After reading the title, your first question should be, “Well they should always be motivated!”. Right? Well, the truth is motivation goes beyond just being up to the task. Sometimes employees on all levels of business may experience a snag somewhere along their career. It could be multiple deadline after deadline to the point the employee's head is dizzy. Redundancy sets in and creativity to work around it can be daunting, to say the least.

And that's just one example. The fact is, employees want to be motivated (or at least should feel that way) almost every time they step through the doorway and walk towards their office space. Everyday passion for work is not hard to come by. What's difficult is the ability to sustain it.

That said, it's entirely possible to keep your employee's motivated well beyond the short-term. Some hurdles are smaller than others, but the grand theme isn't all that complicated. It requires a little training, a dash of spontaneity and a willingness to loosen certain formalities.

Step # 1: Establish what kind of culture you want around the office and get your employees on board.

If you're a marketing firm where the majority of personnel reside in the creative department, you want them to feel they can work in a more relaxed setting. Let them add their own personal flair to their office, be open to change and invite each and every member of your team to be free to express delight or concerns with anything that might be hindering their creative process.

Step # 2: Limit, or do away with weekly meetings altogether

Meetings are always important. Whether it's an internal department meeting of the minds or brainstorming sessions between multiple departments. The end result is that they should feel beneficial each and every time. Which is why sometimes having company wide meetings once or twice a week or every day can tax the minds of both employees and the supervisors giving them. Now if it's an important product or announcement, then by all means, that company meeting should be mandatory and met with anticipation. It's the ones where repetitive jargon and past discussions keep getting funneled through each meeting. It's a time-suck above all else and the more mundane and frequent these types of meetings become, the less productive the entire office is.

Step # 3: Be spontaneous every now and then

Spontaneity is a crucial part of lasting motivation. As a business, you can capitalize on this by finding creative ways every now and then to get the office together and on board with different things. For instance, you might try organizing an extended company picnic or BBQ. Maybe pick a day during the week and give back to the community by organizing a fundraiser or assisting with a clothing drive. Not only is it a novel thing to do, it helps boost team morale. As for the fun side of things, why not surprise the staff with a trip to an amusement park or something extracurricular? The key is to disrupt the work mentality for a brief second ever so often to help recharge everyone's batteries and get them motivated.

Step # 4: Don't be afraid to experiment with new formations

Changing a routine that's been more redundant than inspiring is one example. If enough employees grumble about how the way presentations and structures for how a project is executed, ask for their input on how to change it along with your own views. Same goes with what resources are available for them to use. Put together a mockup survey asking employees what they feel is missing as a key element towards their daily routine. Eliminate the obnoxious requests and whittle down the most requested ones and decide from there. The key is to make yourself and the company as a whole seem more flexible and willing to change. Just make sure before you do switch over or add things that you've answered every concern beforehand.

Concluding Thoughts

The key with motivation is that you've opened every channel for your employees to best execute projects with a clear and creative a mindset. Going off the beaten path from time to time can establish a more inviting atmosphere where demand for excellence comes with the promise of (almost) something new every single day.

Kyle O'Brien is a freelance writer covering a broad range of topics related to the business industry such as business productivity and company structure. He works as a consultant for ej4, a performance improvement company that creates effective e-learning tools for business such as streamlined business books and so forth.