4 Motivational Factors Employees Seek for Their Careers

As leaders, we must always hold ourselves accountable to build meaningful and purposeful relationships with our employees. This allows us to better understand those we are serving, and what motivates them to perform for the betterment of a healthier whole.

Assessments, books, and other tools can help us understand ourselves and the people we work with and for. But the factors that motivate employees to achieve evolve as they mature and begin to truly understand what matters most to them.

So don’t just use tools but really get to know the people you are leading and be specific about how you can help each of them achieve their goals, desires, and aspirations. The overall objective should be to help one another and lift each other up – and to accomplish this you and your employees must know and identify what motivates you best to work together. Getting the most from your employee relationships ultimately means motivating employees to maximize performance levels while also satisfying their own career aspirations.

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To do this keep in mind the following four motivational factors that they seek for their careers:

1. Career Relevancy

In today’s world, everyone wants to be noticed and recognized for their work and employees are motivated to achieve to remain relevant. As such, they are in search of new ways to learn, improve their skills, and invest in themselves. This is an opportunity for leaders to get involved and understand how to build the depth and breadth of their employees’ skill sets and aptitudes that will increase their relevancy and cultivate increased performance levels and loyalty.

2. Career Advancement

Employees are extremely motivated to achieve if they know advancement awaits them. This requires employees to be mindful of opportunities that lie around, beneath, and beyond what they seek. As a leader, you will sustain high levels of motivation from your employees if you can open doors of opportunity and accelerate their chances for advancement. Remember, just because your employees may be relevant, it doesn’t guarantee advancement. Helping your employees get discovered will elevate their motivation to achieve. So make it a point to help them get there.

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On that note, how proficient are you at seeing and seizing the opportunity? If you haven’t taken my assessment, I suggest that you do (). Over a million people have taken it and less than 1% of them have scored over 35.

3. Career Stability

People—especially Millennials—are motivated to have safety and security. We have all learned from the 2008 economic collapse that we can all quickly become victims of unexpected change without preparation. As a leader, be mindful of providing security and stability in how you lead your employees – and watch their motivational levels rise.

4. No Career Regrets

People only have a few real chances in their careers to reach their ultimate goals. In fact, how many times do you meet people that are more successful than you are and you wonder how they got there?  People don’t want to live with any regrets in their career/life and thus are motivated to not disappoint themselves. As a leader, don’t allow your employees to walk around carrying a load of guilt. Share your journey with them – your failures and successes. Many people are confused in today’s workplace about their future; help them embrace the unexpected and navigate uncertainty and change.. Motivate them by giving them the perspectives they need to achieve.