The Motivation Formula: 5 Keys to Promoting Focus, Attention and Action

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Motivated employees contribute towards innovations and making changes in their organizations. Motivation is directed to people’s emotions and it is important for learning, mindset, and productivity.

The motivation elements include confidence in accomplishing tasks, believing in worthwhile outcomes, and perception that the outcome value is worth the efforts. When employees are focused, pay attention to what they need to do, and take action, they are likely to be more productive. Let’s dig deeper into the keys to promoting focus, attention, and action.

1. Practice self-care

It is not right for you to work overwork yourself. Your organization should emphasize the importance of practicing self-care. To enable your employees to enjoy a happy and healthy lifestyle, you must deliberately promote their well-being. Invest in promoting self-care to boost motivation and improve productivity.

Allow your employees off days, vacation days, and time to unwind with their families and friends. You can also allow employees to skip some meetings and emphasize employee wellness. This can meet the psychological, mental, and physical needs of employees.

Prioritizing self-care reduces symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression, enhances self-esteem, boosts the immune system, and improves physical health. Employees who practice self-care are more engaged, motivated, and productive in their workplace.

One of the best ways through which you can practice self-care is by leading by example. Your employees cannot practice self-care if you are not focusing on your well-being. Demonstrating self-care to your employees can encourage and motivate your employees to also do it.

You can also provide well-being training to help employees to take care of themselves. The training sessions can cover topics such as stress management, sleep, mindfulness, nutrition, and more. Offering well-being training shows that you care about the well-being of your employees.

2. Clarify the work value

Ensure that all employees understand why and how things should be done in a particular way. Write specific and clear job descriptions and present them to your employees before hiring them. Let your employees understand that the written job descriptions represent minimum job expectations. As such, they can go beyond the specifications by taking up extra responsibilities or initiating new projects.

Work with them to set realistic and motivating goals for their performance. Strike a balance and avoid setting the expectations too high or too low. Meeting with your employees frequently can help to keep them focused and motivated. Organize a monthly meeting with them to discuss organizational goals and progress. Be transparent and direct concerning work deadlines, quotas, and other project details. Regular team meetings can help to ensure everyone’s participation and collaboration, which is important for work progress and accomplishment of goals.

Another approach to clarifying work value is by asking employees open-ended questions to check their understanding of tasks. Instead of asking questions requiring a “yes” or “no” answer, ask them for explanations of their understanding of tasks. Encourage employees to ask questions as well and maintain a clear line of communication and encourage two-way feedback.

3. Define goals clearly

When employees are faced with a challenging task or project, you need to find ways to keep them focused and motivated. You can achieve this by breaking down a large project into small manageable tasks. This can boost the employee confidence because they will learn how to complete one activity before proceeding to the next.

Business goals create guidance and direction for an organization. They convert vision into attainable targets and therefore allow employees to pay attention to what they are required to do. Your employees become more spirited and enthusiastic about their work.

They avoid wasting time asking for goal clarification and they get more interested in their work, especially when you introduce some forms of rewards. Individuals who are motivated are self-driven and therefore able to perform well, whether alone or in a team. Such employees can identify objectives and identify their areas of focus.

4. Acknowledge work-related obstacles

Most of the tasks that employees are required to undertake have obstacles. Dealing with such obstacles requires you to own them. Discuss them with your employees and encourage them to be open about the difficulties they may be facing. Give them the freedom to brainstorm as a team as they seek solutions.

Common obstacles that you can discuss with your employees include:

• Fear of failure
• Exhaustion
• Inadequate resources
• Inadequate skills
• Excuses
• Lack of patience
• Distraction
• Difficulty in making choices

Assuming that employees are not facing any obstacles may kill motivation. Encouraging employees to remain positive can boost motivation and enable them to remain focused and take appropriate action when needed. It can also help to overcome challenges relating to coworker conflicts and job rejections.

You should encourage your employees to seek help whenever they face challenges instead of instilling fear among them. Seek help from your seniors to set a good example to the others.

Asking for help can boost employee confidence and motivate them. It is also important for you to know when to delegate duties and responsibilities. Delegation not only relieves you of workload but also encourages employees to acquire new knowledge and stay motivated.

5. Review past successes

Past experiences can help to build confidence and motivate employees. When you start a new project, encourage your employees by talking to them about the previous successful projects. Create an environment that can enable them to achieve similar or better results even in crunch situations.

When employees learn that there have been previous successes under similar circumstances, they can be motivated. You can relate the previous projects with the current projects as you help employees to understand how past projects have helped the organization.

Elaborate how a project will benefit the company to ensure that the team appreciates and is committed to undertaking it. Maintaining this momentum can promote communication and encourage employees to generate new ideas to support the project.

If the employees involved in the current project were also involved in a previous one, recognize their job well done even if you had done it before. When employees are recognized for a job well done, they will be encouraged to continue working hard and encourage their peers. Recognized employees tend to enjoy their work more than those who are not recognized.

Conclusion

Motivated employees tend to be innovative and they contribute to the overall success of an organization. Making efforts and taking time to motivate employees by adopting the above motivation formula can enable you to meet your business goals easily. It doesn’t matter the industry you are in. Your company can stand out based on the creativity and innovations that your brand offers the market. Create an environment to nurture innovation and see your business move to the next level.