Coming up with new and unique ways to continuously inspire and motivate employees is hard when you're juggling many things at once. This doesn't always stay top of mind, and it's easy to neglect. To give you some ideas, we've put together a grouping of articles on ways to inspire and motivate employees. We like to think of it as inspiring you to inspire them. 

1) 5 Ways to Inspire and Motivate Your Employees from Workplace Insights

"While many successful leaders know how to handle the nuts and bolts of a business, they may fall short in inspiring and motivating their workforce to greatness. As John Quincy Adams, our sixth President, said, 'If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.' A study reported in Harvard Business Review surveyed over 300,000 bosses, peers and subordinates to determine what skills have the greatest impact on a leader’s success, asking respondents to rank 16 competencies of managers at four levels of authority.  Of the 16 competencies, the 'ability to inspire and motivate others' was seen as most important across all management positions."

2) 15 Creative Ways To Motivate Your Employees On A Tight Budget from Bloggless

"People usually dread going to work for several reasons. It’s not what they want to do with their life, their routine gets monotonous, or (and this is a big one) WORK IS NO FUN!!! I understand that running your business is not meant to be a play date at the park, but it’s a proven fact that the boss only looks as good as his employee’s productivity and also that happy and motivated people are more productive. Motivating employees is essential to job satisfaction and productivity in the workplace. Yet motivation requires that you reward your employees, right? That you will need to give them large bonus checks or gift certificates to a favorite coffee shop to get motivation in return?"

3) Top 5 Ways to Motivate Your Employees. It’s Easier Than You Think. from Business 2 Community

"Happy workers are productive workers. But how do you motivate a group of employees to work hard and help your business grow? Luckily, motivating your employees doesn’t take a lot of flare or even a lot of resources. In fact, it could require you to just schedule a few minutes on your schedule to say 'hi.' As a small business owner, you need to maximize revenue and increase productivity, which means you need your staff to work as efficiently as possible. To get you off to a good start, follow these top ways to motivate your employees."

4) 7 Unusual Ways to Motivate Your Employees from Inc.

"Start A 'Mini-CEO' Program - When an employee has a new idea for how to do business, Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot, a marketing software firm in Boston, sometimes chooses to fire that employee from his or her day job, and appoint that person 'CEO' of a new in-house start-up. 'Part of creating this environment of innovation is making the organization decentralized and flat,' Halligan told Inc. 'We want to empower the edges of the organization, and we want to let the people who really understand our customers make decisions.' Make 'Fun' Part of Your Business Model - 'When fun is a regular part of work, employees get to know each other as real people,' Paul Spiegelman, CEO of Beryl Companies, told Inc. To that end, Spiegelman created a 'Department of Great People and Fun' and instituted 'Pajama' day and 'Dress like the 70s' day. 'While these ideas are not practical for every work environment, the key is to do something fun, no matter how small, on a regular basis,' he says."

5) How to Inspire your Workforce from SME Insider

"Speeches, 'team bonding' sessions and even day-to-day pep talks can quickly feel cringeworthy, especially to British sensibilities. To make sure that you’re really engaging and inspiring your staff, take a look at these eight tips. 1. Be genuine. It’s important that you really believe in what you’re saying. If it doesn’t ring true for you, it certainly won’t for your employees. As business psychologist Dr Hamira Riaz says: 'It is all about authenticity. It has got to be real otherwise the person on the receiving end is going to feel that it is fake. We can all tell when someone is following a script. We see that in politics. The politicians who are increasingly connecting to the public are the ones that are real – whether good, bad or ugly – and the ones that are failing to communicate are the ones that are heavily airbrushed and scripted.'"

Lexi Gordon is a Lead Consultant for exaqueo, a workforce consultancy that helps organizations build their cultures, employer brands and talent strategies. Contact exaqueo to learn more about how we can help you build a workforce that’s aligned with your company culture and develop an employer brand that will allow your business to scale the right way.