Let’s face it, most of us spend the majority of our lives at work. If we are lucky, we have a job we enjoy, a great boss and colleagues we like seeing everyday. Even if all of these factors are present, it is still hard to be motivated all the time. In today’s pandemic world, many are working from home, and although that allows a lot of flexibility, it is not without challenges.

As a leader, I always want to make sure that my team is happy and they do not feel frustrated and burnt out. I always have an open door and ask if I think something is wrong. I am a huge proponent of giving praise and encouragement. This goes a long way. Money is nice, but when you have worked really hard on a project and are then told you did a great job, it is really motivating. Think about a time, you worked on a project or presentation for hours. You handed it in on time and never heard anything back. Maybe no news is good news, because it wasn’t wrong, but it certainly does not give you any type of affirmation for working so hard or let you know that you did things correctly.

On the other hand, constructive criticism is also important. As a leader, your job is to mentor your team. I want my team to do things right, learn and move up. If I do not tell my employees that something is not being done correctly, none of this will happen. One other thing to note here, all employees respond to criticism differently. Learn the best way to work with each one of your employees.

Challenge is another important aspect of motivation. Here is a great quote from Morgan Freeman…

“Challenge yourself. It is the only path that leads to growth”

If your employees feel their work is too monotonous and boring, they will not be happy employees and most likely look for another job. They want to be challenged. Human nature thrives on accomplishments. We have nothing to accomplish, if we are not challenged.

Aside from praise, criticism and challenge, it is also important to think about what makes us feel validated as humans. I am a big believer in celebrating things like birthdays, hard work and just needing a break. I always buy my team birthday, holiday, wedding, baby gifts etc. For holidays and birthdays, I really like to get personalized things they can use at work like mugs, pens, pads of paper. I also really like gift cards. In addition, I take my team to lunch for these occasions. If we have been working really hard and I can tell the team needs a break, I will just walk out of my office and say, “let’s all take a break and go to lunch”.

I make it my mission to be genuine and I truly care about my team. I ask about their weekends families etc.. Please note though, that there is a fine line to caring about your team and being friends with them. Sometimes bosses make the mistake of being Facebook friends, going out together, venting about other people at work. This makes it really hard to deliver any type of criticism because you have now become so close. So, if you want a work friend, find someone that is your lateral not your employee.

All of this is easy, when you are in the office, but remote working makes it harder. Even if you are not seeing your employees face to face, you should still be talking on a regular basis and knowing what they are doing and how they are feeling. Since big gatherings and going to lunch are difficult, have some fun zoom meetings:

• Do a zoom happy hour – My boss just had one for us and it was nice, as we all showed off our pets, talked about movies, wine etc.. It was a nice break.

• Online game apps – There are multiple apps you can use to play online virtual games

• Jeopardy labs – You can make a customized Jeopardy game

• Drawasaurus – Online team Pictionary

• Online trivia – There are many apps for this

• Daily zoom workout break – short ten minute team workouts help to break up the day and get people moving

• Cooking/Eating – Send everyone a recipe card and have them all cook a fun meal and eat it via zoom together.

• Secret Summer Santa – Randomly draw names and so people can do a secret Santa

• Buddy visits– Pair people up and have them do a weekly zoom check-ins

• Quarantine Newsletter– Have people send in their favorite recipes, pictures of them on zoom, family quarantine photos etc.

• Weekly online team share– Have everyone make a Powerpoint slide of the things they have been doing during quarantine. Compile the slides and send to everyone

Remember, happy engaged employees stay longer at their jobs, are more productive and do better work. So, as a leader, keep your team engaged, motivated and challenged.