• How-to

Your employees are your key assets. If you want to grow business by leaps and bounds, a motivated and dedicated team is the answer. However, these days it takes more than bucks to motivate people, especially in a startup environment. Of course, motivation levels also depend on the kind of employee you are dealing with. With those at lower levels, cash may work up to a point but with others you’ve got to provide a lot more. What you’ve got to do is very simple, provided you are committed to the long-term.

Friendly culture
An open-air environment is the order of the day. As an employer, you should strive to create a culture where employees are excited. School-like rigidity is passé. Instead, give them flexible work hours, options to work from home if required, and provide basic resources like phone and internet connections in such cases. Allow for fun in office, whether it’s by dedicating a small space for recreational activities or just by allowing them to listen to music while working. At the same time it’s important to let them know that deadlines are not to be compromised.

Buzz about your brand
Brand building isn’t always about spending big bucks to advertise. It can also be about the smaller things like good customer service or high quality products you deliver. Your brand must appeal to your employees and as an entrepreneur your task is to build a system that motivates them to work for you.

Start small and advertise your brand within the ecosystem, or even with your employees’ friends and families. Hold small gatherings where they get a chance to demonstrate/display their work to a significant lot. It’s a good way to get them in top form!

Less discipline, more responsibility
Keep it simple and straightforward. A strong delegation of responsibilities and the freedom to do more outside employees’ formal role is a good mix to motivate. Nowadays, even fresh graduates from top B-schools and design institutes are looking for more than just a fancy package. This includes an environment where they can learn more in shorter time spans, unlike at MNCs or software giants where training itself extends for two years. So make sure you give your employees, at least the doers in the team, tough projects to crack so they may have something valuable to their credit.

A trusting, interactive corporate set up is what you should be aiming at. Also, work with those who have aspirations similar to yours, even if they want to start off on their own in time to come. Employees get motivated by vibes, those that are for them and not to scrutinize them.

Freebies
Always known to be a crowd-puller, you’ll definitely earn some brownie points as an employer and have a charged up team. You could either plan certain periodic offsites, family days or invest in training to improve specific skill sets, in passes to important conferences and in work-related events.

If you want something more uniform to cater to all rungs of employees, take on the costs for lunch. A free lunch is hard to give up!

©Entrepreneur August 2011

Tags:
brand, employees, motivate, performance