5 ways to motivate your tech team

With more and more money being invested into British technology the ‘war’ for top tech talent continues. Keeping your team motivated is vitally important to retain valuable employees. So, what can you do to motivate your tech team? Here we look at 5 top tips.

1. Provide the right tools and time

Nobody likes working with outdated tools or software, particularly if it impacts the time it takes to complete a task. It’s important to remind yourself what made your tech team get into their role. On the whole most technical experts, whether it be software engineers, infrastructure experts or network gurus, got into their professions because they love solving problems. Being give the correct tools and time allowance to solve problems effectively is a great avenue to their personal success and a big boost in overall team morale.

2. Increased responsibility

Who doesn’t like being referred to as an expert?! This isn’t to say that you must extend someone beyond their knowledge or experience but giving someone the responsibility of ‘subject matter expert’ (SME) within the team is a great way of increasing that person’s buy-in and motivation. This individual will then take ownership of that of the process or technology and can help manage new updates or initiatives. This can be assisted by training courses, certifications and conferences to help build the individual’s knowledge.

3. Involve members early on with new projects or processes

When change happens it’s important to communicate and involve team members immediately. Whilst it’s understandable that you may make the overall decision, where appropriate include the team in the decision-making process for any upgrades or roll-outs to ensure everyone is bought into the process. The team won’t be caught off-guard or surprised then when the project goes live and they will be better equipped to start working straight away.

4. Offer them work-life flexibility

Having a positive work-life balance is a hot topic, 68{2dfa1182ec7ee05805b813a9bdf2250092cde9d7c1f61c8843435a2d9f70cb53} of workers would like to work flexibly in a way that is not currently available. Most flexible arrangements make a big difference to people’s quality of life and usually have no impact on one’s career.

Offering work-life flexibility doesn’t have to mean ‘work where you want, when you want’, but having a rigid structure doesn’t help motivate your tech team either. Making team members aware of the pendulum shift in flexi-working is key to them being able to use it and reap the benefits. All companies are different of course, but explaining that you’ll sometimes require extra flexibility from the team (maybe to cover for downtime, or stay late for a migration) which will be repaid by offering work from home for that emergency or late starts/early finishes is a great way to build trust with both parties happy.

5. Invest in each team member’s success

The needs of the team don’t always align with the needs of individuals within the team. However, as a tech team leader, if you can get the balance right you will reap the rewards. If each team member is treated with respect and they have a personal development plan they will feel more motivated and this will have a positive impact on team morale. It can have a negative effect on team performance when one individual is feeling flat, so providing them with the right advice and tools to succeed is great for the team.

It’s the goal of any good manager to keep their team engaged, happy and most of all, motivated, but it’s a process which can quickly be forgotten in modern-day work, particularly when project deadlines loom. Increased morale and overall happiness in a role can lead to increased individual performance and it can also contribute to team harmony which can create real benefits across the board. By taking the time to think about your team as individuals and addressing their needs you are more likely to have a successful, productive and motivated tech team.

If you’re growing a tech team and want to understand more about what motivates candidates, please get in touch.