How to motivate a team at work: 8 tips

Several tips for motivating work teams in organizations.

In this article we are going to see a summary of how to motivate a team at workIn this article we are going to see a summary of how to motivate a work team, taking into account tools of work psychology to answer this question. In addition, we will review the concept of work motivation.

What is work motivation?

Before we look at how to motivate a work team, let's look at the key concepts.

Motivation refers to the personal component that is the cause of mobilizing a person to achieve certain objectives. to achieve certain objectives.

When we refer to work motivation, we are talking about all those components that motivate the subject to perform their work satisfactorily. When it comes to work groups, this motivation should be collective, and focused on all team members cooperating with each other. who cooperate with each other.

The idea is that all the subjects that are part of the work team are oriented to fulfill their assignments in a way that is adequate for the interests of the organization as a whole.

There are two sources of motivation, which are internal and external.. Internal motivation is all that which originates because the person wishes to satisfy a personal desire; for example, to learn a profession in a real work environment.

External motivation, on the other hand, is motivated by an object interest. That is, the subject is motivated on the basis of what he/she will receive in return after being fulfilled with his/her tasks; it could be a salary improvement, a bonus, etc.

How to motivate a team at work

Now we will see a list of the best techniques and tips on how to motivate groups according to organizational and work psychology; the order in which they are found does not determine their effectiveness.

1. Good leadership

To achieve a good performance by the members of a group it is important that its leader does not focus only on the direction of the project, but also that he/she is able to work with the group's members. the human component of each of the team's participants. of each of the team's participants.

A good leader does not only demand results from his employees, but also makes sure that their needs are met. is concerned that their needs are met, as well as taking into account the different needs of the team.He also takes into account the different personal motivations of each one of them.

2. Good incentives

A salary improvement or some occasional bonuses are not enough to encourage the team to give the best of themselves.These are only short-term motivations. Only with them, after a while their effects will eventually fade away, and team members will feel uncomfortable or dissatisfied again.

The best work incentives are to provide workers with an optimal work environment for their daily performance, where they do not feel too pressured or uncomfortable about their work situation. In addition, it is necessary to clearly define to each member of the team what their role is.

3. Prevent mobbing

Harassment at work is one of the main causes of workers feeling frustrated and decreasing their productivity and satisfaction. We must be attentive to this situation within our work groups, so as not to allow anyone to suffer it. not allow anyone to suffer it..

4. Extra-workplace programs

This type of initiatives are aimed at providing workers with knowledge and tools that improve their quality of life in general terms, and consequently their performance in terms of work will also increase.Consequently, their performance in terms of work will also increase.

For example, some extra-work programs could be; emotional management workshops, talks on assertive communication at work, implementing the practice of some sport discipline among the members of the work team, etc.

5. Provide information to the team

To the extent that the team feels more involved in the work project, it will be more likely that they will perform better with respect to the activities of each one in their respective areas of action. The leader should be sure to provide sufficient information to his or her workers to make them feel included and aware of the project. to make them feel included and aware of what is going on..

6. Recognize effort

Every good employee likes to have his or her efforts recognized. Simply letting employees know that they are doing well at a given time will help them feel that their effort is worthwhile. at any given time will help them feel that their effort is worthwhile.

7. Create involved leadership

A common mistake among workgroup leaders is to think that it is enough to give the necessary directions for the workgroup to do the rest; nothing could be more counterproductive than this for the motivation of staff members.

A good leader not only says what needs to be done, but also actively participates in the process of doing it. actively participates in the process of carrying out the activities.. He shows the workers that he is also one of them and teaches by example.

8. Moderate rotations

No team member would like to be having to go through constant adaptation processes; that is why you must be careful when implementing rotations as a method to be careful when implementing rotations as a work method for your project. for your project. If you overuse this resource, you may feel discouraged in your group.

The ideal is to create stable groups where each member of that department feels secure in his or her position and does not have the uncertainty that at any moment he or she will have to take his or her things and change places.

9. Establish clear, short-term goals

To motivate, it is very important to set goals that are not completely abstract, but easy to defineand that can also be broken down into other sub-goals in the medium and long term.

In this way, everyone will be clear about what to do and will be jointly involved in not losing the good rhythm that leads to the achievement of these goals. Otherwise, there would be no clear incentives and out of sheer inertia workers would tend not to care much about whether they perform as required.

Bibliographical references:

• Goldberg, Y.K., Eastwood, J.D., LaGuardia, J., Danckert, J. (2011). Boredom: An emotional experience distinct from apathy, Anhedonia, or depression. Journal of Social and Clinical.- Guilford Press.
• Rodríguez Fernández, A. (2004). Psicología de las organizaciones (1. ed. edición). Barcelona: Editorial UOC.
• Truxillo, D.M.; Bauer, T.N.; Erdogan, B. (2016). Psychology and Work: Perspectives on Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Nueva York: Psychology Press / Taylor & Francis.
• Uysal, M. (1994). Testing the push and pull factors. Annals of Tourism Research, 21(4): pp. 844 - 846.