Meaningful And Valuable Work, Not Money, Motivates Your Employees

Everybody knows the importance of having good employees. A strong team of employees will drive your company forward and separate you from the competition. Creating a robust platform for employee engagement is critical and can be compared to to supercharging your company’s engine. When it is done correctly, you will achieve more speed, power, and energy across the board.

What Improves Employee Engagement? It’s Not What You Think

Many business owners and leadership teams believe employee engagement can be bought. That might sound cynical, but the initial reaction by many companies when trying to attract or retain talent is to pay more money.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence to show that money attracts dedicated and engaged employees.

What is far more effective at building employee engagement is something that doesn’t cost any money, it is creating meaningful of work.

People want to know that the job they are performing, where they spend the majority of their day, has purpose and meaning. They want to know their work makes a difference.

As you consider your situation, you may ask yourself, what have you, or your management team, done to improve employee engagement? What could you do?

Surprisingly, there is a lot you can do beginning today.

Studies show there are four character traits your leaders should possess or develop that could greatly improve employee morale, sense of purpose, and, therefore, engagement.

The Four Traits Every Leader Needs To Build A Strong Team

Managers who possess all of the following characters traits have the ability to show employees that their work is essential and meaningful.

  • Leaders who are curious have an innate ability to motivate employees. Inquisitive managers ask questions, they learn about jobs, processes, and efficiency. Asking people about their jobs stimulates self-awareness of the importance of their work, and it shows other people have an interest in their roles. Furthermore, leaders who ask questions frequently discover and correct small problems before they grow into large problems.

  • Managers who continuously challenge themselves and their team to do a better job make work more meaningful. Most managers will quickly jump in to solve problems when projects falter. However, it gets more complicated when trying to improve projects that are doing great. However, a great manager looks for, and encourages, improvement across all projects.

  • Hiring the right person for the right job is critical but more often than not, the right fit goes beyond hiring the most skilled person for the job. Instead, the best fit comes from people who have values and beliefs aligned with the culture of the team and the business. In addition to employing this strategy when recruiting for new employees, this is very effective when forming teams for special projects. While one person may be the best fit for one team, they may not be the best fit as part of a different project team.

  • Your managers must trust their people. There is nothing quite so demoralizing as a micromanager, and the common denominator among micromanagers is they all lack trust. They don’t trust their staff or processes, and they don’t trust the quality of work. Great managers believe in their people and staff. They make determinations of effectiveness based not on “how I would do it,” but on carefully selected and measured KPI’s and other metrics.

Hiring managers who possess these skills, or helping existing leaders develop them, will transform your company into a powerhouse of innovation and efficiency.

At Equal Parts, we offer an experienced and objective view of company operations. We help companies find their potential by helping them streamline their processes and developing KPI’s. We welcome you to contact us to learn how we can help your company.