3 Easy Ways to Motivate Your Team, Remotely (That You’re Probably Not Doing)

Motivating a team isn’t rocket science.

Don’t get me wrong, people, and teams, are complex beings, but it can be hugely over-complicated by big words and technical phrases like ‘emotional dissonance‘, ‘organisational citizenship‘ and ‘motivation-hygiene‘, but the starting principles are actually pretty simple.

Last year, I read an article in The British Psychological Society’s ‘Psychologist’ magazine that really hit home just how simple great management can be.

Chartered Psychologist Dr Joe McDonagh, in his January 2019 article ‘Walking through snow to get to work’, was exploring the lessons from the 1924 to 1932 Hawthorne Studies that can still be applied to the workplace today.

You’ve probably heard of the Hawthorne Effect, the term that describes the alteration of people’s behaviour in a study as they become aware they are being observed, but over 8 years, the Hawthorn studies actually uncovered a lot more.

The researchers interviewed 21,000 workers to understand what motivated them in their jobs, secretly observed working groups to identify the effect of ‘informal leadership’, and studied at length the impact of environmental changes on productivity.

They discovered that motivation, productivity and job satisfaction were influenced as much by social factors as by financial reward.

In fact, their headline findings, I’d like to argue, are the 3 easiest ways to motivate your team, that you’re probably not doing.

 

How do you do this remotely?

With experience managing both static and remote teams, I’ve come to realise that the rules of team motivation are much the same – or at least, the starting principles are.

For me, the differences lie in effort, communication and execution. Let’s look at the three easy motivational techniques above, as an example.

 

3 Easy Ways to Motivate Your Team, Remotely – with examples 

 

1. Pay Attention – show your team, proactively, that you care about them and their work

Traditional office environments bring an opportunity to observe the mood and behaviour of your team. Informal conversations throughout the day enable you to assess how individuals are coping, identify any motivational ‘red flags’ and from a time perspective, they tend to fit in organically between coffee breaks and water cooler chats.

When teams are remote, these conversations take more intent and effort, but setting the time aside throughout your day, will have a huge impact on the motivation and productivity of your team.

Add the anxiety surrounding the current COVID-19 pandemic into the mix, and there really is no excuse for not checking in to see how your team is doing.

Think about implementing a daily morning huddle to take a temperature check of your team’s current mood, or regular 1-1’s throughout the week to proactively support your employees with their work, their focus and their wellbeing.

Ask open questions, listen more than you speak, and coach others to their own conclusions. This isn’t about micromanagement, it’s about enablement.

 

2. Ask for Feedback – Ask their opinion, discuss changes and respond to feedback

There has been a plethora of research over the years into the drivers of employee engagement and motivation (Bakker & Leiter, Work Engagement, A Handbook of Essential Theory and Research is a particularly good reference if you’d like to dig deeper).

One critical driver is asking staff for feedback, that is, involving them in business decisions that may impact them, giving them the freedom to suggest new ideas, and the opportunity to express their views.

Amidst the pandemic, businesses and employees are facing major changes to their usual working routines. Asking your team about how you, and the business, are doing in managing this transition could drive a major step-change in motivation levels.

Techniques to gain this type of feedback include listening events, news and views sessions, a group SWOT analysis, or for bigger teams, surveys and comments inboxes. The key is to encourage candour, record responses and agree on a timeframe for the business’ response. As a manager, you’ll need to invest time in communicating the actions that have taken place as a result of listening to staff.

Allowing your team to ‘influence’ the changes that are happening will not only improve their motivation but will also have a significant impact on their ability to respond both quickly and effectively to change.

 

3. Enable Relationships – Encourage group working

Working remotely does not mean working in isolation. Platforms such as Skype, Zoom and Slack enable teams dispersed across the world to communicate and collaborate every day.

Work relationships are a key enabler of both workplace motivation and engagement, and if your team is currently adjusting to remote work life, maintaining this interaction is essential to productivity and performance.

Try running ‘co-working’ sessions throughout the week on your communications platform of choice, and to maintain focus, employ the Pomodoro Technique.

A time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s, Pomodoro breaks the working day into 25-minute chunks separated by five-minute breaks. These 30-minute working intervals are called ‘pomodoros’ and it is recommended that after four, a longer break of 15-20 minutes is taken.

The idea is to focus effort, instil a sense of urgency and reduce time wasted by the overwhelm of an isolated, seemingly endless working day.

Other ways to enhance these sessions are to ask employees to set goals for each 25-minute sprint, hold problem-solving discussions in the breaks, or just simply kick back with a cup of coffee and check-in with your colleagues for 5-minutes – hey, show your team you care!

 

A Footnote on Hawthorne

As an evidence-led practitioner, I should let you know that the Hawthorne Studies have received some critique.

From right-wing and anti-trade union views to significant neglect of the largely multi-ethnic workforce and the evolving role of women in the plant, many flaws have been highlighted in both the methodology and interpretation of results.

That said, the number of textbooks, journal articles and general positivity around the Hawthorne Studies far outweigh the negative. How and where we work may have changed significantly, but lessons from the Hawthorn Studies are still relevant.

As Dr. McDonagh concluded, “…many of the commentaries about them, are timeless – pay attention to workers, truly listen to their needs and realise that if they are happy with their work and their employer then they will probably be more productive and contented human beings.”

Hear, hear.