5 ideal ways to achieve maximum productivity from employees

Attracting great people to your team is only half the battle. Then you have to decide how to get the most out of them.

The online publication ZDNet writes about staff motivation: "If you plan to achieve great results, you need to be sure that your team members are happy and productive. Here are 5 tips from business leaders on how to do this:

Career development

Alex Hibbitt, CTO of the albelli-Photobox Group, says that the key to success is to focus on long-term goals.

"We try to understand what motivates people in terms of their career, whether they want to be individual specialists, whether they want to be managers, or whether they want to go beyond that level within a few years. And then we try to adapt what they do to achieve that goal."

Communication

Cynthia Stoddard, CIO of Adobe, says that the result depends on the level and quality of contact with people. "It's always important," she says, "to talk to them, get their opinion, and then act on it.

"We work a lot on the culture to understand how people feel and how we can take our organization to the next level."

According to Stoddard, such initiatives require a lot of effort. However, this investment of time pays off, and then comes an understanding of how to motivate employees to work at their best.

"I will listen to everything. And I think it's very important that people's voices are heard, that they realize that you have listened to them, and then action is taken," she concludes. "That's what I'm trying to do - to build a connection all the way to action. And we make changes based on the ideas of individual employees, managers, and people who work in the organization from different regions and countries around the world."

Feedback is spontaneous and planned

Carter Cousineau, vice president of data and model management at Thomson Reuters, believes that getting the most out of employees means giving them great feedback, and that's not always easy.

According to Cousineau, there are different ways to communicate with people, and it's important to be aware of these styles.

"Think about what works for each person and try to take a personalized approach when giving feedback," she says.

"Whether it's twice a week or just meeting in the same block for an hour, success depends on flexibility."

Honesty and humanity in relationships

Bob Michael, Head of Data at retailer DFS, says that you will get the most out of your employees if they are confident that your word can be trusted.

"I try to be as honest as I can be," he says. "It's not always possible to be completely open, but I try to do it as often as possible."

Michael argues that openness also extends to what you ask your employees to do. "I wouldn't ask someone to do something I wouldn't do myself," he explained.

Purpose, freedom, and the opportunity to learn

Adam Warne, CIO of River Island, uses a guide from Daniel H. Pink's book "Drive" to motivate his staff.

"It says that to get the most out of people, you need three things," he says. "First, you need to give them a purpose, which is to explain why we do what we do. And I think a lot of that comes from clear communication."

"Secondly," says Warne, "you need to give employees autonomy.

"Give them enough freedom and flexibility to do what they need to do."

Finally, he says, you need to give people the opportunity to improve their skills. "You have to help them improve their skills and develop what they know how to do," Warne said.