How to motivate employees

Motivation can be approached in a few effective ways:

• Use imagery and reminders: Vanessa Van Edwards suggests that visual reminders, like inspirational photos, help people reconnect with a feeling of pride, which tends to lift performance 1.
• Align with individual values: Brené Brown points out that leaders should avoid projecting their own motivations and instead find out what the person values and what success looks like to them 2.
• Remove demotivators: Robert Cialdini compares motivation to a hot air balloon: rather than only trying to push it higher, the best first move is to remove the demotivators, like fear, pain, or the worry of looking bad to peers 3.
• Foster good work and involvement: Disengaged employees usually need more involvement. Lining up what people are good at, what they care about, and their sense of ethics creates good work, where they naturally slip into flow.
• Provide positive reinforcement and support: Build an environment where people like working hard by offering reinforcement, support, and space to try new things, and by checking in on what they need rather than policing mistakes.
• Connect actions to goals and hope: People draw a lot of motivation from hope and opportunity, which come from clear goals and visible progress along the way.