How to Inspire Your Team: 7 Methods to Motivate Your Marketers
Even the best team can get stuck in a rut and lose their motivation from time to time. It can be hard to know how to inspire your team to do their best all the time.
We’ve got 7 motivational methods to inspire your team for optimum performance. Inspire your team and bring your company to new levels of success.
How To Inspire Your Team with Appreciation and Recognition Programs
People are more likely to give it their all if they know their efforts are appreciated. It doesn’t take huge bonuses or grand gestures, sometimes a simple “thank you for your hard work” is enough.
Acknowledging the accomplishments of individual team members and your team as a whole can help motivate them to dig deep and accomplish more.
A recent Harris poll reported 65% of workers felt they were not shown any appreciation for a job well done in the past year.
Showing Appreciation
Whether it’s a simple email or card saying thank you or tickets to a local play, movie or sporting event you can show appreciation for a job well done without breaking the bank.
Many companies have an annual event where top earners are celebrated.
You don’t have to take all your employees on a cruise to say thank you but find some way to let them know you appreciate what they do and how they do it.
Peer Recognition Programs
Management doesn’t always see an employee go above and beyond to help the team be successful.
Creating a peer recognition program helps team members know they’re appreciated and to show their appreciation for each other.
Employees can be nominated or given points by other team members. Many companies provide merchandise and gifts for individuals to choose from when they reach various point levels.
Give Your Team the Right Tools for Success
There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to do a task without the right tools for success.
You can motivate your team by providing them with the training, tools and safety measures they need to perform at their best.
Continuing Education
If you want your business to grow you need to give your employees the tools to grow as well. Offering workshops, educational programs, and continued training can motivate and inspire your team to succeed on a whole new level.
Technology advances quickly. No matter what industry you’re in, your employees need to be brought up to speed with the latest advancements.
You can’t expect someone who received training decades ago to perform at their best in a business world that’s completely different than it was.
Health and Safety
Cutting corners on health and safety is one of the most blatant ways to make your employees feel like they don’t really matter.
Providing them with a safe work environment will help them feel secure and comfortable to perform their job without worrying about injury.
Promote Physical and Mental Well-Being
When an employee feels their best mentally and physically they perform their best. If individuals feel supported physically and mentally, they miss less time at work for sick days and stress-related reasons.
Employee Assistance Programs, wellness workshops and an open dialogue about mental health can help your employees feel supported and allow them to focus on work rather than life-stresses.
Achievement Incentives
Give your team members a reason to be your top performer. One of the best ways to motivate your marketing team is to offer incentives each month or quarter.
The bigger the prize, the bigger the effort. This can also inspire a little healthy competition between your team members. Allow the team to see the numbers so they know how close they are to winning. This gives them a reason to keep pushing to be the best.
Subliminal and Blatant Motivation
Many people find motivational quotes helpful in keeping them in a positive mindset. Your office decor can actually be a motivational tool if you think outside the box.
Using decorations, wall decals, signage, and art to motivate a team is a great way to inspire them to success. Make your office environment more about motivating your team than about just filling the empty wall space.
Be an Example of How to Motivate Your Team
You can’t expect your marketing team to be motivated if you don’t lead by example. Positivity can be contagious and you can inspire others by having a positive attitude and motivating yourself.
When your team sees you consistently working on self-improvement they’ll be inspired to follow.
One of the main reasons people quit their job or lack the motivation to give it their all is not about the money. It’s their boss.
Leadership in a company is what makes or breaks team motivation.
How To Motivate Your Team By Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Your team won’t be motivated if they don’t know what they’re working towards. Making sure your team knows why and what they are trying to accomplish will help them catch the company vision and be inspired to help you reach your goals.
It’s not enough to just tell them you’re working towards being more successful without any idea of what that really means.
Setting smart goals will give them clear, concise milestones to reach for.
S.M.A.R.T. goals go beyond some vague idea.
They are goals that are:
S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Attainable
R- Relevant
T- Time-Bound
Your team will know why they are working towards a goal and exactly what is expected of them if there’s an open dialogue on exactly what you are hoping to accomplish and what steps are needed to achieve success.
It’s always good to think big but goals need to be realistic and relevant. There’s no sense having your team work tirelessly to accomplish something that doesn’t get you closer to your company’s overall vision and mission.
Setting specific goals that the team can see progress towards success and know why they are doing it will motivate them to put their best effort into achieving them.
Lead Your Team to Success
Now that you know how to inspire your team, lead them to be the best version of themselves by becoming the best leader you can be.
For more tips on becoming the best you can be, explore the self-improvement section on our blog.