The initial excitement of a startup can quickly seem to dilute as the team begins to grow. And a focus on team motivation is essential right from the start when workloads are high, and money is low. There are some inherent advantages that small businesses have that can be leveraged to build employee motivation. Elevated levels of motivation will ensure that your employees go that extra mile towards achieving your business objective.
Get everyone on the same page. Employees need to understand what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and how it is helping your startup grow. Your vision should be clear to your employees so that they are motivated by a sense of purpose to achieve their goals. It is important for employees to get regular updates on how their roles contribute towards achieving that vision. We do this by having a weekly team meeting where everyone is caught up on the previous week and plans the week ahead.
Have a well-defined organisation structure. This might sound contradictory to the conventional idea of startup structures, but a clear structure enhances team performance. If team structures are clearly visible to employees while remaining relatively flat, there will be a sense of ownership over assigned tasks and an improvement in collaboration. We have well-defined team roles but also give people a chance to try each other’s roles and move quickly to different parts of the organisation that interest them.
Set an example. It’s important for founders’ instructions and actions to be in sync. Whether it’s coming to the office on time, following up on an issue till it is resolved or bringing creative solutions to problems, employees cannot be expected to do what founders do not. Motivated employees tend to emulate their managers so make sure your actions are louder than your words. To maintain motivation we have senior level employees stay for the night shift with the operations team. This helps with learning more about different roles in the organisation as well.
Celebrate small victories. It’s important for employees to feel like they’re an integral part of the growth of the business. At the Vista office, we have a bell which we ring when a team achieves a particular goal. This creates a wave of regular excitement across the office floor!
Create a career path. In the early stages of a startup, task definitions are usually murky, and tasks tend to be taken up by whoever is available. While it might be challenging to develop extensive career plans for all levels of employees, providing clarity around skills that can be developed over time in a particular role can go a long way in motivating employees to stay committed to their responsibilities.
Make some time for fun at work. When teams engage in fun activities, it not only helps them de-stress but also helps build stronger team dynamics which is beneficial in the workplace. At Vista, we recently organised an award ceremony getting employees to vote for each other in comical categories like Mr. Google, office clown and the government employee award. These awards were presented at a team dinner.
Be available. As a startup founder, it is easy to get caught up in your task list. But it’s important to take a few minutes off your calendar to be available to your team. This will give your employees the assurance of support and confidence to maintain a high level of quality in their work.
Finally, measure your employee motivation. Keep a track of tangible work results such as some customer calls handled and new hotels listed for example and appreciate top performers on a regular basis to ensure your employees are motivated to keep raising the bar.
In summary, maintaining employee motivation in a startup involves the fine balance between personal connect and professional engagement, downtime and exhaustion that comes from erratic schedules, financial and non-financial benefits, and driving innovation and fire fighting. When employees can still feel the excitement of your startup vision through the chaos of regular work days, then you can be assured that their motivation is in high gear.
