Employee burnout is more prevalent than ever in the midst of our global mental health crisis. Sometimes, there just isn’t enough time between the work shifts of a 9-5 job for people to effectively recharge their batteries before diving back into work, which is why leaders need to energize their teams in the workplace. Cultivating an energizing environment can not only increase productivity, it also make your workplace more enjoyable and increase employee retention. Here are three ways you can energize your team and increase productivity.
Have Big-picture Career Conversations
It’s easy for employees to lose sight of career goals and experience a dip in passion for their work when they’re preoccupied doing the same duties day in and day out. That’s why having a bigger conversation about career aspirations can be a great trick to pick up a lagging team. Although most people are interested in the trajectory of their careers, many feel awkward bringing it up, which is why it’s appreciated when a team leader initiates and guides the conversation. Once employees have a clear picture of what they’re working towards, along with the reassurance that their employer supports them, they’ll feel naturally re-energized and motivated.
Invest in Education
Learning more about your company’s core business and industry is another effective method to snap jaded employees out of a funk. Host lunch-and-learn meetings during which you pay for lunch while staff members learn about different departments. Lunch-and-learns provide employees with a broader knowledge of the company and industry as a whole that will help your company operate more efficiently.
You can also pay for your employees to attend conferences and seminars to help them learn about upcoming trends in the industry or gain skills that will help them perform better. Learning something new is a natural invigorator, and having staff members attending conferences and seminars will better prepare your company for the immediate future.
Finally, consider investing in further education (such as a certificate or degree from a university) for your most valued employees. This gesture will show your star team members how much you care about them, promote employee loyalty, and provide other employees with something aspirational to work towards, increasing motivation and productivity.
Encourage Prioritization Over Anxiety
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by voluminous deadlines that seem like they won’t stop piling up. When this happens, pressure can mount, making it impossible for employees to focus clearly on their tasks at hand. The solution to this is to encourage prioritization. Pressing an employee for everything at once will rarely get you the result you want, and will quickly burn them out. Instead, encourage your overwhelmed team members to prioritize and focus on one thing at a time. This discernment is valuable to the company because it encourages good work and keeps them moving from one project to the next. It simultaneously shows that you understand that your employee can only do one thing at a time, building trust, which will likely motivate your employee to hold up their end of the bargain. While some deadlines may be missed during the initial catchup period, this skill will develop over time and help them become a prioritization expert who knows how to avoid stress and get things done efficiently.
At CMB, we strive to keep our industry-expert team members as energized as the custom batteries we produce. For more tips on how to motivate your team, check out part 2 of this series.
