Keeping your team motivated through tough times can be challenging, and with the pace of work only increasing and disruption & change becoming the norm, the task of keeping our people motivated and engaged in the workplace can seem daunting.

Managers often struggle with the idea of motivating their teams, and often resort to command-and-control type competition such as setting individual bonus targets which pits individuals against each other. Unfortunately this type of strategy tends to have the opposite of the desired effect as the nature of work itself is interdependent and we need to collaborate and work together to achieve results.

Focus on the 3 P's

Instead, there are some simple but counterintuitive things that managers can do to help boost motivation in the workplace. Focus on these 3 Ps:

Progress – A study of over 12,000 days of data shows that managers can help make their employees happier and more successful at work by removing obstacles to progress and celebrating small wins. Read more about here

Purpose – Intrinsic motivation researchers have demonstrated that we experience up to triple the levels of motivation, engagement and productivity when our work is centred on positive meaning markers, or why our work matters to us. Help your team connect to their intrinsic motivation for their work vs extrinsic rewards & competition.

Positivity – A study by psychologist Barbara Fredrickson and mathematician Marcial Losada found that work teams with a 3:1 Positive to Negative ratio in their interactions, were significantly more productive and engaged than workgroups that did not reach this ratio – In other words it pays to keep your conversations & interactions within your team positive.