by Dr. R. Kay Green | Featured Contributor
Business owners ask how to make their employees more productive, more focused, or more loyal. Less frequently, they ask how to make their employees more excited. And this is a problem, because learning how to excite employees can often lead to employees that are more productive, focused, loyal, and more.
Making your business somewhere they want to work, instead of somewhere they need to work to get a paycheck, is incredibly powerful. But how can you do that? Here are twenty suggestions to get your employees excited this year.
- Call out good behavior. You might be surprised how effective simple acknowledgment is at exciting your employees. People want to be recognized when they do something well.
- Start an incentives program. Rewarding employees for good work is a great way to get them excited about doing it! Little things like gift cards can make big impacts.
- Let them try new things. If employees do the same thing day after day, the work gets stagnant. What excited them on day one might not excite them on day 30. Let them shake things up by trying new things, and you can make sure that they stay excited about what they do.
- Give them ownership of their work. It is a lot easier to get excited about work that feels like it is uniquely yours. So by giving employees ownership over their work, you help make them feel excited about it.
- Encourage volunteering. People like feeling like they are having a positive impact. Encouraging volunteering on company time helps make the day-to-day job more exciting, because they are able to help people as well.
- Offer flex time or remote opportunities. These are very exciting to employees, because it allows them to take control of their own schedule. It also helps to remove some stressors that could impede excitement, such as difficult commutes.
- Remember things about them. Employees will be excited to work for you if they think you see them as a person. Remembering things like their birthdays or hobbies can shows that you care.
- Make sure there is room for growth. People will not be as excited for their position if they do not think that there is room for growth. Make sure you are checking in with employees about five and ten year plans.
- It is all about workplace culture. If your workplace culture is one of excitement and innovation, it will rub off on your employees. If your workplace culture is one of stagnancy and complacency, that will rub off on them, too.
- Keep them up-to-date on what the company is doing. It is hard to get excited about things when you do not even really know what is happening! Make sure your employees are up-to-date on whatever it is that your company is doing.
- Take interest in their goals. This goes back to our point about growth, and showing interest in your employees as a person. Show that you care about their future as much as they do, and get excited with them about their opportunities.
- Try to “gamify” tasks. People are predisposed to like games. Whenever possible, try to make tasks more entertaining and exciting by turning them into “games.” This can tie into the incentives mentioned above, with rewards being given out when they hit a certain point.
- Focus on core values and intrinsic motivation. External motivating factors like incentives and perks are very exciting. But internal excitement is just as powerful. Make sure that your employees understand and share the core values that are at the heart of everything you do.
- Make your office space amazing. Nothing energizes and excites us more than our surroundings. So make sure that your employees are surrounded by things that are thought-provoking or entertaining!
- Encourage competition… Competition is a great way to get excitement into your employees’ days. It makes them get engaged in their work on a different level, and gets them communicating with other employees.
- But do not pit employees against each other. All that said, at the end of the day friendly competition should be focused on the first word, not the second. Make sure that the competition is designed to encourage camaraderie and that no one is feeling as though they are being actively worked against or slighted.
- Plan a retreat. Sometimes the best way to get employees excited by work is to get them all to take a break. And a retreat is a way to turn that break into something productive, whether it is used for team-building purposes, education, or just some well deserved relaxation time.
- Be honest. They say that “honesty is the best policy,” and this certainly applies to keeping employees excited. Be up-front with them about what is going on.
- Make sure employees know why they are doing something. If you want to get your employees excited about their work, make sure they understand the meaning behind it. It is hard to get excited about tiny pieces if you do not know where they fit into the big picture.
- Give them the chance to learn. People love to learn, and find it exciting when they are able to put new lessons into use. Give your employees that chance by sending them to classes custom-tailored to their work.
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Dr. R. Kay Green – Marketing Expert from RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. from Atlanta, GA.
Dr. R. Kay Green is the CEO/President of RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. With over 190,000+ Twitter followers, 35,000+ Facebook Likes, and the Top 1% LinkedIn profile designation, Dr. Kay, a self-motivated trailblazer, is the Quintessential “New-Age” Professional Woman, and PhD Marketing Pro. She earned a Doctorate of Business Administration in Marketing, and has completed PhD coursework in Leadership and Organization Change. She also holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Management, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, and an Associate of Arts in Marketing Management.
She is affiliated with several prestigious universities and has instructed over 350 courses online. A popular speaker on Marketing and Business topics, Dr. Green is currently featured on Huffington Post, Black Enterprise, Black News, The Network Journal, Business Review USA, Digital Journal, College View, Business New Hampshire Magazine, Bay State Banner, Reader’s Circle, North Dallas Gazette, Harlem News, Top News Today, One News Page, NE Informer, Women in Business PR News, Consumer News Today, Women PR News, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Daily Herald, The Miami Herald, and Book News Articles.
Dr. R. Kay Green is the CEO/President of RKG Marketing Solutions Inc. With over 190,000+ Twitter followers, 35,000+ Facebook Likes, and the Top 1% LinkedIn profile designation, Dr. Kay, a self-motivated trailblazer, is the Quintessential “New-Age” Professional Woman, and PhD Marketing Pro. She earned a Doctorate of Business Administration in Marketing, and has completed PhD coursework in Leadership and Organization Change. She also holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Management, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, and an Associate of Arts in Marketing Management.
She is affiliated with several prestigious universities and has instructed over 350 courses online. A popular speaker on Marketing and Business topics, Dr. Green is currently featured on Huffington Post, Black Enterprise, Black News, The Network Journal, Business Review USA, Digital Journal, College View, Business New Hampshire Magazine, Bay State Banner, Reader’s Circle, North Dallas Gazette, Harlem News, Top News Today, One News Page, NE Informer, Women in Business PR News, Consumer News Today, Women PR News, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Daily Herald, The Miami Herald, and Book News Articles.
