Why Leaders Need to Motivate Their Employees

#1: Increased productivity

Employees are much more productive if they are aligned with the company’s vision, and have bought into it. When your staff is motivated and satisfied with the team, they have more desire to finish their tasks. The Fast Company points out that there is a 12 percent boost in productivity in employees who are happy with their work. The ones who are dissatisfied tend to experience a 10 percent decrease in productivity.

#2: Boost engagement

Engagement here means the level of commitment that a member has towards the team or organization. Making sure that they are included in the decision-making processes is an important step to increasing engagement.

“Employees whose managers involve them in goal setting are more than three times more likely than other employees to be engaged,” according to the findings of a study by global analytics firm Gallup.

Of course, it’s not enough that you keep your team in the loop with what’s going on. It’s important to ensure that they have a platform to voice their opinions and ideas regarding matters that directly affect them. This is organizational leadership in action. Maryville University highlights that connecting to the ‘human side of organizations’ is vital to initiate change in leadership roles.  Hopefully, it will help the employees understand the specific roles they play in reaching the team’s objectives and overall vision. Feeling as if you are valued will go a long way towards reinforcing one’s commitment to achieving that vision.

#3 Maintain Workforce Stability

The third reason is to maintain or increase workforce stability. Employees who are not satisfied with their current work are likely to leave, and research shows that high turnover rates are very costly. In an outline of employee turnover costs by The Balance, the main expenses mentioned are for hiring/recruitment, training and opportunity costs. All in all, it’s a very expensive process that can hurt the revenue and profitability of the company. On top of that, it can upset the workplace morale by overworking employees to compensate for the diminishing workforce. And because some workers will have to take on other people’s responsibilities, it can impact the quality of the products or services offered by your company. This forms a vicious cycle that may seriously affect the organization, or even cause it to fail entirely.