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Attention, leaders: your workforce is disengaged, and that's a major business problem. Disengaged employees are costing your organizationand the world$8.8 trillion in lost productivity, roughly the equivalent to nine percent of the global GDP, according to Gallup's State of The Global Workplace 2023 report.

The costs are too significant to be ignored. This problem is of utmost importance to current and aspiring leaders of today, who must be equipped with not only the technical skills needed for leadership, such as analytical skills or project management, but also soft skills such as knowing how to connect with and effectively engage one's team to deliver exceptional results in line with business objectives. It also underscores the lack of healthy, productive work cultures, which often goes back to the lack of effective leadership skills training.

So how does one develop the leadership skill of employee motivation? How can you create a culture where everyone feels respected and valued, and that their input matters?

The first step is to remember that as a manager or leader, you are not solely in charge of everything. For people to feel like they are being treated as respectable and intelligent humans, you need to create an environment where they can feel heard and that their opinions matter.

Establish a project vision or a long term goal for your department, and get your team involved in brainstorming and being part of the creation of the team vision. This makes them feel more accountable and empowers them to take greater responsibility over their work, knowing the impact it will have on the vision they themselves created.

The next step you can take to develop this skill is to challenge your team and stretch them outside their comfort zones regularly. Let's be honest, we all face those periods when our work can get a little boring and monotonous, especially during seasons of less activity due to market changes or projects winding down.

Your goal as a leader or manager should be to maintain a continual high of engagement through providing an array of stretch projects, learning opportunities, and cross-functional team collaboration. Even role-swapping sometimes helps to boost excitement and quality participation.

Leading the workforce in 2024 requires a dynamic approach to keep multiple generations engaged. Gen Z and Millennials, for example, who are set to represent the largest share of the workforce by 2030, prize employers who are values-driven. They want leaders who not only talk about their values on the company mission statement or at all-hands meetings, but are actively creating and engaging in programs that advocate these values within their workplace culture.

What values matter the most?

Climate action and sustainability efforts, work life balance, social impact, and wellbeing and DEI are just a few of their key priorities, reveals research undertaken by Deloitte in 2023. The survey, which gathered feedback from more than 22,000 Gen Z and Millennial respondents in 44 countries to explore their attitudes about work, revealed that they evaluate these qualities in a prospective employer even more highly than their salary, despite inflation and rising costs of living.

Is your leadership style securing the wholehearted, energetic participation from each member of your team? Are you listening to their needs and challenging them to grow?

As a LinkedIn Top Voice and the 24-year-old Founder and CEO of Rachel Wells Coaching, I am passionate about unlocking career and leadership potential for millennial professionals. I am a corporate career coach with 10 years of experience. My clients range from professionals at graduate to senior executive level, in both the public and private sectors. I have coached clients in more than seven countries globally and counting, and I've also directed teams and operations in my previous roles as public sector contract manager, to deliver large-scale national educational, career development, and work-readiness programs across the UK. Currently, I am building AI Forward, an exciting start-up that equips professionals and leaders to effectively use AI in their departments and individual professions, relevant to career and business goals. You can find out more and be among the first to access the platform when it launches in late summer 2024 by visiting my website.

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3 Steps To Build The Leadership Skill Of Employee Motivation - Forbes