4. Share your plans for the future with youremployees. Get them involved in the process. If inspiration is the key to employee motivation, then keeping your employees in the dark about your plans for the future is a sure-fire way to kill your company’s potential.

5. Hire motivated people . Brian Scudamore, president and founder of 1-800-Got-Junk?, says “we don’t motivate our people, we hire motivated people.” Screen candidates carefully, and look for a history of productivity. Technical skills alone are never a good enough reason to give someone a job.

6. Encourage independent thought, creativity, and initiative . At Wardell, we have a weekly meeting to discuss our progress as a company. Everyone is expected to participate and contribute. For example, one of our agenda items asks each consultant to teach something of value to the rest of the group. Not every idea is going to be as helpful as the next one, but by encouraging this type of “teaching environment,” we keep everyone growing in the right direction.

7. Profit share . In general, money is a poor motivator if you’ve got nothing else going for you, but it can be a great supporting tool once you’ve got your people on board. Profit sharing, of course, is only one of many ways you might do this, but used properly it can be extremely effective. Whether you offer your employees company shares, options, a bonus based on clearly defined goals, a percentage of your margin, or a percentage of your profit, what matters most is that they don’t feel powerless to affect its outcome. The goal of a bonus is to support your employees feeling of ownership for their work. As an aside, avoid the dreaded “Christmas bonus” if at all possible. Any amount of money given in this fashion will be appreciated the first year, but will eventually be seen as an entitlement. Then, should you have a bad year and cannot afford to offer it, instead of understanding, you’ll get resentment.

Source: cunahrcouncil.org