How do you motivate your staff to produce optimal performance?

Employees won't work harder for you, but they will work harder for themselves. That's why you have to findout what motivates them. And you have to learn how to influence that motivation.

Step by Step

Bruce and Pepitone offer eight steps that will help you get employees to want to perform better.

• First, help them stretch. Work with employees to set individual goals that exceed their job requirements.
• Set clear performance standards, and be specific about outcomes.
• Make sure people understand how what they do affects what others do.
• Ask employees to suggest ideas on how to improve their performance.
• Write down the performance standards you've agreed on, and give copies of the lists to employees.
• Decide what should be done.
• Make sure it is done. Offer guidance and feedback when appropriate.
• Finally, reward people for meeting or exceeding standards. Don't limit your thinking to material rewards.Instead, offer employees more autonomy, more responsibility, or even a new software package. Send out amemo publicly commending their work. Have the team recognize their contribution. Give a certificate. Tailor the reward to the person as well as to the achievement. But don't make the mistake of thinking thatdangling a carrot is all you need to do. It's just part of a larger strategy.

Motivating Employees shows you how to design such a strategy, one that works for you and your workforce.

Make Employees Your Business PartnersGet your people to feel a sense of ownership in your company, and they'll be motivated to take better care ofit. Doing this can be as easy as:

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• showing employees how to understand your annual report
• sharing documents that describe financial goals and strategic plans
• giving them articles and publications about your organization
• helping employees stay current in the industry by sending them to conferences and trade shows
• brainstorming with them
• celebrating successes and treating mistakes as "teachable moments"

i fully agree with mr  vinod