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21 Freakishly Effective Ways to Motivate Employees [Updated for 2019]

If you’re like a lot of managers and leaders out there looking to motivate staff members, the following scenario should sound eerily familiar:

You finally have your dream team in place. You’ve hired selectively, waiting for just the right fit for each role. These are people with stellar backgrounds and proven track records of success. On paper, these individuals are poised to contribute to your culture and help take your department – and your business – to the next level.

To their credit, your team started strong. They came out the gate with fresh ideas and energy.

But lately… not so much.

These days your team seems to be fine going through the motions. That star performer who put up those crazy numbers in her first three months? She’s hit a plateau, and lately her work product has the telltales signs of complacency – sloppiness, surface-level analysis, and an overall lack of creativity.

The frustrating thing is you know how great they can be. You’ve seen them at their best, but for the moment, the spark seems to have gone out

What’s going on here?

Well, it’s good news / bad news time.

First, the bad news: your team lacks motivation.

The good news? This is an entirely fixable problem.

Before you decide to clean house (a terrible idea!), remember that there are proven ways you can reignite that spark you once saw in your team.

We’ve talked to employee motivation and engagement experts to narrow down the 18 best tips to motivate your people and elevate their performance to optimal levels once again.

We’ve also tried to focus on the how as well as the why, so you can turn these ideas into action at your company ASAP.

Let’s dive in and start motivating employees!

1. Recognize a Job Well Done How will recognition motivate my employees? Managers and HR pros may be on the fence about incorporating recognition programs at their companies, but here’s why it’s a great idea.

Recognition creates an emotional connection between employer and employee – a critical piece of employee engagement – and fulfills employees’ basic needs of esteem and belonging within a group.

Our friends at Bonusly, an employee recognition software, suggest using spot bonuses as they’re a simple and effective way to recognize and reward positive behavior.

If you’re new to spot bonuses, it’s a type of “on the spot” bonus where you provide your employees with a reward to show them an appreciation for their hard work. Rewards can be cash, gift cards, or money toward their Lifestyle Spending Accounts.

Because these are given “on the spot,” it helps employees to easily identify what behavior is appreciated by the organization and motivates them to work harder and to build upon these values.

As Charleston, South Carolina-based performance coach and employee engagement expert Liz Guthridge explains, recognition satisfies a fundamental need for all of us in the workplace:

“People crave recognition. Recognition serves a worthwhile purpose. Recognition confirms you’re doing the right thing and encourages you to keep doing it. Plus the act of giving and receiving recognition makes both the giver and receiver feel good, thanks to the hit of dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter.” Failing to recognize people for their work is one of the biggest mistakes Guthridge sees in her work as a trainer and consultant.

Sarah Payne, Managing Editor at Globoforce, offers her take:

“One of the best ways to motivate your people is through appreciation and recognition – the more frequent, the better. In our 2016 WorkHuman Research Institute Report, 79% of respondents told us recognition and rewards makes them work harder.” The best part is – recognition is essentially free! It can in the form of a formalized program, or can be as simple as sending a thoughtful email (or better yet, a handwritten note) to your team members calling out their amazing work.

So the question shouldn’t be “why should I recognize my people?” but “why wouldn’t I recognize my people?”

Tony Aldridge, a top-performing sales manager and expert motivator here at SnackNation, dives deeper. He explains recognition needs to be personalized to the individual, “Some people like to have their name up in lights while others like a simple email. Remember that everyone likes their recognition in their own way and it is our job as leaders to understand that.”

Motivation is something that each of us experiences differently not all staff motivation ideas work for everyone. It’s important for managers to listen to their team and tailor techniques to fit each person.

Try this: Launch a monthly award program with Bonusly!

• Have your company vote for the team member who displayed the best work ethic, grit, or attitude for the previous month. (Google Forms or SurveyMonkey make this incredibly easy.)

• Use this as an opportunity to reinforce your company’s core values by tying the award to the team member who embodies one more of them that month. Reward the winner with a gift card, lunch with the boss, or creative trophy.

2. Gamify Your Most Important Tasks Want a proven motivator for everyone, no matter who it is? Looking for team motivation ideas that work? Try turning work into a game.

One way to inject some competition into the workplace is through gamification – i.e., introducing elements of gameplay to your team’s most important tasks.

One of the coolest examples we’ve ever seen is actually here at SnackNation.

Recently, SnackNation Member Success Team (MST) leads Chelsie Lee, Brendan Hannigan, and Clay Telfer unveiled a game-based Achievement and Rewards program that has the whole office buzzing.

Think of a real-life video game, where team members unlock badges for hitting milestones. Except, instead of digital badges for your gaming profile, these badges are actual buttons that Chelsie designed herself and that Clay punched using an actual button maker.

As Clay describes it, the program has three facets:

1. Medals for participating in monthly team-wide campaigns. 2. Badges that individual MST reps unlock for hitting certain

milestones – like lifetime upsell, number of member issues resolved or total number of calls fielded.

3. Monthly trophies awarded for outstanding performances, like delivering the best “wow” moment to SnackNation members.

Part of the reason the program is so successful is that Chelsie, Brendan, and Clay put their own personal touches on it, designing and making their own custom buttons and awarding them in an elaborate ceremony.

Chelsie, who happens to be an amazing woodworker, actually built wooden poles that display each MST rep’s name and their area of expertise (as voted on by the team).

Try this: Launch your own achievement program and reward with swag!

▪ This real-life gamification definitely has the “wow” factor, but we understand if you don’t quite have the bandwidth. Luckily, you can launch a virtual awards program via gamification platforms like Assembly – which is completely free!

3. Focus on Intrinsic (NOT Extrinsic) Rewards Sure money is important – we’ve all got to eat and pay the rent. But as a motivator, money definitely has its limits. Here is

A study conducted by Princeton economist Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman backs this up. They demonstrated that money doesn’t contribute to our overall happiness above $75,000. Income beyond this threshold doesn’t really impact our day-to-day contentment and therefore isn’t a great motivator. Here is where intrinsic motivation comes in to play.

Author and Menlo Innovations CEO Richard Sheridan has seen this play out throughout his career. Sheridan is the architect of one of the most inspiring company cultures we’ve run across, which he chronicles in his book Joy Inc. Here’s what he has to say about money as a motivator:

“The biggest mistake I see is when companies go right to extrinsic rewards to motivate … title, pay, stock options, incentives, office. We need look no further than Wells Fargo to see how badly this can turn out.” Ok – so if extrinsic rewards don’t matter, what do?

Jenn Lim, the CEO and co-founder of Delivering Happiness offers an alternative:

“Intrinsic motivation that supports who that person is and what they believe in (e.g. purpose, values, autonomy, progress, relationships) is what matters not only most, but what makes the motivation last (i.e. sustainable happiness).” For Sheridan, Lim, and others, it’s things like purpose and values that really move the needle over the long-term.

Try this: Rally around core values

▪ Create core values that express the essence of why your company exists – who does your business serve? What problems are you solving? What are the norms and behaviors that drive your team’s approach?

▪ Make these values highly visible, and ingrain them in your culture through quizzes, awards, and by practicing them.

4. Give Your Team Autonomy How many times have you heard someone utter the phrase, “I really appreciate how my boss micromanages every aspect of my job.”

Unless you’re lying, I’m going to assume it’s … never.

Human beings value autonomy. We all want to feel in control of our time and energy, and a lack of agency is a surefire way to torpedo your team’s motivation.

Granting autonomy also demonstrates that you trust your team, which will go a long way towards forming the emotional bond between employer and employee that you see at highly engaged companies.

SnackNation’s winning leader, Tony, chimes in, “Autonomy is by far the most important motivator. Trust is the foundation of relationships, especially in business.

I let people own their work and ask for help rather than hold their hand the entire way. In my experience, this builds our relationship and allows them to feel like I am here to help instead of constantly pushing my own agenda.

In the long run, this builds more self-sufficient teams because they create their own process and I learn how to work with them and for them.”

But despite these benefits, autonomy is not the norm for most businesses. Managers fear that giving their direct reports too much leeway will create a lax environment and employees will take advantage. Cracking the proverbial whip is seen as a way to prevent slacking off.

Even when employers acknowledge the importance of autonomy, it’s still might difficult to get the balance right. Officevibe’s Director of Content Jacob Shriar, explains:

“The biggest mistake I see managers make when it comes to motivation is not giving employees enough autonomy. Employees often have what I call ‘quasi-autonomy’ where they don’t get to see a project completely through from end-to-end. This is a huge mistake.

When managers let their employees be their best selves and challenge themselves, they’re motivated, engaged, and excited.”

The key is giving your team a true sense of ownership – not just over their most important projects, but on things like schedule and time off. The ability to exert control over their time can be as motivating as the satisfaction that comes with seeing a project through to completion. An excellent tip on how to keep employees motivated and take complete ownership of their work.

Try this: Let employees set their own hours

▪ This is a simple way to show that you trust your employees to get their work done without a higher up constantly looking over their shoulder.

▪ If you focus on outcomes rather than rules, you’ll be surprised how motivated your employees will be to rise to the challenge.

5. Figure Out What Makes Your Employees Tick One thing we can virtually guarantee: your employees are all very different.

Some are introverts, some are extroverts. Some are adventurous and are energized by the unknown, others prefer the security of the familiar. Some might require extra guidance, others are much more independent workers.

Some are probably fresh out of college. Others might be putting their kids through college.

The point is, your employees have different backgrounds, are at different stages in their lives, and are motivated by very different things. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is trying to force a one-size fits all solution on your diverse workforce.

TaskUs president and co-founder Jaspar Weir concurs.

“The biggest mistake we see is that one size does not fit all when it comes to management. Some people need more supervision and instruction, others

need more independence and trust. A manager’s job is to assess and adapt to each individual.” So how do you assess and adapt? Simple. By listening. Zoomshift co-founder Jon Hainstock advocates frequent check-ins.

“The best way to motivate your employees is to figure out what makes them tick and align their personal and professional goals with their role in your company as best you can. To do this, you need to check in with each employee frequently and ask them questions about how things are going.

The goal of these check-ins is to understand what they are feeling, and more importantly, why they are feeling that way. Taking time to listen to your employees will increase trust and give you insight into how you can make things better at your organization.” Try this: Make time to get to know your employees on a personal level

▪ Set aside 30 minutes to get to know each person on your team on a personal level.

▪ Don’t just ask about career goals, but find out what motivates them outside of work.

▪ Questions you can ask: ▪ What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned from your

parents? ▪ Who was your childhood hero? Best friend? ▪ Who is someone from your past that you haven’t spoken

to in over six months? What’s stopping you from reaching out to them?

▪ What gets you out of bed in the morning?

6. Focus on the WHY Let’s imagine the following situation:

A manager needs to get his team members to share an important company announcement on social media. Which approach do you think is most effective?

Approach #1: “Please share this blog post on your Facebook page. It’s really important.”

Approach #2: “Please share this blog post on your Facebook page. This announcement is a game changer for our business, and the more shares we get in the first few hours after the initial launch will have

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