How to Inspire and Boost Employee Morale in the Office

03/04/19 | by Terrnekia Collier | Practice Management

As a business owner, the efficiency and work ethic of your team should be one of your number one priorities to make things run as smoothly as possible. Without your employees, your business would not be able to function properly and provide the best services for your clients.

If you want to achieve all the goals you’ve set for your business this year, it’s important to boost morale and create a healthy office environment so your employees feel inspired to produce great results for everyone involved.

Here are 7 ways to motivate your team to work towards achieving all your goals together.

1. Clearly Communicate Your Goals and Expectations

The only way you and your employees can actively work together to reach a certain objective is if everyone knows exactly what you are working towards. Be concise and transparent so your team isn’t confused about what you expect from them.

When you are about to begin an important project, have a meeting where everyone is present and assign specific tasks to people. Each team member will then have a hand in the project and be responsible for completing their part of the project.

If you want your employees to be able to see tangible progress for the project, there are programs that you can use in the office that allow you to do so, such as website analytics.

They will be able to actually see how far along everyone has come and what more they have to do to complete the project by the deadline.
This is also a great way to encourage each team member to stay on top of their work and encourage others to do the same.

Your office will be a well-oiled machine as all your employees will be actively working at achieving the goals you have set in place.

2. Include Your Team While Brainstorming Ideas

Don’t be afraid to ask your counterparts to help you come up with ideas to make your business thrive. Two heads are better than one and multiple heads are even better!

As a local business owner, you should be asking your staff to help you formulate a foolproof, strategic plan and it’s execution to bring in as many clients as possible.

Whether you’re devising new marketing techniques, events you can host, or conferences you can visit, it’s important you ask your employees for what ideas they may have.

This will facilitate more discussion and brainstorming from everyone about how you can be proactive in reaching your objective. Your staff will also know that you value their ideas and input.

They will know that it’s not only about what you’re trying to achieve as one person, but instead, accomplish something as a team.

This shows them that your opinion isn’t the only one that matters or that’s heard in the office.

3. Healthy Office Environment

When you hear the term ‘healthy office environment’ what does it make you think of?

Do you think of a manager that’s constantly yelling and belittling their entire staff? Do you think of a boss that makes everyone else do all the work and doesn’t do anything themselves? Or do you think of someone who gives their team little to no breaks throughout the workday?

The answer to these questions is no. When you think of a healthy office environment, you think of a space where the boss motivates you to do great work every day and makes your job enjoyable.

Also, be conscious of how good or bad your actual workspace is. Is the office clean and airy with some natural light? Or does it feel like your employees or walking into a tunnel every morning? You should want them to feel pride in where they work and a sense of comfortability.

On a regular basis, bring in nutritional snack options that will boost their energy levels. Encourage your employees to move around or stretch every now and then so they aren’t immobile and just staring at their screen all day.

Happy and healthy staff members produce better quality work and are more loyal because they know they are appreciated.

Promote positivity and a healthy state of mind in your office and others will do the same.

4. Celebrate Accomplishments

Rewarding victories makes the journey so much sweeter. Recognizing your staff for doing their job well or reaching a milestone promotes even more productivity throughout the office.

You can get creative with how you would like to celebrate the accomplishments of your team, but if you’re struggling to come up with ideas, here are a few options:

Team lunch/dinner on you
Certificate of achievement
Company offsite event (bowling, movies, etc.)
Bring your pet to work day
Employee of the month
Free coffee for everyone

You can be as creative or as traditional as you like as long as you do something to show your employees you appreciate them.

5. Work-Life Balance

In order for your staff to be proactive and productive on the job, they must have a good balance between their personal and work life.

There needs to be a medium for when they are in-office and when they are away. It can sometimes be difficult for workers to split their time and energy between the two.

But, if they receive encouragement from you as their boss, they may feel more inclined to actually take that time away so that they can regroup.
If they have PTO that they’ve been wanting to use, allow them to do so and get away for a little so they can come back refreshed and ready to tackle their workload.

6. Provide Feedback and Constructive Criticism (and listen to it as well)

Asking your employees what they think or how they feel is a great way to meet in the middle so everyone can be better equipped for situations in the future.

For example, if you own a veterinary practice and you think your social media manager could have done more promotion on your social channels to advertise the free vaccination event you had, tell them.
Give them ideas on what you think they could have done better and also ask them what they think they could have done better to produce a higher turnout.

Provide them with feedback as often as you can so they always know what your expectations are and how they can achieve them.
But it’s just as important to be conscious of how you express this feedback to your staff. Don’t be condescending or make them feel like they can’t do their job.

Give them constructive criticism that they can actually use to make necessary improvements.

You should also be open to feedback as well. Don’t think that because you are the boss that you’re above criticism. You are all working together, so if your team feels there are ways you can better perform as a leader, be open to those ideas and opinions as well.

7. Allow Opportunities for Growth and Development

As your employees learn more and enhance their skill set, you should provide them with opportunities to grow.

Opening up a higher position specifically tailored for an employee that has been doing exceptionally well allows them more room for advancement.
You can also offer more in-depth training, challenge them with new objectives, or even mentor them. Teach them transferable skills that will help them climb that career ladder and eventually reach the position they want to be in.

Putting a plan into action

Now that you know different ways to create a healthy work environment for your employees to thrive in, use this knowledge to make this year the best yet! Provide your staff with all the tools they need to excel and watch your business and your team succeed.