

1. Clearly state your purpose and expectations – While delegating tasks, explain the true purpose of the activities your employees will carry out. Though you may have reservations on disclosing company plans, describing the real purpose will help your employees envisage a long-term relationship with the company, and execute better.

2. Set achievable goals for your staff – If you set too lofty targets, your employees will feel pressured from the start, and could eventually lead to a substandard performance. Instead, determine reasonable and realistic objectives for your team, increasing the challenge when the previous one's have been accomplished. At the same time remember that there will be a limit to how much pressure your team can handle without burning out, or being affected in the long run.

3. Provide frequent feedback on performance - Your employees need information and guidance on their performance. Make it a point to tell them as soon as possible, when they've done a good job and when they've not. Set up a daily or weekly schedule for feedback. Serve as a mentor to them, with the two of you working together on helping them improve their performance.

4. Say Thank You – When employees go beyond what's expected of them thank them heartily. You may even thank with a call after dinner. A sincere appreciation is sometimes worth more than anything.

5. Be a good paymaster – Higher than average salaries will have your employees perceive them as better placed compared to their peers from other companies. It will also help you to arrest employee attrition. And give out the message that you truly value them and their talents.

6. Properly design a reward system – Set up a system whereby the best performers are given bonuses each day. On similar lines, reward performers with incentives on weekly, and monthly basis. Choose the gifts carefully so that they address the employees' needs, and don't burden your finances too, viz. free lunches, movie tickets, gift certificates, etc. Associating rewards with employee contribution and performance will promote the workers' self-worth and esteem.

7. Reward with training for performance – Business employee training will motivate employees as their career prospects will be enhanced, you on the other hand will benefit from the new skills your employees will acquire. You have several options for arranging training such as training programs, in house programs, video and Internet based training, etc. And while the training needs will depend on the type of your business, technology oriented courses are popular these days.

8. Take a flexible approach – Sometimes organizational policies and procedures become stale with time. Too much of bureaucracy can lead to dissatisfaction among employees. Be flexible and see whether these policies can be tweaked a bit to make them employee friendly, without compromising their objectives.

9. Listen to your employees – Learn about and sincerely address your employees' individual as well as group needs. In addition to establishing systems and procedures such as suggestion boxes, informal conversations can often provide you deeper insights on employee needs, especially individual needs. Make your employee grievance redressal system a mix of formal and informal management practices.

10. Create a pleasant work environment – Simple things such as delegating tasks with humor, varying their work to prevent boredom, being a bit tolerant about employees cracking jokes among themselves can create a friendly and amicable environment.