Motivating Employees to Reach Deadlines
When it comes to motivating employees to meet their work deadlines, many managers use one of three techniques: compensation incentives, performance appraisal systems and rewards programs. The key is to find out what drives individual employees to meet and even exceed their goals. Aim for intrinsic motivators so workers will want to complete tasks on time.
One motivational technique is to recognize employees immediately for completing work on time. This takes an individual approach to motivate employees to meet deadlines and provides an alternative to year-end bonuses or other far-off rewards. Make use of on-the-spot recognition, such as giving a worker who has just finished a long project a gift card or personal day off.
Early Completion Incentives
Early completion incentives are effective motivation tools that have the added benefit of inspiring employees to complete their assigned tasks before a deadline. For example, suppose employees are responsible for developing a monthly newsletter and weekly website content for a company. An employee who oversees design and production of news content might get a $50 bonus at the end of every month for completing her work a week before the printer's deadline.
Authority as Motivation
Many employees are motivated by a need for power or achievement. Take advantage of this by designing work roles in which staffers who are motivated by power will be rewarded with leadership roles. These roles can be tied to the achievement of group deadlines. For example, employees who are motivated by power can be put in charge of tracking a group's deadlines and providing updates to the project manager.
Autonomy as Motivation
Some workers are motivated by what they can accomplish through their own labors. For these workers, managers can offer more autonomy. Consider an employee who must work on a corporate fundraiser project. Offer him a chance to work from home one day a week on all committee-related tasks as long as he attends the committee's meetings and meets his deadlines. Getting the chance to work alone part of the time could lead to better results for her and the project.