Effective strategies for continuously motivating your team throughout the year

Motivation and job satisfaction can significantly impact a team's productivity, not to mention its harmony. Therefore, it's not just an empathetic move but also a good business strategy to ensure that your team is happy and mentally healthy. But how do you do that?

This article will break down some of the most common individual motivators, and how you might satisfy them. Remember though: every team is unique, and the best way to understand the issues facing your team is to communicate with them!

The nature of motivation

Motivation is a psychological process that provides us with the drive to achieve our goals. It can be impacted by any number of factors, in addition to our individual psychological disposition – not everyone has the same base level of motivation. It might surprise you to learn that motivation is multifaceted, and what motivates one person may not motivate someone else.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Like many things, motivation is personal, but can be impacted by the external environment.

Intrinsic motivation is our internal drive to do something because we find it personally rewarding. These are the things you do for the satisfaction of doing them, such as learning an instrument, completing a challenging task, or exercising.

Extrinsic motivation, in contrast, is incentivised behaviour. This could be through the desire to earn a reward, or to avoid punishment. For example, studying hard to achieve good test results, or a child cleaning their bedroom to avoid being grounded and losing their pocket money.

Both intrinsic and extrinsic forms of motivation have their place in the workplace, and you should create an environment where employees can draw on both to increase their motivation and productivity.

What can impact team motivation, and how to resolve it?

There are many factors that can impact the motivation of your team, and as a manager, it's your responsibility to identify and adjust these factors to find a balance between productivity and practicality. Not everything is within your control, and not every accommodation is possible. It's about being open and honest with your employees, and empowering them to be their own advocates when there are issues that need addressing.

Work environment

The physical and cultural work environment is a crucial component that can greatly influence your team's motivation. An inviting and comfortable workspace, equipped with all necessary resources, can boost productivity and inspire creativity. But it's not just about the physical space. The cultural environment is equally vital. A supportive and inclusive culture, where everyone's contributions are valued and respected, can foster a sense of belonging. This, in turn, can enhance employees' motivation, leading to higher engagement and better performance.

Leadership style

Your leadership style will impact how motivated your team members are. Different sources have different names for leadership styles, but they typically coalesce around five main types:

Autocratic: Leaders have all the decision-making power and dictate work processes and goals.
Democratic: Team members are included in the decision-making process, and managers actively listen to the views of their subordinates.
Laissez-faire: Directly translated to 'let them do', this avoids all micromanagement and lets people take responsibility for their own actions and duties.
Managerial: The classic interpretation of management where there are meetings and tracked objectives, with your typical incentive/penalty structure.
Visionary: This style of management is about getting the team to buy into a vision, have a shared sense of purpose, and strive to go above and beyond for the achievement of that vision.

You will need to tailor your leadership style to your team, depending on what they respond best to. It's also worth noting that individual members might require different forms of leadership, depending on their own levels of intrinsic motivation; some people need more guidance, others might feel smothered by the constant oversight.

Team dynamics

In an ideal world, everybody on a team automatically gels, and working together feels like working with friends. But, in reality, teams can have clashing personalities within them, and that can be exacerbated by miscommunication – something that can easily happen if your team works remotely and communicates over platforms like Slack.

The solution is to promote open communication within the team, and to encourage a mindset where people give the benefit of the doubt to written communication, and don't immediately assume ill-intent. There will be times where you have to act as a mediator between two employees, so developing conflict resolution skills is an important aspect of management.

Job satisfaction

One of the more obvious influences on an individual's motivation, job satisfaction refers to the level of enjoyment and fulfilment that one gets from completing the tasks required of their job role.

If someone is struggling with job satisfaction, the first thing to do is to talk to them about what their particular issues are. Try to work collaboratively to find ways to adjust the level of responsibility and challenge in response to those demands.

It is also worth thinking about person-job fit, and even at the recruitment level, trying to ascertain whether a person's skills match up to the requirements of the role. This doesn't just mean being able to meet the demands of the role, but having the role make demands of them so they feel suitably stretched and challenged and can get the sense of satisfaction of overcoming a difficult task.

Career growth opportunities

Linking nicely with job satisfaction, people want to know that there are opportunities to grow and develop both professionally and personally within the role and the organisation. Being upfront about the opportunities for training and development – and then allowing the time to actually take advantage of those opportunities – will really help bolster both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Career progression is also important – and not just for the employee. Investing the time to plan for the future of your team is helpful as part of wider organisation strategising, as you can start to allocate resources into growing your employees into the roles you want to exist in the future. If you do this in collaboration with your team, you'll likely generate more buy-in to the company vision (see: visionary leader).

Recognition and rewards

Nobody likes to feel as though their work goes unrecognised. One of the easiest ways to motivate your employees is to offer their praise and recognition when they do a good job, or overcome a particular challenge. Simply being supportive works wonders for someone's morale, and can make them feel valued and appreciated. Extend this further by bringing the team together in stand-up meetings that are dedicated to the 'wins', no matter how big or small. This helps to build camaraderie, creates a better work environment, and offers an opportunity for new connections to be made to better streamline operations.

You can of course explore financial based incentives too. Bonuses, raises, and incentive schemes are all valid forms of motivation. Red Blaze has written more about choosing the right incentives for your employees, based on what motivates them, and you can read that here.

Personal factors

Given their very nature, personal factors are some of the hardest to anticipate, but it doesn't mean they have to be hard to support. As a manager, one of the best things you can do to support your employees is to develop a culture where they know it's okay to not be okay. It's unrealistic, and arguably unfair, to expect people to be at 100% productivity all the time, and energy levels will naturally fluctuate – and be impacted by factors external to work. Empower employees to take care of their own wellbeing, and let them know that you are there to provide support if they require it. Be open about what other support is available within the organisation, including any counselling services.

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Psychosomatic or not, the 'January Blues' can impact people. There can sometimes be an expectation or pressure to completely start again, set new goals and transform as a person or a team when 1 January ticks around. While your reporting period may end on 31 December, the rest of your progress doesn't. Remind the team that the new year is just a continuation of the success you've already had, and that the past is just the building blocks to your future.

Never feel like you're imposing by reaching out to someone, even if it's just a casual message on Slack. Especially when working remotely, it's easy to feel disconnected from the team – no matter how good your culture is. Those little touchpoints go a long way to building the camaraderie that people thrive on, and will keep the motivation levels buoyant.