12 April, 2022
Employee Engagement Strategies for a Team with Diverse Motivation Levels
The rapidly evolving nature of the world has been described by the acronym VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous). In such a multifarious era, people as well as organizations’ mindsets across the globe are undergoing phenomenal changes, resulting in a diverse, assorted, and compound workforce. Employees are now willfully aware of their contributions and glean the importance of being recognized for it. They also demand sustainable engagement practices that humanize the nature of work.
Amid these transformative events, a new-fangled challenge that has emerged is engaging teams with diverse motivation levels. Thus, apart from devising contemporary employee engagement strategies that align with the new-age HR revolution, it is also imperative to take individual personas into consideration instead of adopting a blanket approach.
Each Employee is Different!
Managing a team can be incredibly testing, as you have to deal with conflicting personalities and find a leeway that can encourage everyone despite their inherent differences. A key variance factor observed within teams is the deflection in individual motivation levels. When employees lack motivation, they are often disengaged. And vice versa, when employees are disengaged, they are more likely to be demotivated. On the other hand, an employee who is already up and running with motivation may feel excluded or ignored if his/her contributions go unnoticed or underappreciated.
So, how do you keep highly motivated employees engaged, move employees in the middle to a higher level, and address those exhibiting downfall to improve the team’s overall performance? Read on for effective employee engagement strategies that can help tackle your motivation problems head on by assessing and uniquely adjusting the employee experience.
Engaging Highly Motivated Employees
Prolific employees with a track record of exemplary performance are the biggest asset to your organization. However, such employees are notorious for being difficult to retain as they crave consistent challenges and expect to be extrinsically driven. A stagnant work environment, stationary job role, and task boredom are a few factors that can contribute to disengagement and consequently, loss of motivation.
Leaders may sometimes tend to ignore such self-motivated people as they do not require the same level of micromanagement and attention as their counterparts. Rather, a tailored engagement program needs to be established that can proactively facilitate a transparent communication channel, help set measurable goals, and provide constructive feedback. Research reveals 3 ways to retain high-potential talent: career pathing and support, greater authority, and feedback and communication. Here are a few strategies that can be adopted to accelerate engagement within employees that exhibit high motivation levels:
1. Offer extrinsic rewards: These employees already exhibit intrinsic motivation, what they need is an extrinsic nudge that encourages them to Research. The impact of extrinsic rewards depends on its design and administration, so make sure to implement a personalized rewards and recognition framework that can empower employees with the freedom of choice. Read more about customized rewards here.
2. Encourage L&D and internal upward mobility: Provide access to leadership development programs and virtual coaching opportunities to help employees build self-awareness. Conduct interdepartmental training, incentivize L&D sessions, offer opportunities to work on special projects and make lateral moves to other positions.
3. Provide constructive feedback: Honest assessment of performance coupled with quantifiable metrics can validate an employees’ potential. Implement a feedback submission and assessment scheme through a digital employee engagement platform to facilitate a two-way communication channel.
Engaging Demotivated Employees
Work motivation, as an umbrella term, can be broken down into two main constructs- intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is an internal driver that inspires employees to accomplish the task at hand and derive personal satisfaction from their jobs. This internalized feeling of fulfilment and gratification is the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to demotivated employees, and conscious efforts should be made to revitalize and rejuvenate motivation levels within such people. A few ways in which engagement can be fostered are:
1. Adopt a 360-degree recognition framework: Making recognition a handy, convenient, and equally distributed process is one of the best ways to keep up the morale among your team. An employee recognition software can be used to automate and streamline the flow of appreciation across the hierarchy, ensuring maximized visibility to every level from manager to grassroots.
2. Conduct employee surveys and polls: Asking the right questions is instrumental in devising damage-control strategies to upscale and re-engage employees with downtrodden motivation. Leverage an employee engagement software to design DIY surveys and polls with data-driven insights on responses to pinpoint the difficulties hindering an employees’ growth.
3. Nudges: An intuitive, user-friendly platform can go a long way in creating favorable nudges in the form of notifications through multiple mediums such as email, SMS or in-app to remind managers to appreciate and recognize contributions, regardless of magnitude. A little appreciation can do wonders in reviving motivation among discouraged employees.
Striking a Balance between the Two
The tricky fragment of adjusting your engagement approach to cater to each employees’ needs is initiating a personalized approach without creating the impression of bias or favoritism. Thus, consider designing a robust DI&E program in cohorts with a customized employee engagement strategy that can ensure fairness and justice within the workplace.
Gratifi’s robust digital employee engagement solution can help build an engaged and committed workforce whilst catering to individual motivation levels. Connect with us to know how!