Motivation- the word that holds great importance in personal as well as professional lives.  We often say or hear people saying that they didn’t get motivation to finish a particular task; they lacked motivation to initiate something. Yes, motivation is crucial, especially in professional lives when it comes to beating the competition. Providing motivation may seem easy when heard but not practically.

It is a very difficult task. What happens when a new joinee comes onboard in an organization or an existing employee looks for some light in his darkest of the job roles? It is difficult for them to start with their jobs. Why is it so?  What do they lack? The simple answer for these questions is that they lack motivation. They need that fuel (motivation) which would help them run their engine; basically carry out the tasks successfully. But motivating someone, especially the employees when talking in context of the organization is not easy. The leaders or supervisors need to be extremely sharp, creative and focused to understand their subordinates’, colleagues’ problems.

Below are few pointers which would help supervisors or leaders act in accordance with motivating the employees:

• Highlight the importance of employees: Employees get highly motivated when they come to know how important they and their work for the organization are. They find utmost happiness when they are recognized and are involved in organizational processes. They need to be made understand the context of their work like Why is it done? For whom is it done? How would it be beneficial, etc.? This helps make them more productive.

• Proactive solutions for Employee challenges: As the first step suggests, the employees get motivated when they realize the importance and value of themselves and their work. But this does not solely help in keep the employees motivated. They would face certain challenges during the tenure of working. The leaders need to anticipate those possible hurdles to provide solutions for the same. Proactive solutions might be useful in avoiding the hurdles, thereby enabling employees to be more active, productive and motivated.

• Constant Appreciation for contributions: Appreciations, Acknowledgements and Rewards are very tempting. They are a great source of motivation. The leaders should make it a point to be aware of the contributions made by the employees. Appreciating the efforts of the employees make them feel more wanted and observed. When efforts go unnoticed it greatly hurts. Thus constant appreciation and recognitions should be made to keep the employees motivated which would further help to increase their productivity.

• Assess self- motivation: Last but not the least, self-assessment is an important step. To motivate others, it is very important for one-self to be motivated. If you’re not engaged and enthusiastic about your company, your team, or the work you do, it’s unlikely that you’ll be a great motivator of others. Thus a check on self-motivation and working towards being self-motivated is very important.

Connect with your own motivation, and share it freely with your team. Just be actively engaged and involved with your subordinates. This will make the entire process easy for you.

Written by Faber Ramya Pillai