Best Practices for Motivating Construction Workers

Every business requires motivated workers to run effectively, especially the construction business, where the attitude of workers can have a direct and immediate effect on the productivity of your business. If your people won’t work hard for you, how will you complete projects on time? What will the quality of those projects be like if the person who did the work wasn’t motivated to excel? A highly motivated construction team gets great results for your company by completing high-quality work in the required time period.

Today’s blog discusses some of the best practices you can follow when motivating construction workers. All workers need motivation, and knowing how to effectively motivate your team can have a huge impact on the bottom line for your business. Here are four pieces of advice when it comes to motivating a winning team.

Provide Clear Expectations and Assign Responsibility

Effective managers delegate by making people responsible for the work that they do. Providing clear expectations means spelling out exactly what you want done, and the time frame that you want it done in. This process does not have to be unpleasant; it can be done in a team huddle at the start of the day. Setting expectations creates accountability in your business and makes your workers understand that they are actually responsible. Workers that are given specific tasks and deadlines will act more responsibly, take ownership and deliver a better result.

Try saying: “I want this flooring fully installed by 6 pm on Thursday, can you make sure that happens? Let me know if you need any help.”

Offer Praise and Recognition

Either your employees work to gain your praise, or they work to avoid your wrath. Weak managers often run businesses based on fear, where workers are primarily motivated by the desire to avoid punishment or scrutiny from their superiors. Smart managers know that workers are far more readily motivated by the possibility of hearing praise for their efforts and engagement. There are many ways to avoid negative feedback from your supervisor – you can avoid that person, come up with an excuse, quit your job or try to pretend that you were working hard. However, as smart managers know, you can only earn praise by doing a great job.

Try saying: “Hey, I really appreciate the effort you put in today. This project is running ahead of schedule because of you.”

Engage the Big Picture

The majority of workers have some kind of need to feel fulfilled by the work that they do. This could be as simple as understanding how their work fits into the bigger picture of what the project is or what the company is doing. Helping workers see how their efforts impact others or fit into the goals of the company as a whole can have a great motivating effect on them, helping them find significance and a feeling of pride in their work.

Try saying: “It’s important that we put our best foot forward today. If we don’t get this part done today, we’ll be behind for the next week, and the whole project will go behind schedule. Let’s all work together and make sure we do our best.”

Catch Flies with Honey

Weak managers rule with an iron fist, yell a lot and get angry when things don’t do their way. This might be one way to run a business, but it can create a lot of tension and needless conflict in the work environment. Instead, treat your employees with the utmost respect and you’ll find that they want to work harder for you. Being ruthless makes people resent you and resist your authority. You will find that making people feel guilty about disappointing someone that takes good care of them is far more effective motivationally than making people feel afraid to anger someone who treats them like they are expendable.

Try saying: “I’m disappointed in you because I thought I could trust you to deliver on this. Can you explain a bit more about why things didn’t go as we discussed?”

Key Takeaways for Motivating Construction Workers

Employees are the greatest resource in any business, but an unmotivated employee can be just as much a detriment as a motivated employee is a benefit. As a manager, your job is to recognize that people work and act according to what’s best for them, what helps them to maximize their happiness and avoid unpleasant interactions. Use the information above to ensure that your employees feel happiest when they do great work, and you’ll see great returns for your own business.