When we think of employee engagement, we envision people putting in their very best efforts because they are passionate about their jobs. While love for their work is essential, other factors such as growth opportunities, incentives, collaboration, and work-life balance play a big role in how engaged and motivated your employees are about working at the company.

With remote and hybrid work models, managers need to develop a game plan to ensure that their team is feeling valued. This will ensure your employees are in fact happy and satisfied at the company. You want to create the type of atmosphere that brings out the best in every team member and makes everyone want to be there. Developing a strategy to make employees feel more engaged will do just that.

Helpful Ways to Keep Your Employees Engaged and Motivated

1. Be clear with your goals and vision

Define your business goals and vision and communicate them clearly. Be specific about the role each individual plays toward achieving these goals, as well as the steps they need to take. This helps avoid confusion about who is responsible for what and makes everyone feel like an important part of the team.

2. Recognize and reward

Recognizing your team and letting your employees know you appreciate their hard work will help them feel valued. Employees who feel appreciated will feel motivated to continue performing well. A great way to recognize your employee is by simply taking the time to tell them you appreciate them in a meeting. You can also highlight specific examples of good work they have done recently. Be sure to do this regularly with everyone on the team, mixing private recognition with public (in front of other team members or the whole company when appropriate) recognition.

3. Provide growth opportunities

Knowing that there is an opportunity to grow is a major factor in employee engagement. Take the time to get to know your teammates and where their potential lies. Learning about what they are interested in and how they want to grow in their career. You can then help them with opportunities such as job-shadowing, cross-training, or giving them more responsibility to fuel their interest in job growth. Additionally, growth doesn’t necessarily always have to be vertical but can be in other areas that promote self-development and encourage exploration of other opportunities that boost happiness and engagement.

4. Foster trust

While working together, your team should feel like they can trust their coworkers as well as their manager. Create a supportive environment where any obstacles that arise will be dealt with in a mature and understanding way. If you make mistakes, admit them and be honest. Not only will your teammates appreciate your transparency, but they will feel comfortable having frank conversations. It’s much more productive if employees feel empowered to disclose and fix errors, rather than try to hide them.

5. Enhance collaboration

When working towards a shared objective, encouraging teamwork will help promote synergy within the team and give employees the opportunity to share ideas. With this collaboration, team members feel heard and know that their ideas are taken into consideration while working together.

6. Encourage creativity

Get your team members to think outside the box! Encouraging your team to be creative will push them out of their comfort zone and provide a break from the daily routine. By honing creativity, you might also end up with some great ideas that could fuel efficiency in completing a project.

7. Set up 1:1 meetings

Having a one on one with your employee will not only mean a lot to them but it will give you both an opportunity to identify professional development opportunities, challenges and other priorities that will help further their career. When employees can get direct feedback and see the path to growth, they will feel encouraged to continue down this path.

Managing a team with multiple individuals and experience levels can be challenging. However, getting to know your team and helping them reach their potential will truly help in keeping your team engaged and motivated while letting them know they are a valuable part of your organization.

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