How Do I Motivate My Employees?

2020 brought every business across America, new challenges. From sending your employees home to work to social distancing and mask-wearing, as a business leader, you had to adapt. There is one challenge though, that predates and outlives Covid-19. This ever-present plague is called Complacency, and chances are, you've seen it hard at work in your company.

From lowered productivity that affects your bottom line to serious safety accidents that injure or even take the life of one of your workers, complacency, the "I've done this a million times" autopilot mindset, can wreak havoc on your company. So how do you create systemic and cultural change at the core of your company so that every single individual CARES enough to be the best they can be?

Hire a Motivational Speaker

Will a motivational speaker solve every problem at your company overnight? No. But the smartest business leaders recognize that motivational speakers have the power to bring people together and "rally the troops". Motivational speakers, on a base level, are great for getting the people on your team on the same page. In the words of Henry Ford,

"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is a success." Beyond just getting everyone’s mind in agreement, the most skilled safety motivational speakers understand that for a company to see real and lasting change, they must reach the heart of each individual sitting in the audience.

Take Ricky Rollins for instance. He's a National Safety Council Top 5 Safety Motivational Speaker and has even been selected as a Keynote Speaker for The National Safety Council's 2021 Virtual Conference. What makes Ricky such an effective motivational speaker? Ricky takes each member of his audience through his first-hand journey through a life-threatening work accident and the impact it had on those he loved the most. Mark Dryer of Roanoke Steel had the following to say after hearing Ricky Rollins' presentation - “Ricky’s presentation, ‘The Day We Will Remember’, was excellent. It was hard to find a dry eye in the audience.” Ricky selflessly uses the pain of his own story to reach people’s hearts.

It’s about more than just scaring or punishing people into the behavior you want to see. For people to stay motivated, they have to be reminded of WHY their actions matter.

Get your Employee’s “Circle” Involved

One of the greatest tools you have in motivating your employees is those around them. When your employee stops to think about their individual motivation and WHY doing the job right matters, they are more likely to complete the task at hand correctly. 

A serious injury isn’t just about the pain and time away from work that an employee will experience. It’s about how it will affect those they love. Try asking “what would your kids do if you got seriously injured, or worse today” or “If you got seriously injured today, what things would get harder for your family”.

Ricky Rollin’s Circle Theory says that “What happens to an employee affects the people in their circle, and what happens to them comes right back around and affects the employee”. And if you’ve ever had a seriously sick or injured loved one in your own home, you know just how true this is.

You know that life shifts when one of your family members is down. It’s not just about the financial burden an injury can place on a family, but also the mental and emotional burden of becoming caretakers. The whole focus and energy of the family have to shift to getting that person better. Chores and responsibilities the injured party used to care for are now the burdens of other family members who already have a full plate of responsibilities.

So as a business leader, ask yourself how you can help your employees to forge a stronger mental and emotional connection between the work they do and their circle. Is a family-friendly company event possible? If not, it can be as simple as taking an active and genuine interest in your employee’s life.

Genuinely Connect with Your Employees

“We aren’t coworkers here, we are a family.” How many times have you heard that tired phrase? 

Many times I’ll hear HR reps or managers use that term only to see the eye rolls and muffled chuckles of their teammates. This well-meaning turn of phrase falls on deaf ears in many workplaces because employees increasingly feel their boss couldn’t even pick them out of a crowd - “I’m just worker number 346 to my boss.” So how do we genuinely connect with our employees?

Do as you say:

If you tell your employees to be safe or be productive, yet they see that you aren’t following your own advice, you can wave goodbye to their respect for you. As business and safety leaders, you and I have to lead by example 24/7, 365. Safety isn’t just a job for us, it’s a way of life. It’s not always easy and it takes effort, but it’s well worth it. Your diligence and integrity might just save someone’s (or your own) life one day.

Be present:

Can you take just 5 minutes a day to check in with your team? Is there anything they need in order to do their job in a safer way? Or maybe an employee works up the courage to come and speak to you about a near miss; when they come and speak with you, are you just hearing them and checking off boxes, or are you really listening? Being present, be empathetic and your employees will sense and know that they, as an individual, really matter to you.  

Celebrate wins:

Some managers practice what I like to call, “whack-a-mole” leadership. Their whole mission is to just “whack down” an employee when they see an undesirable behavior. While unsafe behaviors and near misses must be addressed, they should be viewed as a teaching moment, not a time for punishment. The most effective managers don’t spend all of their time looking for someone to punish, instead, they look for someone to praise. See someone wearing their hard hat today or maybe you saw someone take a moment to clean up a spill that could have caused an injury - take a moment to go shake that employee’s hand, look them in the eye and tell them how much you appreciate the fact that they put safety first today. When you celebrate wins with your team, it boosts their confidence, happiness and will motivate them to be safe even when you aren't around. 

Get Started Today

Motivating your employees and creating a healthy and happy company culture takes time. Don't wait any longer. Starting today may save a life tomorrow. Contact Ricky Rollins to learn more about booking a motivational session for your team.