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1. Make Expectations Clear
Employees without goals will be naturally aimless. Provide them with clear achievable goals and make sure there are measurable standards in place to evaluate their performance.
2. Provide Continuous Feedback
Immediate, continuous feedback lets an employee know that their actions affect the company.
3. Correct Privately
Most people are not motivated by negative feedback, especially if they feel it’s embarrassing. The only acceptable place to discuss an ongoing, performance-related issue or correcting a recent, specific error is in the employee’s office or your own, with the door closed.
4. Believe in Your Employees
Whether you tell him so during an employee performance review, or in the breakroom, an employee whose boss constantly calls him worthless, or a screw-up will feel a lot of emotions. He will not, however, feel particularly motivated to improve his performance.
5. Make Rewards Achievable
Everyone is familiar with the annual bonus trip awarded to the top-performing employee. The problem is, such rewards usually go to one or two employees. This leaves the rest of your staff feeling like there’s not much point in working hard because the same few people always reap the rewards.
