If You Want to Motivate Employees – Challenge Them!

I have read a lot of articles about how to motivate employees. Mostly they state that every individual is motivated by different things. Some employees are looking for recognition. For them, a pat on the back for something they have accomplished goes a long way. Other employees are looking to ‘move up the corporate ladder’, they want a clear path to success laid out for them. Some employees are looking for little perks such as ‘comp time’ or additional benefits. But it seems to me that there is one common denominator that will motivate all employees and that is to challenge them.

An employee cannot get complacent and bored if they are constantly being challenged. If you have a good employee you want to keep, make sure you continually find new ways to challenge them. Give them tasks that are outside their usual duties that require them to use skills they don’t normally need in the performance of their current position. Ask them to take on new projects and work on teams that will help the company to progress. You may find an employee who suddenly looks forward to coming to work each day to see what new challenges they can take on and feel pride in their new found abilities!

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading packaging machinery manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at www.neminc.com.