How motivated are your staff now that the summer is coming to an end and September is here?

Motivation is an employee’s inner enthusiasm and drive to accomplish activities.

This internal drive causes an individual to choose to take action.

In their lives, every employee has activities, events, people and goals that they find motivating.

There’s no such thing as unmotivated people – just unmotivated workers!

The trick is to find out how to tap into that motivation and inspire employee motivation at work.

I read a very interesting report by the CMI this summer, which shows that giving ownership to employees can improve business and individual performance. According to their research, employees who had a share of ownership in their company were also more than twice as likely to say that management was democratic, highlighting the success of such businesses in introducing effective management structures. I highly recommend you read the report, as it’s also great way of seeing how companies can motivate their staff by knowing what they really value about their job and position.

But just how motivated are YOUR people? Here are 5 Top Tips on the questions to ask them:-

1.       Goals - What are the primary goals for your organisation?

Many employees have surprisingly little idea about the direction and strategy of their organisation – they may be more motivated if they understand the primary aim of your business? Ask the questions to establish how clear they are about your organisation’s principles, priorities and mission. What do these things actually mean for them in their day-to-day job roles?

2.       Motivators - What really motivates your employees?

It is often assumed that all people are motivated by the same things. Wrong!

Actually, we are all motivated by a whole range of factors. Ask questions to elicit what fires up your employees – what is really important to them? Are they really motivated by financial rewards, status, praise and acknowledgement, competition, job security, public recognition, fear, perfectionism, results, etc…

3.       Change - How have changes affected your employees?

If your organisation has restructured, made redundancies, imposed a recruitment freeze or lost a number of key people, this will have an effect on motivation. Ask employees about their fears, their thoughts and concerns relating to these events. Even if they are unfounded, always treat their views with respect and honesty. What can you learn to be better at introducing and managing change?

4.       Patterns - What patterns of motivation are in your industry?

Who are the most motivated employees? Where do they work? What do they do?

Who are the least motivated employees? What type of work do they do?

Why is there a difference? Is this acceptable?

What lessons can you learn from patches of high and low motivation in your organisation?

5.       Feelings - How do employees feel about working here?

Would they recommend working in the organisation to a friend? Do they feel safe, loyal, valued and taken care of? Or do they feel taken advantage of, dispensable and invisible? Ask them what things would improve their loyalty and commitment.

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