As a team leader, keeping your team members motivated and engaged in their job should always be a top priority. Motivation and engagement can lead to not only happier employees but focused employees, less turnover and overall better performance. If the task of engaging your team members seems overwhelming, take into consideration these three tips.

1. Tailor Your Approach – There is no one right way when it comes to motivating and engaging your team. Each team member is different in what will give them motivation. Tips to help tailor your approach is to provide SMART goals to specific to each team member, understand what makes each employee tick and provide feedback and transparency to individuals. Remember, there is no one size fits all when it comes to engaging and motivating.

2. Connections – People love to feel connected and cared by others. If the team dynamic is off or it’s a new team, look for ways to get to know each other and build and foster that relationship as a manager. Not only do they need to feel supported and backed by their team, they also need to feel like their opinion matters and they are feeling purposeful in their position. A simple conversation can help you determine this. 

3. Autonomy and Freedom – No one enjoys being micro-managed. Telling your employees when to check emails or looking over shoulders every 30 minutes becomes old, real fast. Remember to trust your employees with their jobs, if they’ve proven to you they can get it done. Another thing to think about is your employees have a life outside of work. Give them the flexibility to work from home or have a flex schedule to meet their needs. Having a company that provides this can go a long way.

Learning to continually engage and motivate employees can take time. Like most things in life, it takes a few trials and a few errors to get it right. Remember to communicate with your team, understand their strengths and weaknesses and look for ways to fit those to keep them engaged and motivated.