33 Easy Ways to Motivate Your Creative Employees

We hate to break it to you, but 70% of your employees are disengaged—probably right this very minute. And did we mention they’re wasting your money? Unmotivated employees cost American companies $350 billion in lost revenue every year.

To save yourself money—and a lot of headaches—you have to know how to motivate your employees. But that’s a tricky thing to do when you’re dealing with creative workers, because you can’t force creativity out of someone. That’s why we’re here to teach you the right motivational techniques.

Motivation is more than a “carrot on a stick”

Most managers use a reward-punishment system, providing incentives for success and reprimanding failure. This method relies on external stimuli. The problem? External incentives like salary or punishment aren’t the only sources of motivation—or even the most effective ones.

According to a Gallup poll, only 30% of people making less than $36,000 are emotionally engaged at work. It sounds logical that low pay equals low engagement, but employee engagement actually drops to 28% for those making between $36,000 and $90,000. Even the highest paid workers—earning $90,000 or more—only report 30% engagement.

Translation: throwing money at the problem won’t make it go away. In fact, a survey conducted in Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class ranks compensation as only the fourth way to motivate people. It got beat out by:

1. Challenge and responsibility
2. Flexibility
3. Stable environment

Designers, writers, and other creatives value the quality of their work and environment more than a fat paycheck. And a variety of factors play into forming a good workplace, meaning you can actually motivate employees without spending money.

Four types of motivation

Intrinsic motivation encompasses employees’ attitudes toward their work. If you’ve ever loved a job so much you’d do it for free, you were intrinsically motivated.

Extrinsic motivation is the tactic most managers use, where employees work to achieve positive results or avoid negative ones. Working on a weekend to earn overtime pay is positive extrinsic motivation; trying not to get demoted for a mistake is negative extrinsic motivation.

Personal motivation reveals how employees value time and people outside the office. One person may stay late on a Friday to avoid working on Saturday. Another may work extra hours to earn time off for a family event. Personal motivation varies between individuals.

Peer motivation uses social influence to encourage or discourage behavior. Competing with a coworker for a promotion is a type of peer motivation.

Intrinsic motivation

Designers choose their career based on their intrinsic motivation to make art and express ideas. As the boss, you have to fuel their desire to work on imaginative projects. Think of it this way—waving external rewards under your employees’ noses might motivate them to work, but it won’t make them more creative. In fact, it may actually distract them.

The University of Michigan teamed up with Stanford psychologists to study how rewards affect motivation. Preschoolers were asked to draw a picture. Group 1 was surprised with a reward at the end of the task, while Group 2 was told at the beginning they would be rewarded for good pictures.

You’d think the kids who knew they were getting a reward do the best job. But the ones who were surprised with a reward actually painted better pictures, because they were making art for art’s sake. And the ones who expected a reward spent less time on their drawings, proving that intrinsic motivation is more closely connected to creativity than extrinsic motivation.

Here’s how you can encourage employees’ intrinsic motivation:

Trust them with challenges

Give them new responsibilities, and tell them you’re confident they can do it. Employees who aren’t encouraged to try new things get stagnant and bored.

Give good feedback

Honest, constructive feedback should happen early and often. Creatives who want to hone their skills will use your input as a catalyst.

Help them learn new skills

Creative people love learning about their craft, so give them time to try new software, read new theories, or attend seminars and classes.

Play to their interests

People are more invested when work interests them. You’ll see better results when you try to match projects to their specialties.

Give them job security

A lot of employees hide great ideas because they’re afraid you’ll shoot them down or even fire them. Instead, create an environment where experimentation is encouraged and failure isn’t final.

Let them have their space

Nothing kills intrinsic motivation like getting interrupted when you’re in the zone. Don’t distract workers who are on a roll.

Allow them to take ownership

Most creatives perform best when they’re emotionally invested in a project. Give your staff space to own their work.

Extrinsic motivation

External motivation still works on creatives—just not the way you think. Rather than being rewards to obtain, external perks improve performance by creating a comfortable, stress-free environment where your employees can be content and focused.

For instance, a monetary bonus won’t make an employee more creative. But it will alleviate money-related stress outside the office—stress you may or may not know about. With their financial needs taken care of, they can give their work undivided attention.

You’ll help creative workers stay extrinsically motivated when you:

Set clear expectations

Trying to hit a moving target can derail employees’ motivation. When your team understands what you’re asking them to do, they’ll be working in a stable environment—which is one of their top three motivators to produce good work.

Define “done”

Creative people thrive on a sense of accomplishment, not ongoing assignments. Define when a project is “done,” so employees can pick the best route to complete it.

Set deadlines

Once you pick a deadline, let your employees self-motivate. Whenever they find their motivation waning, they’ll use the impending deadline to get back on track.

Offer fair compensation and benefits

Money may not be our biggest motivator, but creatives have to eat, too. A good salary, bonuses, and annual raises keep your team focused on work instead of stressing about finances. And good workplace benefits like paid time off or game rooms can prevent burnout.

Create a rewarding environment

Self-Determination Theory states that creative people like working toward positive results, without connecting specific tasks to specific rewards. Rather than offering rewards only on big projects, create an environment where rewards are plentiful and always possible.

Design a comfortable office

Worn-out chairs in tiny, dark offices won’t inspire your employees’ best work. Create a comfy, well-decorated workspace with their input.

Allow flexibility in scheduling

Flex scheduling lets creatives work whenever inspiration strikes. Setting one’s own hours is even connected to physical health; it can improve alertness, mental health, and blood pressure.

Let them take breaks

Statistics show that working too long can actually decrease productivity. Let your employees walk outside, provide a cool break room, or go totally crazy and start a 20% program so your team can recharge.

Say thank you

This is one of the most inexpensive external motivators—it only costs a second of your time. A little gratitude goes a long way to motivate creatives, especially since they often work harder than necessary when they care about a project.

Give them recognition for their work

Creatives always hope their audience will be as big and responsive as possible. Make this a reality by showing off employees’ work on social media or offering to submit it to design blogs.

Personal motivation

Humans have an innate need to self-motivate based on our personal beliefs and goals. As an employer, you need to know what personal values influence your team. You’ll quickly discover each individual has their own set of motivations—and they won’t always align with yours.

You needn’t cater to everyone’s whims. Rather, try to empathize with them through communication to gain a better sense of who they are. It’s important not to make snap judgments based on what you think you see. Someone who doesn’t seem to care about their career may place a high value on family. Demanding they work harder for the sake of the organization won’t help, but focusing on how their work can benefit their family will do wonders.

You can relate personal values to employees’ creativity in several ways:

Ask about their goals

Learning what employees enjoy lets you connect it to their work. For example, someone who travels might like going to a convention in another town.

Listen to them

Listening means paying attention and retaining what you heard. You’ll be surprised how much you learn about your employees if you listen at lunch, on breaks, or at events.

Encourage social interaction

You can’t listen if nobody’s talking, so create a social workplace. Celebrate special occasions, host group outings, or start an open door policy so people can interact freely.

Give the right gift

Sometimes your idea of a reward isn’t what an employee really wants. Picking a reward they like will have the most positive effect on their motivation.

Create a career path

Find out how employees want to grow in their careers, then show them how a project relates to those goals. These advancement opportunities will help them stay focused on the big picture, rather than whether or not they like a project.

Focus on family

You may think of your team as a family, but most of them have real families that take a lot of their time and energy. Spend time getting to know the people who are important to your employees.

Respect their time

Waiting on other people can be exasperating. Respect the importance of employees’ time by arriving to meetings on time, ending early, or being punctual with assignments and reviews.

Create a “no judgment” workplace

Creative people tend to be, well, weird. But that’s what makes them creative. Before you judge them, try to understand why they talk or behave a certain way.

Share your point of view

Once you’ve walked a mile in their shoes, it’s okay to ask others to do the same. Sharing your own personal values, goals, and family life helps your team empathize with you.

Peer motivation

Peer motivation relies on people’s generosity or competitive natures to foster growth. For instance, you’re pretty forgiving if you overcook your own food. But when preparing a meal for others, you’re more likely to make sure everything cooks perfectly. This is prosocial motivation, the innate desire to do something good for others.

Prosocial and intrinsic motivation go hand in hand according to the American Psychological Association. Study participants were asked to create a flyer for a band. Researchers told Group 1 the task was enjoyable, then told Group 2 it was unpleasant. This heightened intrinsic motivation in Group 1 and lowered it in Group 2.

Then, some participants were told the band needed marketing to help earn their living, creating high prosocial motivation. Others were told the musicians had outside jobs to support themselves, lowering prosocial motivation.

The most creative designs came from the group with both high intrinsic and prosocial motivation—in other words, people who enjoyed the work and wanted to help others. You can create that same prosocial motivation in your employees by fostering a “people first” office dynamic.

Here’s how to inspire peer motivation in your staff:

Promote team building

Help them spend time together through team exercises or company traditions, like holiday parties or summer barbecues.

Foster healthy competition

Give prizes for an internal contest, celebrate new records, or stir up some competition outside work with fun activities, like a bowling party or paintball outing.

Assign collaborative projects

Creatives love to bounce ideas off each other, and having a second pair of eyes on a project has its advantages. Let them team up to produce a result that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

Offer conflict mediation

In a 2014 survey, 27% of workers said they were currently experiencing abusive conduct at work—and the perpetrator was usually the boss. It’s your job to nip hostility and bullying in the bud privately, not to air out problems in front of others.

Provide emotional support

Creatives often become self-critical when not performing up to their own expectations. You can motivate them with encouragement, especially when things aren’t going perfect.

Encourage cheerleading

If you want your creative employees to feel like they’re part of the team, celebrate everyone’s victories together.

Involve them across the business

Teaching employees other aspects of the business lets them contribute innovative solutions, teaches them new skills, and establishes camaraderie.

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The Best Ways To Motivate Employees And Get Results

Employees are motivated by different things and having a clear understanding of what drives each person on the team is critical. When I was an operator in the Navy SEAL teams, the motivation was clear. To purge the world of our nation's enemies. Having a deep belief in the mission and being blessed to be part of that unique brotherhood was all we needed. When I became an entrepreneur and business leader, however, I had to quickly learn how to balance the motivations of a diverse team. I have my own opinions on the best ways to motivate employees to achieve the best results, but I also wanted to explore the opinions of other senior business leaders. Here is what they had to say.

“To build personal accountability for each employee in the team to achieve the goal set out before them. We win as a team and we lose as a team, just like in sports. Set up a reward that will be shared by the entire team if the goal is met, rather than just management.”

“All people are different and people are motivated by different things. The first step to effectively motivating your team is to gain a deep understanding about each person on your team. Find out what makes them tick - what makes them feel good about their work. Leverage your findings to create a strategy to keep each individual member of your team motivated to do great work.”

"Give them what they want. If they want more money, give them more money. If they want more time, give them more time. And if they want more credit, then give them credit. It's basic. You have to give people what they want to extract what you need. But, make sure you don't give anyone more than what they're worth. It's important to balance the numbers to stay in the profit zone."

"It's easier said than done, because you have more than one individual to motivate. The best way is to stick to your role of a leader or manager, show authority and try to reduce conflict. But that's possible only when you know the cause of conflict, which may be due to demotivation. Find out the reason and you're good to go. At times employees are demotivated only because nobody is trying to motivate them. So be that positive figure and you'll see good results.”

“Love your staff and respect them first as people understanding that work is just one key part of their life's journey. Identify and encourage their key strengths and gifts and give them roles, responsibilities and opportunities that require them to draw on those strengths to be successful. Understand what motivates them knowing that each person's motivations are unique and dynamic, depending on their stage in life.”

“The most effective motivation occurs when the team understands and accepts the mission and goals of the organization.  Motivation begins with hiring talented individuals who believe in the company.  It then continues when those individuals are allowed to exercise their talents and creativity freely with full support of management."

“The most effective way to motivate a team is primarily by having strong leadership. A strong leader will set clear goals for the team (so everyone knows what they're working towards) and empower the individuals (so they can get on with their job). Showing appreciation also motivates the team to want to perform well again, next time.”

“Your team will be highly motivated to perform if you make them feel appreciated. Internal motivation is more powerful than external motivation. External rewards have their place, though nothing is more motivating to a team member than feeling appreciated by their team leaders and management.”

“One of the most effective ways to motivate a team is to make sure everyone is in a position where their strengths and talents are being utilized. When people do work in an area where they excel, they are naturally motivated to do good work."

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10 Ways to Motivate Your Employees

Have you ever heard the saying, “You can’t motivate anyone, they have to motivate themselves”? From a purely psychological perspective, that may be true, but people are more likely to motivate themselves when a manager creates a motivating workplace environment.

What does a “motivating environment” look like? It’s where it’s 5 p.m., and most of the department is on the way out the door, and your team is still working hard and having fun at the same time.

A motivating environment is where people are pushing themselves harder than any boss could ever push them. It’s where people are giving it their all when no one is watching and no one may ever know. They’re giving 110% because they want to work hard, not because they have to work.

So what can a leader do to create this kind of environment? Here are ten ways, in order of importance:

1. Meaningful work. THE most important thing any leader can do to create a motivating environment is to make sure the work every member is doing is meaningful. That is, the work is important to the success of the business – every employee feels like what they are doing is making a difference and it’s energizing.

On the other hand, there’s no worse feeling than knowing your work just doesn’t matter. Every leader has some degree of discretion in being able to eliminate or minimize the amount of “” (non-value-added work) that flows into a team.

Any job can be meaningful. I’m sure you’ve heard the story of the two bricklayers; one of them saw his job as stacking bricks. The other saw his mission as building a magnificent cathedral. Same job, different worldview.

Making sure work is meaningful is the best form of job security a leader can give a team.

It’s every leader’s job to scrutinize every team member’s work like a CEO looking for jobs to cut. If the work is important, it’s less likely to be eliminated.

2. Hire high performers and get rid of underperformers. High performers tend to be self-motivated to begin with. When you create a team of high performers, they feed off of each other. The standards are raised, the energy level increases, teamwork improves, and there’s a low tolerance for anything less than excellence. On the other hand, one or more slackers with bad attitudes can infect a team like a cancer, breed resentment, and drag everyone down.

3. Don’t micromanage – get out of the way. No one likes to have his/her manager breathing down his/her neck – in fact, it drives employees crazy. Show your employees that you are interested in what they are doing, but you trust them to make their own decisions and do things differently than you might do them.

4. Promote your team’s accomplishments. As a leader, it’s your job to be your employee’s PR agent. Make sure their good work gets noticed, recognized, and appreciated. Don’t worry about over promoting your team’s good work – most managers love to get good news. Just make sure the bragging is about them, not about you.

5. Minimize the rules and bureaucracy. As long as your team is focusing on what’s really important (see number one, meaningful work), and performing at a high level (see number two), cut them some slack. Don’t hassle them with minutia, give them flexibility in work hours, and protect them from stupid rules.

6. Treat people with respect. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Yelling, screaming, hurling insults and accusations, and sarcastic comments create an environment of fear and resentment, where employees are motivated to do only enough not to get yelled at, and no more.

7. Get personal. Get to know your employees as people and learn about their families, their career goals, and truly care about them. I knew a manager who, when one of his employees went above and beyond the call of duty and put in extra hours, would send a hand-written note to the employee’s spouse along with a gift certificate for a night out.

He recognized the effect the job was having on his employee’s home life and wanted to let the spouse know what a great job he was doing and how much he appreciated her support. While that may not be appropriate for everyone, it’s an example of showing your employees you care about their personal lives, not just work.

8. Set a good example. Be motivated, enthused, energized, and passionate about your own work and the work of the team.

9. Encourage camaraderie (during work hours). Take your team to lunch or bring goodies to your team meeting to celebrate milestones, or just to lighten up and have some fun together. Notice I said during work hours. While it’s okay if your employees want to go out for a drink after work or get together on their own time, I don’t believe a leader should intrude on people’s own time in the name of team building.

10. Pay people for what they are worth. Yes, compensation is important, but I’ve listed it last. While pay is not a motivator, it can be a de-motivator if people feel they are underpaid. Do everything you can as a leader to fight for well-deserved merit increases, promotions, and bonuses.

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14 Highly Effective Ways to Motivate Employees

You believe in your company wholeheartedly. There's an entrepreneurial fire burning strong inside that motivates you to work harder each day.

Unfortunately, the same cannot always be said about your employees. In a 2015 SHRM Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement survey, only 69 percent of employees felt they were consistently putting all their effort into their work.

If you've tried a variety of incentives but are still seeing the negative side effects of low motivation, you're not alone. Sometimes even the best managers have to think outside the box to find creative and reliable ways to motivate their employees.

Here are 14 unique motivational techniques from other entrepreneurs that you can try with your employees:

1. Gamify and Incentivize

Although we haven't implemented it yet, we're developing a feedback system that rewards employees for engaging with our wiki and for learning how to use our application via our training videos. We further reward performance based on meeting certain goals. A proven motivator for students and employees alike is earning a "badge" or points for committing to certain tasks.--Blair Thomas, EMerchantBroker

2. Let Them Know You Trust Them

If you let them know you trust and depend on them, they will fill those shoes sooner than you think. A vote of confidence can go a long way. Let them know you trust them to do the best job possible and they will rarely disappoint you.

3. Set Smaller Weekly Goals

You want lofty ambitions, but set up smaller goals along the way to keep people in it. Rather than make a billion this year, focus on getting 100 new customers this week-something that will get you to that billion. Then reward the team for achieving the goal with an afternoon off, a party, etc. They will see that your goals are realistic and everyone benefits from working hard.

4. Give Your Employees Purpose

I am able to motivate my employees by giving them a purpose. When you accomplish that, they understand the vision better and are able to execute more strongly. In addition, by understanding their purpose and the purpose of the business, an employee is better able to understand how they fit into the big picture. --Vlad Moldavskiy, Mabbly, LLC

5. Radiate Positivity

I'm always pumping energy through the office. I'm really enthusiastic and want my staff to feed off that positive energy. Because culture is so important to me, I play music, have fun, joke around, and play games. We work hard, but we play hard too. You have to be in the moment and high-energy all the time! --Josh York,

6. Be Transparent

I am very open with employees about what's happening at the highest level so there are no surprises and everyone has a chance to ask questions and give feedback. I want employees to feel included in big decisions and committed to the direction our company takes. This has helped to sustain motivation and increased company loyalty and pride.--Martina Welke, Zealyst

7. Motivate Individuals Rather Than the Team

Aligned incentives are the only true way to ensure everyone on a team is working toward a common goal. Framing the strategy in multiple ways ensures each stakeholder has a clear, personal understanding of how working together benefits himself and the team. This technique allows you to motivate the team to accomplish amazing things.--Ross Resnick, Roaming Hunger

8. Learn What Makes Each Employee Tick

Ask what they do and don't like working on, share the big picture company goals, and respond to their questions. Discern their goals and then invest in their professional growth. During one-on-one check-ins, listen to their ideas, because they're the best at what they do. Respect their personal schedules and non-work time, and don't ever pit their goals/timelines against each other.--Heather McGough, Lean Startup Company

9. Reward Based on Feedback

We developed Valuebot-an app for Slack that calculates how many times each employee was praised-in order to send daily and monthly summaries. Whoever garners the most kudos wins various awards and recognition. Valuebot has helped us to visualize our culture and reiterate how much we support one another. The positive energy we create in the office helps us to attract and retain talent.--Stephen Gill,

10. Prioritize Work-Life Balance

We have a few fun incentives, like an in-office "phone booth" style machine that lets you grab dollar bills. It's a fun little motivator that the sales team uses on a smaller scale. Otherwise, it's also important to encourage employees to take vacation time. A culture that prioritizes work-life balance, yields increased productivity and overall happiness in the workplace.--Jesse Lipson, Citrix

11. Have an Open-Door Policy

It's amazing how a simple "please" and "thank you" fares with employees. We simply speak to staff the way we would want to be spoken to. We also have an open-door policy when it comes to suggestions and ideas. When employees feel that their voice matters, they in turn feel confident about their positions in the company and that they have more at stake than just a paycheck.--Justin Beegel, Infographic World, Inc.

12. Let Them Lead

Motivating employees is not just about giving them vacation time-it's about showing them they make a difference and are valued. Every time we have a meeting, whether large or small, we let a different team member lead the conversation and the topics discussed. Not only can they share their opinions and be heard this way, but they are motivated to make their words and ideas happen afterwards.--Miles Jennings, 

13. Show Them the Bigger Picture

It's important that employees understand the bigger picture and can see how what they are doing in the moment will eventually contribute to an end goal. Give them tasks and projects to work on and make sure they understand how this fits into the big picture. Talented employees will go above and beyond what you expect of them.--Brian David Crane, Caller Smart Inc.

14. Create Recognition Rituals

At Convene, every management and executive meeting starts off with each department lead recognizing someone from their team who has gone above and beyond for the company or a client. This positive feedback loop motivates team members, and it holds management accountable for staff recognition.--Christopher Kelly, 

These are the top results from a survey of entrepreneurs on the topic of employee motivation tips provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

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