Strategies for Motivating a Remote Workforce
If your team is distributed, or you're a freelance entrepreneur with a remote team, there are many strategies for motivating your remote workforce. The key is figuring out which ones are effective and can get the job done consistently. These include:
- creating a sense of accountability
- match incentives to goals
- taking individual metrics into account
- communicating effectively with feedback and by including all sides of the workforce in the process and decisions that directly impact them
The below infographic provides insights on how to motivate remote teams. It's going to be helpful for those who are struggling, as well as for those who want further development in their skills related to motivation.
How are you going to motivate your remote workforce?
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By Ben K. Greenfield | April 1, 2014 – 7:00 am ( no comments )
When you're self-employed or run a small business, sometimes you might feel like a crazed roomba chasing its tail. I frequently get questions from readers and listeners about how to stay focused and motivated when they aren't facing a boss waiting to pounce on any mistakes or perceived lack of productivity. Here's some great advice for how to stay focused and productive when working for yourself:
1) Ongoing motivation comes from the top down. In other words, if YOU aren't motivated, nothing will change that. I know that's easier said than done, but it's true. When you're feeling like your spirit is flagging and your motivation is running low, review what you're trying to accomplish with the big picture in mind. How does it tie into other goals? What would it look like if you achieved those goals? Reviewing this big picture view will help keep you motivated because you're working towards a goal and not just working in isolation from everyone else.
2) Prioritizing tasks into quadrants can help get tasks completed. I've written about this before in terms of creating a to-do list: Prioritize, then create a way to collaborate and track progress on those items. If it isn't in your plan, it doesn't happen.
3) Prioritize workloads into quadrants
(1) Urgent and important (2) Urgent but not important (3) Not urgent but important (4) Not urgent and not important
Once you've prioritized tasks, ask yourself the question "is this task urgent AND important? If so, act on it immediately. As Stephen Covey writes in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People , "Procrastination is the thief of time."
4) Have a call to action at the end of each day—and review. Ready for this one? It's very simple: Write down an action item (plan, develop plan, etc) on your calendar ON YOUR SCHEDULE. Then review your progress later that day and see what's left to do. The review provides accountability for all the tasks you've checked off and it gives you a fresh start to the next day. If you're wondering where to start with setting up a system that will work for you and keep you motivated, I recommend the "30 days of accountability" system I've been using lately at www.OneStopBreakthroughs . Our goal is to setup systems/processes so we can make goals happen consistently and effortlessly in our business or personal lives.
How do you stay focused, motivated and productive at work?
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By Simon Kemp | April 2, 2014 ( no comments )
1. Set an alarm. You've probably been told to set an alarm on your phone if you want to get up early to exercise or do something else productive, but you should definitely use one too if you have trouble sleeping, or can't fall asleep. It might seem odd because it's the middle of the night, but setting an alarm for a time when you intend to get up is actually very helpful because it gets you into a routine and will remind you to get back out of bed if you wake up in the middle of the night.
2. Stay active. Sometimes it's very tempting to just lie in bed and do nothing. The problem with this is that it can be very hard to get back to sleep, and lying in bed for too long can make sleeping difficult for a few days afterwards. You should avoid this completely! The best thing you can do is get up out of bed right after you wake up. If you have trouble sleeping, you could set an alarm for when the time comes that you need to awake naturally, even if it's early in the morning.
3. Stay warm. If you're not sleeping well because your body is too cold, it's worth trying to warm it up. If you are sleeping on a mattress that has poor quality or doesn't provide very good support, then this can be an important issue for you even if you already use a thick mattress topper. If you still have difficulty sleeping, you should consider buying a mattress that has great support and is designed to keep your body warm. It's actually pretty surprising how much of an effect good temperature regulation can have on the quality of sleep that you get. Check out this article for examples of mattresses that keep your body warm and/or provide great back support: ( http://www.mattressreviewsandratings.com/best-mattresses-for-back-pain.html ).
4. Avoid light and noise. Light is very disruptive to the quality of sleep you get, so make sure that you avoid it when it's time for bed. As I've mentioned before, a good plan is to turn off all the lights in your house and keep the TV switched off too. If any light gets into your room from outside, draw the curtains or block them with thick blinds to ensure that it doesn't interfere at all with your sleep.
5. Avoid alcohol and drugs. If you are having trouble sleeping, or just want to improve the quality of your sleep, then it's a good idea to avoid alcohol and recreational drugs. Even if they help you get a better night's sleep initially, they will be detrimental in the long term because they can disrupt the quality of your sleep and can make sleeping more difficult in the future.
6. Sleep in complete darkness.
Conclusion
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Every single one of these tips will help you improve the quality of sleep that you get, so it might be worth trying them all if you're having a hard time sleeping at night. Don't forget to drink plenty of water too, because it can be really dehydrating during periods when you struggle to sleep. The ideal situation is to know how to naturally fall asleep and maintain your body temperature by keeping warm and drinking water at night, but if that's not possible for you then there are a number of proven steps you can take to help improve your quality of sleep. Good luck! I hope this guide helped some people out! Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below...