Motivating your employees can be a difficult process. Maybe you try financial incentives or office recognition like “Employee of the Month.." These can only be so successful because true motivation needs to come from within. Here are some basics to help you motivate your workforce.

Abraham Maslow

Every employee is driven by a different set of needs. Abraham Maslow studied these needs and has a set of five particular needs pertaining to the workplace.

1. Physiological: The most basic; food, shelter, clothing, etc.
2. Safety: Both in physical work environment and job security.
3. Social: People generally look for positive relationships with managers and colleagues, they want to feel like part of a team.
4. Ego: Recognition for a job well done.
5. Self-actualization: Leveraging ones talents and skills to achieve personal and professional goals.

Use these types of needs to help assess where your employees fall. Then work from there.

Promote Teamwork

First, be as transparent as possible and share organizational goals. Then be sure to provide feedback to help people see how they are contributing to those goals.

Treat each other with respect and curtsey. Just because you are a manager doesn’t mean you should talk down to other employees – “please." and “thank you." go a long way. Build in training and reward programs to help everyone grow and see their progress first hand. Couple that with sounds HR policies like honest annual reviews and you’ll be on your way to creating a high functioning workplace with motivated team members.

Consistent Effort