3 Steps to Motivate People Individually

Each of your employees requires attention and focus on an individual basis to learn what drives them.  Knowing who your employees are as people is a big step to successfully finding and paying your employees in the currency they are looking for. There are different levels of engagement within all companies and their management structures so be sure to look at who connects with your people and cascade messaging appropriately.

Here are 3 simple tips you can use to help you learn more about what drives each of your employees and use the feedback to create real change:

1. Ask and listen to wants & needs and make sure your people feel heard

Have you had conversations with your employees about where they see their career path taking them and where they want to be in their careers? If the answer is no, you should start asking now!

Everyone has a motivation for money (and wanting more of it!) but there’s more that drives how people show up at their jobs. Finding out their personal goals can help you link professional and personal goals to get your people thinking differently and become more motivated. People are interested in learning new skills that will help them in the future and also be a part of the building of the business rather than just a cog in the business machine.

Talking to your people and listening to what they say will help you connect on another level. You will become more familiar with your what your employees see in your business as speaking to employees about issues they are seeing in the workplace can reveal a lot about how the team is working together, even more so if you have trust built with your people.

2. Solicit feedback from employees and act when needed

Learning about your people’s ambitions and goals is extremely important and you also need to get feedback on any current issues within their role. Taking the time to sit with your key employees and get their thoughts on what’s working and what’s not can change your view of a situation within your team.

Asking for feedback and accepting it is one thing but you must make sure to act on changes needed or you risk your reputation to follow through with your people. Your word must be as good as gold or you risk your people not believing what you say, affecting the workplace negatively and making you seem like a person who doesn’t keep their word. Make sure to address and discuss any changes and be open to your feedback as well when talking with employees.

3. Build a plan that uses the feedback from your employees to help them grow

The last step involves taking the information you received from the feedback & discussions you had with your people and using it to create real change within the team. Whether it’s changing the way a situation is occurring to them or fixing an issue you were unaware of before, your use of the feedback given will change employee mindsets and the way they react to you in the future.

The relationship will grow as your employees see you taking steps to make the changes needed or when they see you are helping to build their career skills. Being honest with your team and people about how things are progressing when fixing problems is also helpful in building that trust and relationship. Creating plans for your people based on the discussions you have is a powerful tool to show you care about their development.

Utilize these steps you can craft your plans for your employees, learn what makes them motivated and build your relationship with your people. With your help, your people grow by your listening, asking them questions & acting upon what they see and care about!