Good managers know that there’s more to keeping employees happy than occasionally springing for pizza. If you want people to do quality work, you want them to be engaged. But, as with most things in business, good intentions will only carry you so far.

There are innumerable options on how to boost employee morale – some more effective or long-lasting than others – but among the most consistent recommendations are those related to accountability, transparency and open communication. What follows is a list of some of the things we’ve known to have a positive effect on morale.

Practicing Effective Communication

Nobody’s going to sing the praises of poor communication, of course. The tricky part is figuring out how to ensure communication in your workplace is actually effective – or, if necessary, how to improve it.

A good place to start is openness. Are you communicating to everyone, keeping them in the loop? Or are they consistently finding things out before you have a chance to announce them? Work on ways to ensure everyone is kept apprised of the information they need to do their jobs and navigate their workplace. You can schedule meetings focused primarily on fostering communication among team members. You can emphasize your openness to employees’ own observations, keeping an open door and letting them know you’re always willing to listen.

Engaging Remote Employees

If you have team members working remotely – and, these days, who doesn’t? – be sure they’re factored into your efforts to disseminate information. And see to it that those efforts are inclusive; people are loath to open emails, and even more hesitant to really engage with them, so don’t rely entirely on email to get the message out.

Giving Worthwhile Feedback

Crucially, you should make sure your methods for giving feedback are getting the kind of response you want. If something goes wrong, you can go straight from identifying the problem to pursuing a solution, skipping the “make someone feel bad about it” stage certain people (we’ve all worked with them!) put in the middle. Even in negative situations, keep feedback positive and solution-oriented. That doesn’t mean you have to avoid criticism – it’s an important part of the process – just that you have to balance it.

On the other side of the coin, when you praise an employee, put some thought into that praise. Employees like to hear about a job well done, and they like it even more when their successes are broadcast to their peers and held up as an example of great work. But the praise has to be meaningful. It can’t just be “Great job on this.” Why was the job great? How did the employee’s approach to it work so well? What positive impact will it have moving forward?

Emphasizing Transparency & Accountability

The benefits of a culture of accountability are legion. Studies show that workplaces that emphasize accountability see greater performance, engagement, commitment, innovation and more from employees. People are more likely to feel that they’re doing their jobs well if they, and the other members of their team, are held accountable for their work. Recognize employee accomplishments, link individual goals to larger objectives and look for rewards beyond the satisfaction of a job well done. Some workplaces have seen success with gamifying the completion of tasks, or implementing incentive systems like being able to take Friday afternoon off if one’s work for the week is finished by then.

On top of that, if you want people to buy into and engage with the company’s strategic direction, they need to know what it is. Keep everyone apprised of this kind of information, making sure the details are in a place where they can be accessed. If you want your team to believe in the organization and its path forward, give them something to believe in.

Letting Employees Take Ownership

No one is satisfied when they feel like they’re just a cog in the machine. An important part of maintaining morale is to give employees ownership of their work, getting buy-in from them all throughout the process. Don’t just hand out assignments; involve team members in setting their own goals and expectations, and work with them to determine how progress will be monitored. The more control employees feel they have in the completion of their work, the greater their drive to do it and do it well.

Using BPM Link to Engage & Empower Employees

We’ll put BPM Link up against any of the top HR tools as a resource for checking all of the boxes above. We designed this software to bring teams together, and there is a litany of ways in which it does exactly that:

• It connects employees to the company’s strategic direction, so they always have your larger plans as a reference and a guide for their individual assignments.

• It’s employee-driven, keeping team members involved in projects from start to finish.

• It allows for a variety of feedback-enhancing tools, such as guided one-on-ones, 360-degree feedback, recognition opportunities and more.

• It keeps team members connected as circumstances change, aligning people at all levels.

If you’re interested in bringing BPM Link to your workplace, get in touch with us today to get more information or schedule a demo. We want to show you all the ways in which BPM Link can get your team motivated, and invested in a better work experience, more than ever before!