Motivation in the Workplace

Motivation is an essential part of any business that wants to be successful. If you have a workforce
that lacks motivation, you are going to be dealing with a large number of problems that will have
devastating long-term effects on your business.
Recently I’ve been reflecting on my own practices and considering the best ways to keep my team
motivated and how best to go about this whilst continuing to achieve the best results. Here are some
of my thoughts on how best to motivate and build a successful, happy team full of hardworking, top
performing individuals.

Motivation comes from recognition

We all know the stereotype of the employee that is unhappy at work and has no motivation to achieve
more than what is required of them. The sight of someone staring at the printer lights as they copy
file after file while everyone in the office ignores their existence is something we have seen in plenty
of movies, but things are not quite that simple. There are many employees in offices that interact
with their peers without issues and they have a healthy relationship with everyone in the office, but
they still feel completely ignored and unrecognized by the company as an entity. This is the real
problem that most companies are dealing with. They are not mistreating their employees, but they
are not giving them the recognition they need in order to feel motivated.
Some industries require more motivation for their workers
There is no doubt that some industries can be a little more rewarding than others. For example, the
energy, gas and oil industries are often very demanding and people can get the feeling that they are
just worker bees and they are not acknowledged by the companies they work for. This is a very
common issue when a business has a large workforce. It may seem hard for business owners to
make sure that every employee feels acknowledged, but there are ways to do this. You can call your
entire workforce in for a motivating talk. You can have an office celebration that everyone can attend,
and you can also give incentives for each department within your organization. Giving back to the
community is also a great way of making the team feel like they are doing something meaningful and
working for an organisation that’s aligned with their values. DARE Singapore recently spent an
afternoon at Willing Hearts soup kitchen helping prepare, cook, pack and clean 6,000 meals for the
needy in Singapore. This was a great way to get the team out of the office and working collaboratively
on something very different from their normal everyday responsibilities.
The chain of command needs to get involved
One of the biggest issues when establishing motivation in the workplace is that top executives and
managers don’t always get involved with their employees. Some struggle to effectively interact with
people below their ranks. We know that time can be an impediment for constant interactions with
others in your business, but taking the time to regularly and consistently say hi and check in with
your team is not impossible and it will do wonders for employee morale. If you ask employees about
the importance of interacting with their bosses, you will see how much they appreciate being able to
engage in conversation with them, regardless of how sporadic they may be. This is a reminder of the
value of interacting with your workers.
Make sure they have a comfortable and safe place to work
It’s very common for people to work without desks or workstations when they are involved in the
energy, gas and oil industries. It could be due to field work, or because they have to do laborious
work, but they should all have enough room and comfort to rest. You also need to make sure that
you provide a safe environment for them to do their job without worrying about their personal safety.
This is also going to make them feel like they are important and that you care about their wellbeing.
Create realistic goals for each department
Don’t force your employees to go to extreme lengths to be acknowledged. Instead, you can create
realistic goals for every week or month and reward those who meet those goals. There should be a
challenge involved, but never anything too demanding. This is a great way to keep employees
motivated and with specific short-term goals. It’s important to have long-term and short-term goals
for your workforce. Everyone should also feel like they have a chance to climb the corporate ladder,
regardless of their current position.
Create a no gossip and no harassment policy
There is a very common problem happening in offices and that is harassment, and we are not talking
about the sexual kind, but the emotional kind. Believe it or not, there are many office work
environments that resemble the bullying that is similar to that of a high school environment. There
have been cases of workers who feel depressed because they are harassed and bullied by their
coworkers on a daily basis. This sounds difficult to believe, but it is a very common problem that
happens in many offices all over the world. The problem is that it happens because the decision
makers don’t even bother finding out what is happening with their workers. This is one of the reasons
why gossip and harassment should never be tolerated. There has to be an environment of healthy
and friendly interactions between employees and gossiping should also be kept to a minimum. We
know it’s impossible to make it disappear, but if you make it a policy, people will avoid the gossip to
avoid losing their jobs. There have been situations with bosses who have decided to have a no-
tolerance policy against any kind of harassment and bullying that immediately fires the person that
does not adhere to that rule. Perhaps you don’t want to go to such lengths, but it does seem to work
for some business ventures. The good thing about keeping harassment and gossip to a minimum is
that this creates a much more inviting and friendly work environment for your employees. This means
that they are going to feel motivated to go to work instead of feeling like it’s a constant torture and a
place for confrontation.

Final thoughts
The process of keeping your employees motivated and happy is not simple. You are going to need
to look around to see how things are and then you can start making decisions that help you motivate
everyone as an individual and every area of the company as a team. Once you do this, you will start
to see a much more positive response from your workers and a more productive environment.