How do you get the best out of your employees in today’s society? I’m sure you would all agree that when employees are motivated, everyone benefits – the business, employees and your customers. Without motivation, the end result is poor quality work and a frustrated manager spending too much time firefighting and problem-solving.

Every workplace is different depending on the environment, from the shop or factory floor to the office, however, there is one common denominator and that’s human nature. How we react to certain situations or what influences us to act in a certain way is a huge contributing factor in our behaviors, thoughts and feelings. In short, motivation is having the desire and the willingness to do something.

When we say an employee isn’t motivated in work, the truth is that they don’t want to do the things that you want them to do – they’re simply motivated to do something different. Knowing this fact means that you will focus on the real problem and that is how to influence people to do want you want them to do within the work context. Here are a few suggestions:

Spend time and get to know your team: We are all different with our own quirks and behaviors, however, as a manager it is your responsibility to see that jobs are completed through your employees. To do this, it’s important to know your employees well and how to engage with them to get the best from them.

Incentives can work: Rewards and having goals in place helps to motivate your work force and encourage them to do the best job possible. Whether it be promotions, bonuses or other forms of recognition such as a personal ‘thank you’ or public acknowledgement.

The right environment: Most of us spend the majority of our time each day in work – that’s seven to10 long hours if you are unhappy. Ensuring the environment is right in work is really important. If it isn’t, then workplace motivation can’t be achieved. Having a bit of craic in work can go hand-in-hand with productivity – and your customers will enjoy it as well.

Give them more to do: No-one wants to be told what to do and when and how to do it every minute of the day. Giving employees a degree of responsibility and flexibility along with clear guidance on what is expected can have a surprising effect on employee motivation, with them gaining a sense of pride in what they do and of course, there are obvious benefits to you.

Accept that mistakes happen: Anticipate possible problems and plan accordingly. Encourage your team to have a plan B if something goes wrong.

And if you don’t fancy any of these suggestions, you can always threaten with a big stick or entice with a larger carrot, this will work provided the stick or carrot is big enough. However, if this is all you do, beware, you could be setting yourself up to face more resistance and conflict.

Barbara Campbell is business development manager with Movie House Cinemas Ltd. She can be contacted on 07976 209980

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