By this time of the lockdown, virtually all companies have crossed the initial hurdle of prepping their teams for prolonged remote working. This has gone as far as ensuring colleagues have set up their tech tools and defining new processes and procedures. But then again, this is the initial step towards creating an effective work environment for remote employees.

The question that follows, warranting an answer: How do you motivate people who work from home? How so on-call? This question is important now because, during crises such as the present one, the focus of priorities mostly lie on tactical work and deliverables. Just as said work and deliverables can be discussed over the phone, employee motivation is also another one that can be handled like so as well. On that note, 5 Tips to Motivating Employees on Call.

Explain the vision for the work/product/company

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”.

You might not have known it then, but this probably was the first time that you’d had a vision. It was important to you, as it helped you see yourself ahead, and motivated you to begin working toward it. It’s no less important in a company as well, especially when you have a team. Without a vision in the first place, it would be difficult to explain the company’s purpose; why the company exists.

 Explaining the vision reveals to your team would lead to a better understanding among them as to what the obstacles facing them are and what the best solution might be. In the process they are motivated to take on the challenge, and thrive in it. This is critical to what success with the project can lead to; both in the short term and long term.

Share the progress so far - the current situation

It’s one thing to visualize what you want to achieve. But like a ship losing sight of a lighthouse in the fog, you’d lose sight of what you wanted to achieve in the first place. People and teams alike have failed before to accomplish their goals on time, not for lacking skills and knowledge,  but due to losing the sight of what they want to achieve.

Tracking the progress and sharing it enables the team to focus upon important aspects/ that they need so as to move in the right direction. This also assists in reducing risks that can come in the way toward achieving targets. Consistent tracking and sharing also helps reduce the failures in future. It also allows for discipline, leading to make the team work more efficiently and recognize where there can be distractions. In the process they stay motivated.

But the aspect of showing the progress doesn’t stop just there. Progress has its stepping stones.  And in the business context, the stepping stones are the deadlines for the deliverables involved. Eliminating doubts about practicality of meeting deadline at each meeting is of the essence. Meeting deadlines involves setting a schedule; even with calls. And MultiCall’s Call Scheduling feature lets you do just that.

Discuss why they are the right ones for the job on hand

For any group conference to effectively happen, it was critical that the right people be called. Just as it’s important to know exactly who and how many people to call in, it’s equally important to let them know why they’re there…why they are the right one for the job. A MultiCall, brings people together, and gives everyone the right and ability to contribute value to the conversation.

But letting the team know why they are there catalyses this due to the intrinsic motivation created from their perception of increased value in the company. And in a MultiCall, this can be done with aid of the Call Monitoring, where you can engage with the team members one-to-one.

Positive feedback about the Team

“Good Job”

No. This by itself isn’t positive feedback. This can sometimes come across as vague or insincere. Positive feedback adopts an approach involves telling the person what it was about their behaviour or action that impressed you, and why what they did was effective. This approach enables you to give really direct and to the point feedback - so that the individual knows exactly what is expected of them.

In the process, positive feedback helps motivation, boosts confidence, and shows people you value them. It helps people to understand and develop their skills. And all this has a positive impact on them as an individual, as a team member, and organisational performance.

As a manager, giving positive feedback should be a simple part of your practice.  We tend to associate feedback with things going wrong. Just hearing the words “Can I give you some feedback?” can put us on edge. The fear of being criticized or judged is enough to trigger stress in us.

We come to the mindset at times that “feedback” means bad news. In a professional setting, most of us are taught to work on weak areas; and not recognise what is going well. So it’s merely a  natural response to end up becoming defensive, as it is human nature to want a perception that we are valued, recognised, and regarded in a positive manner.

Assuring Help and Availability any time for the team

There aren’t that many “one size fits all” principles that explain how people can be managed. People are complex. And given that they aren’t alike, one cannot make simple, accurate, and sweeping generalizations is limited. This applies not only to their behaviour, but their ability to perform as well. Personal and Professional don’t mix.

But it’s easy only to say so. Would the death of a relative leave us bereaved? It’s at pressing times like this that the company is responsible to give confidence in management; to assure each and every member that you (and the team) are there to support them, and can be available for them at any-time.

By crossing the hurdle of keeping your team motivated, and getting them to agree on the points above. Companies have the ability to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness during this particular era of remote working. And by doing so on a MultiCall, people and companies alike have the ability to reach more, now.