It would be ideal if every employee on your team maintained a continuously high level of motivation and enthusiasm for their work 52 weeks a year. Unfortunately, this is not reality. Boredom can creep in at any time – especially for employees whose jobs involve monotonous or repetitive tasks or for employees who are not being challenged. While boredom is natural, managers should take steps to re-energize and motivate their teams because a bored employee’s work can suffer and prolonged boredom can lead to turnover.  Use these strategies to help your team get motivated and get working.

Learn Your Employees’ Interests

If an employee’s work is suffering due to boredom, meet with them individually and talk about the situation. Ask them which tasks make them feel unmotivated and learn where their true interests lie. Some employees get bored because their work has never changed; others get bored because their duties have shifted to tasks they find mundane or uninteresting. When you know where employees’ interests and passions lie, you can make strategic choices when assigning future tasks and projects.

Reassign Duties

In some cases, you may discover someone loves doing Excel reports but doesn’t do many, while another employee would rather watch grass grow than make one more pivot table. As you learn about your employees’ passions and interests, you’ll find ways to swap tasks and duties to help energize the team. Take this opportunity to cross-train someone on new tasks if they have expressed an interest in learning new skills or taking on new opportunities.

Gamify Boring Tasks

You can amp up output and motivate employees by injecting a bit of friendly competition into the week. Offer prizes worth working for like gift cards or a Friday afternoon off because boring prizes won’t do the trick. Divide the team into groups or have them work individually – whichever makes the most sense – and watch them push themselves to work harder and faster.

Connect Work To The Big Picture

It can be difficult for employees to understand how monotonous or boring tasks matter in the big picture. If you can help team members connect their work to the overarching goals of the team and the organization, they begin to see value in everything they do. People like to feel that their work has a purpose, but it’s up to leaders and managers to connect the dots for them.

Are You Looking For Motivated Sales and Marketing Talent?

If you are looking for highly motivated sales and marketing talent for your ag business, contact the agricultural industry staffing experts at Morris Bixby Group. Our proven strategies for success can help you achieve your recruiting and retention goals quickly and efficiently.