How to Motivate your Employees in

12 Easy Steps
In any organisation, there will be days
where employees or even managers are
not feeling motivated, however these
12 easy steps will avoid fostering a
dispirited team.
If you want to know how to motivate your employees and get positive employee
engagement, you have to make them feel passionate to go to work every day
and wanting to spend time with you and their colleagues.

Motivating your employees does not have to be a challenge anymore. Here are
12 fantastic ways you can use to motivate your employees:

Create a friendly work environment

Your employees spend a large amount of time of their lives working in the office.
So try to make the office look as friendly and appealing as possible.

When you create a pleasant atmosphere where it is welcoming and comfortable,

your employees will be more than eager to go to work every day.

Acknowledge employees’ achievement

Everyone wants to be recognised for something they have done; regardless if it
was for a work or personal achievement. The acknowledgement of a job well
done coming from upper management will mean more to an employee than you
think. Always remember to give credit when credit is due.

Rewarding employees
There will be times when it takes more than just a pat on the back. Try giving
simple incentives when rewarding engaged employees.

It does not have to be monetary rewards all the time; simple things like a week
of having a personal parking spot at the office would be sufficient. Rewarding
employees could also be a part of the company benefits.

Positive communication is the key

Everyone communicates at work and it is probably the easiest thing you can do
with your employee. Yet it can also be the most difficult. Spend a short period of
time each day to have a word with your employees; discussing things from
concerns to ideas.

This will not only make your employees happy, it will also provide you with
much-needed insight on your business from your employees.

Encourage friendly competition

A little competition among the employees would not hurt. A competitive
environment is a productive environment. Encourage employees to participate
in competitions or challenges as it is healthy and may actually lead to increased
camaraderie.

Friendly competition amongst teams helps with employee engagement and

employee participation.
Have a meaningful and worthwhile goal
Managers should ensure that the company has a vision and plan at a corporate
and individual level. Employees who have a path set before them that may lead
to promotion can work towards a goal. Achievable goals are very helpful as it
gives employees the drive to work harder without being asked.

Create a career path

When employees have an idea of what is provided or what the incentives are,
they become further motivated. This will lead to increased commitment towards
their employer. The members of your team will be more valuable to your
organisation, and to themselves, when they have opportunities to learn new
skills.

Provide your employees with the training they require to advance in their
careers and to become knowledgeable about the latest technologies and
industry news.

Be a leader worth following

As a leader, employees are going to look to you to set an example for the rest of
the group. Leaders tend to be setting a tone and values for the company. By
doing so, it could have a meaningful effect on the mentality of the employees. If
leaders set an example of positive thinking, employees will follow and the entire
work culture will become more motivating.

Encourage creativity
Creativity does not have to be based on the work that the employees are doing.
It could be simple task like giving ideas on the next company retreat or team
building exercises.

Encourage team work

Try to remove any bureaucracy and hierarchy within the company and create an
‘openness’ to new ideas at any level and working together as a team keeps
employees motivated.

Welcome all ideas

Everyone is unique and unpredictable and each with individual desires and
some with complicated ideas. Remember not to shunt away ideas or
suggestions no matter how silly or meaningless they may sound.

No single strategy can ever hope to please all of your workers all at once. A tiny
silly idea could be brainstormed into something brilliant sooner or later.

Don’t let employees become bored

Some employees have a short attention span. Host a cupcake bake-off, plan a
happy hour every Friday, have company lunches together in the office on
alternate Wednesdays or allow a different person to run the weekly meetings to
break up the dreariness.

In Summary
Now you know how to motivate your employees using these 12 simple methods.
As you work to find the best motivators for your workplace, bear in mind that
you would need to make adjustments and changes as you discover what works
and what does not.

Every company is different; some of these ideas may work for your company,
while other methods are not the right ones.

Perfect your motivation strategy as you get to know the individuals in your
company and they will reward you with greater dedication and a positive
perspective for the company’s future. Do not forget that an employee who
enjoys coming to work is a worthy investment. Try boosting your team
happiness as well.
1. Recognise Achievements

This can be acknowledging staff competing work related courses such

as NPQML / NPQSL, or completion of others courses such as Duke of Edinburgh
Awards or a Masters qualification. These courses have meant staff are sacrificing
personal time as well as continuing to do their day-to-day school duties. Their
achievements benefit your school, so celebrate them! It doesn’t have to be much – a
comment in a newsletter or in staff briefing can mean the world to someone.

2. Remember Birthdays

I once worked for a head teacher who wrote a card for every birthday
of every employee in her diary. This was in a large special school, so she had over
60 staff to think about, yet on each birthday, I had a card in my pigeon-hole. It was a
small gesture, but it was a lovely reminder that she genuinely cared.

3. Staff Voice

Encourage every member of staff to have their say – an enthusiastic NQT will have
fantastic ideas and the determination to carry projects out; an established member of
staff may have experience of how to deal with a situation from another perspective.
Both are of equal value. Create space for all staff to get involved in decision-making.
This will give them a sense of ownership as well as strengthening the school culture.

4. Priorities

Take staff concerns seriously – they may be far down your priority list, but they are
probably higher up for the staff raising them. You may not think that the broken bin in
the playground is crucial, but there maybe repercussions you have not thought of.
For example, staff asking students to put litter in the bin and then having an
argument because a student throws it on the floor as the broken bin is out of action.

5. Listen

Listen to staff – don’t assume that you know what is going on and dive in with your
sleeves rolled up to take the matter into your own hands. Nor dismiss what you hear
as being unimportant. Actively listen to staff and encourage personal reflection.

6. Understand

Know who your staff are – they are real people – and their identify is more than that
of someone who works in a school. We each have our own worries and concerns,
joys and dreams. If you take time to get to know who your staff are, and what makes
them tick, you can support them to perform better or help them to achieve their
goals. This makes for a happier workforce!
7. Be Realistic

Let your staff know who you are. What do you do outside of school? When we know
who our leaders are, then we want to work with them more than if they are distant
and live in their office and become a person we know little about. By allowing staff to
see leaders in a more holistic manner we can build respect and trust.

8. Be Flexible

Negotiate paid leave – all staff need time off during the school term at some point in
their career. Something simple attend a child’s first nativity play is massive for the
family. Or take a relative to a hospital appointment or to pop back home to meet the
emergency plumber. One school I worked in allowed us three paid days a year for
such occasions, which meant that staff could take a half day to watch their child in
assembly without worrying about the financial cost of not being at work. And yes,
staff loved working there and didn’t take advantage.

9. Positive Thinking

Praise, praise, praise – a small ‘thank you’ for getting the history department data in
before the deadline, or a ‘well done’ for the way a teacher managed a difficult parent
shows that you value the contributions your staff. This makes up for an efficient
running of a school.

10. Small Gestures

Surprise them – the odd box of doughnuts in the staffroom on a Friday after a difficult
week is a small but effective gesture. How about arranging for a buffet on a whole
school CPD day? Or hiring a venue away from school for training?

“There is a significant and positive association between

the wellbeing variables and the following measures of
school performance.”
Here are 10 tips for teacher
motivation: 
1. Make yourself available
Your role as a school administrator is to make your teachers’ lives
easier so that they can teach and your students can learn. Help
your teachers as much as possible when they have a heavier
workload. Consider asking your teachers what they need help with
before jumping in, so that they do not feel like you are
micromanaging. Make sure to also help your teachers through
monotonous tasks with software tools.
2. Publicly praise teachers
If a teacher feels valued, you won’t need to worry about motivating
them. These teachers will know how to stay motivated. Making
each teacher feel valued can be as simple as including an
announcement in the morning thanking the teacher for something
that they have done recently. You can also make this a larger
gesture by organizing a staff lunch in which you personally thank
teachers for outstanding contributions to the school.
3. Encourage teachers to reward
each other
Create a teaching trophy that is given out at the end of each day,
week, or month. This can be awarded for excellent teaching, or
going above and beyond in activities outside the classroom. Have
the last winner select the winner of the next award. This provides
your teachers with an incentive to excel and also gets them used to
accepting feedback from each other.
4. Leave some room in the
budget for small gifts
Consider purchasing something small, like coffee shop gift cards,
that you can give to teachers who go above and beyond. For
example, If a teacher volunteers to take an extra supervisory shift,
make sure that they know that their work is appreciated with a small
gift. Your teachers will appreciate the extra coffee!
5. Encourage teachers to seek
out professional development
opportunities
You should offer professional development for the teachers within
your school, but also provide opportunities for each teacher to learn
outside the school. This could include conferences, workshops, or
specialized professional development offered at the district level.
Approve all reasonable requests. Make sure that you are also
keeping an eye out for new opportunities, and presenting these to
all teachers at staff meetings.
6. Provide opportunities to take
breaks
Consider giving each teacher a form that can be used for a morning
or afternoon off, no questions asked. This can be given out once a
semester but must be given to you in advance, so that someone
can be found to cover the class. This is a small action that doesn’t
cost you much but lets your teacher know that you care about them
and will go out of your way to make sure that they are happy.
7. Give teachers a voice
Being left out of an important decision that affects them is the
easiest way for a teacher to lose motivation. Many teachers would
love to be involved in these decisions if you gave them the
opportunity. Invite a teacher from each grade to be a representative
during board meetings to get their opinion and learn about their
proposed strategies. Also consider holding “open-door” meetings,
where every teacher has the option to attend and listen during
meetings, even if they are not directly involved.
8. Empower each teacher’s
strengths
Every teacher has strengths and weaknesses. When teachers are
able to use that strength in the classroom, it’s easy to see how
much more engaged and inspired students become. It may be
difficult for some teachers to recognize their own strengths,
especially while trying to keep up with curriculum standards. To
help them figure out what works in their classroom, have each
teacher think about any particular lessons that worked really well,
and any tools or techniques that the teacher likes to use, such as
incorporating music into a lesson.
9. Recognize key stress times
Don’t overload teachers with professional development during
report card season! Avoid new initiatives and stresses during the
end of the term, report-writing periods, or while teachers are
marking exams. This causes teachers’ motivation to slowly fade. If
there’s any way you can lend a hand during these times, whether
it’s taking on some of the work yourself, or covering a teacher’s
lunch supervision shift, make sure to do so!
10. Encourage collaboration
Having your teachers work together can significantly impact their
motivation. More experienced teachers will be recognized for their
best teaching strategies. Younger teachers will be given validation
that they things that they are trying are actually working. Consider
creating professional learning communities within your school to
create a more formal structure for collaboration. Use technologies
such as Planboard, Google Drive, and Asana to foster a culture of
collaboration. 
 

Keeping your teachers motivated can be a challenge. But it is an

essential part of your students’ overall success. Great teachers are
those that are motivated to excel and take pride in their students’
success both inside and outside the classroom. Take the time to
experiment with some of these tips to find what works best in your
school! Let us know what works by tweeting to us @chalkdotcom
Employee learning and growth are an essential part of a business strategy. To
fully leverage your staff, which are your number one asset, they need to be open
to learning and growing in the workplace, while you as the manager need to be
committed to motivating employees to learn. Incentives, recognition and a
positive work culture that values learning are some of the ways to boost staff
motivation to develop and grow.

1. Incorporate employee development into

strategic planning
Make employee growth and learning part of your strategic planning. In practice,
this could mean aligning your human resource planning with your company
objectives for the next year and beyond.

As you define what your organisation wants to achieve, work from a high level to
ensure your human resource planning – incorporating employee learning and
growth programs – aligns with your strategic goals. By taking this top-down
approach, your HR development initiatives will align with your goals, and your
entire organisational culture will value employee development and learning.

2. Formalise learning and development

Formalising learning and development could be part of incorporating your
human resource planning into strategic planning. By formalising employee
learning and development (for example, through personalised training
programs), you ensure sufficient resources are allocated for training. This
cultural emphasis on learning and development allows employees to recognise
learning and growth as integral to their work.

For example, DeakinCo. offers a range of Professional Practice

Credentials designed to improve the skills and performance of employees,
covering a number of areas including self-management, communication, digital
literacy, data analytics and more. These blended learning solutions are an
excellent way to upskill employees and measurably enhance staff performance
through learning in the workplace.

Along with training and development, you can also involve employees in the
learning and development program through performance reviews, along with
regular discussions about their current responsibilities and future career paths.
3. Incentivise and recognise employee
achievements
Managers play a critical role in motivating employees to learn and grow, but this
role should complement incentive and recognition structures. Design your
organisation’s incentive system to provide rewards and recognition to
employees when they go above and beyond performance standards. When an
employee makes a major achievement at work, make sure they are
appropriately rewarded for it.

4. Offer both financial and intrinsic

rewards
A mixture of financial and intrinsic rewards can feature in your overall employee
incentive system. Employees are more motivated to grow on the job and
maximise their work performance if they are incentivised by both intrinsic and
extrinsic rewards. Pay attention to how employees react to intrinsic factors like a
sense of achievement, the feeling associated with succeeding at a challenging
task and feeling valued.

Even the opportunity to undertake training at work and upskill can be a reward
in itself, rather than a job requirement. If you highlight the inherent value in
learning and growth, you can successfully motivate employees to keep growing
and developing at work.

5. Reward growth and upskilling

Cultivating a culture of continuous learning in the workplace has become a
business imperative for any organisations looking to future-proof their
operations. To do this, ensure you recognise and reward not only employees
who meet their work KPIs, but also those who demonstrate their thirst for
continuous learning and upskilling.

Your rewards can be financial or intrinsic, and if they are financial, note they
don’t have to be costly. A $100 gift voucher for successful application of new
skills can be all you need to show your employees that you value those who
learn and grow in their jobs. Over time, these small measures can help you
foster a culture of continuous learning at work.
6. Make education the reward
Instead of emphasising training programs as compulsory for employees,
position them as rewards for top performers. Free training at work can open up
new work opportunities for your staff, so it’s not difficult to offer learning and
development opportunities as a reward rather than a mandate. Education and
training opportunities can be presented as incentives to individuals, as well as
teams. For teams, you could offer these as a reward for a team project that’s
delivered well and on time.

7. Link employee growth to business

outcomes
Meaning and purpose can be highly effective intrinsic motivators for staff. If you
can link an employee’s growth to organisational benefits and outcomes,
employees can feel rewarded with this type of recognition. The sense of
meaning and purpose can drive them to feel more enthusiastic about
progressing in their role and learning the skills that will directly impact the
organisation’s bottom line.

One way to do this could be through regular communications highlighting how

new skills contributed to KPIs like customer satisfaction or higher sales. You
could publicise a ‘Learner of the Month’ in recognition of employees who
undertook a training program and brought valuable skills and outcomes to the
business.

8. Offer interesting and challenging work

Whenever possible, be flexible about redefining job descriptions so your staff
have an opportunity to do work that is novel and challenging. The right degree
of challenge can encourage employees to go beyond their comfort zones. It can
support higher motivation to learn and develop. Rather than boxing employees
in rigid role descriptions, expose them to new tasks, and you could end up with
employees who are keen to learn and develop their skills.

9. Offer customised training programs

Each employee in your team has a unique set of characteristics, skills and
experience, so offering customised training programs is the best way to address
any skills gaps you might have. Requiring employees to take uniform training
programs – even when the training won’t enhance their job performance or
career prospects – can result in frustration. On the other hand, if you evaluate
skills gaps of your individual employees and give them an opportunity to learn
the areas they need to, you can better motivate them and achieve the best
training outcomes.

10. Conduct regular performance reviews

Regular performance reviews not only allow you to assess employees and give
valuable feedback, they can encourage employees to learn and grow. See
performance reviews as an opportunity to underscore any skills gaps and
motivate employees to acquire additional skills. Provide the necessary training
as well, and follow up with employees once they have completed their training
to assess their performance. Remember to give positive feedback about training
outcomes as this will also encourage them to view training and learning in a
positive light.

11. Take an interest in employees’ career

paths
You can raise employees’ motivation to learn if you take a genuine interest in
their career path. Find out about their career aspirations and contribute to
helping your employees to achieve them. Align your training programs,
especially individualised training programs, to career aspirations and goals of
your employees. If they are given opportunities for advancement and if what
they are learning supports their career aspirations, employees are naturally
motivated to learn.

12. Look for opportunities to empower and

demonstrate trust
As a supervisor, give individual team members the chance to lead and direct
their work as and when it is appropriate. Look for avenues to empower them
and allow them to feel like they are going beyond the confines of their job
descriptions and the standard expectations. By allowing them to do more and go
beyond their comfort zone, you support their growth on the job. In the process,
employees can develop more confidence in their own abilities.
You should incorporate a feedback loop into your efforts in motivating
employees. This way, your staff can continue to learn and grow, perform well on
the job, as well as receive the trust, positive feedback and empowerment they
need to keep developing.

13. Take employees’ feedback into

account
Regularly seek feedback from your staff about training and development
initiatives, and use this feedback to inform your training decisions. For example,
if your team members question the relevance of a specific training module, be
receptive to their feedback and adjust your approach if necessary.

Encourage a culture of openness where employees feel comfortable about

talking about what they experience with training and development programs.
Make it clear it’s fine for employees to approach you about their desired areas of
learning and their ideas about training and development at work. This way, your
employees will feel involved in their training program and not feel frustrated
that you’re not listening to their perspective.

14. Provide mentorship opportunities

Coaching and mentoring offer your team members invaluable opportunities for
growth on the job. They are also excellent ways to engage employees, build a
trusting and respectful company culture, and avoid high turnover. One-on-one
coaching and mentoring can provide a trusting, safe space for employees.
Regular contact with a mentor can give them a place where they feel they can
speak openly about challenges in their learning and growth.

Mentors can provide informal guidance on learning and development. Matching

the right mentor or coach to the employee is probably the biggest challenge, so
make sure the mentor you have in mind has the right experience and insights to
guide employees.

Encouraging employee growth benefits

your business
Providing future career paths and training opportunities at your organisation is
the best way to encourage employees to learn. However, a strong culture of
achievement and reward is also conducive to motivating employees to develop
and grow. By working on both culture and multifaceted incentive structures,
managers and leaders can drive employees’ motivation to learn, grow in the
workplace, and ultimately become valuable contributors in the organisation.

DeakinCo. offers purpose-built learning and development solutions to help

businesses prepare their teams for the future. To find out more about how our
bespoke training solutions can revolutionise your approach to human resource
management, contact us today.