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During any given weekday, an office’s administrative staff provides constant support to every other department, usually taking on the tasks and duties no else wants to complete.

Sometimes it does not occur to management how important it is to motivate administrative professionals, even though these individuals provide invaluable work to the company as a whole.

With Administrative Professionals Week and Administrative Professional’s Day right around the corner, businesses can take a few minutes out of their hectic schedules to show appreciation for and continue to motivate their administrative staff.

Let’s Go Back

Sixty-three years ago, the combined efforts of the leaders at the National Secretaries Association (now called the International Association of Administrative Professionals), Dictaphone Corporation, and Young and Rubicam helped launch the celebration of National Professional Secretaries Week and National Secretary’s Day.

Since 1952, National Secretaries Week and National Secretary’s Day has evolved into Administrative Professionals Week and Administrative Professional’s Day.

According to the International Association of Administrative Professionals’ website, “Each year, administrative professionals are recognized for their skills and loyalty, attributes almost every office depends upon. Administrative Professionals Week celebrates and sheds light on administrative professionals’ devoted, valued work.”

“We all appreciate being thanked, but why not go the extra mile and make a point of using gift cards, hand-written thank you notes, and other gestures to recognize achievement,” contributor Caron Beesley advises in a U.S. Small Business Administration blog post.

Beesley also notes in her SBA blog post

How to Show Your Appreciation

An office can demonstrate its gratitude to the administrative personnel in a variety of ways: flowers, gift cards, lunch out, and so on. However, a gift that motivates the recipient long after Administrative Professionals Week has ended, a certificate serves as a reminder of how much their work is appreciated by their co-workers and bosses.

Take the gift one step further by placing the certificate in a jacket or envelope to make the effort last that much longer. When your office awards the administrative staff with customized certificates recognizing their dedicated efforts, you’ll be amazed with how positively they respond to the gesture.

Picking up a Starbucks gift card or signing an off-the-rack greeting card are easy ways to recognize your company’s admins during Administrative Professionals Week. Yet these gifts don’t serve as ongoing motivation. Celebrate your administrative professionals while motivating them with a present that speaks directly to their hard work and ongoing efforts, such as a certificate.

Most managers truly want to inspire their employees to come up with creative ideas, be more productive and do better work.

However, without even realizing it, it can be easy to slip into motivation-killing habits that affect the level at which an employee contributes, as well as play a part in staff turnover.

If you’re a manager, take a look at the list below to see if you’re making any of these mistakes and learn how to correct them.

Interrupting

One of the main reasons for low employee morale is the feeling that their input and concerns aren’t being heard. Far too often, managers make assumptions about the point the employee is trying to make and, in an effort to move the conversation along, jump in before allowing them to finish.

Letting employees finish their thoughts and complete their ideas is a simple and effective way to make them feel valued and heard.

Poking holes

When an employee comes to you with an idea to improve business or their own job, how do you respond? Do you immediately start listing the reasons it won’t work? Or worse, reply with the dreaded, “We’ve always done it this way”?

If this seems familiar, try to consciously keep an open mind. Ask the employee to present both the problem and the solution, as they see it. Even if you ultimately decide not to implement their idea after weighing all the pros and cons, they will be more likely to come to you with ideas in the future.

Micromanaging

There’s nothing worse than having a boss constantly looking over your shoulder, asking for constant updates and, even worse, telling you how to do your jobs. All these actions quickly zap the motivation of even the most dedicated worker.

On the other hand, showing employees that you trust them to do the tasks they were hired for is a huge morale booster. You can still keep on top of things by ask for updates at regular intervals and making it clear that they can come to you with problems in the interim.

Lack of clear goals

In order for your staff to achieve the company’s or department’s goals, they first have to know what they are. When goals are not clearly defined or continually change, it can lead to confusion, frustration and low morale.

Make sure your employees understand what your goals are and, more importantly, why the goals have been set in the first place. Then make sure they each have the proper tools and resources to reach them.

Time wasters

At some point or another, most of us have been trapped in a long meeting that had little to no bearing or effect on our own job or responsibilities.

These types of meetings can be frustrating and demoralizing since they eat into valuable time that could be spent more productively.

Therefore, before calling an all-staff meeting, ensure that it really is necessary that everyone attends and try to keep the agenda short and efficient.

Lack of rewards/acknowledgement

When employees feel their work is taken for granted or not valued, they may start to do and care less. That’s why it’s so important to have a system in place for thank your employees for their work.

It can be as simple as verbal thank you or a short, handwritten note. Or you may choose to recognize those who go above and beyond with formal awards. Whatever you do, make sure the gesture is sincere.

Think positive!

Look on the bright side!

Don’t worry, be happy!

There’s so much out there these days about the “power of positive thinking” that it can start seeming like a bunch of self-help hooey.

As long as you get your work done, you may wonder whether it really matters whether you have a positive mindset or not.

The short answer is…it does.

And it’s not just the Tony Robbins of the world who are saying it. More and more, science is backing it up, too.

Interestingly, positive thoughts and emotions are more fleeting and diffuse than negative ones. However, study after study has shown that positive emotions contribute in a major way to important life outcomes including friendship, marital satisfaction, higher incomes and better physical health and longer lives.

If that wasn’t enough, positivity can also have an effect on those around you, whether it’s at home or at work. A positive disposition helps motivate and inspire others in a way that negativity can’t.

Of course, cultivating a positive attitude in the workplace can be easier said than done, depending on your corporate culture. But with just a little intentional effort, you’ll start seeing changes in both yourself and others before long.

Here are a few ways to get started:

Imagine your day

Take a few moments at the beginning of each workday to envision a positive outcome. See yourself easily moving through tasks and effectively addressing problems as they arise. This doesn’t mean you won’t encounter frustrations, but preparing yourself mentally ahead of time will help make them easier to handle.

Smile and laugh

Studies have shown that smiling and laughing, even if we don’t necessarily feel happy, has the effect of lifting our mood and reframing our outlook. So make it a point to smile at others more often and share a joke with your coworkers.

Acknowledge others

One of the best ways to feel good is to make others feel good about themselves. When you recognize the efforts of your boss or coworkers, praise their accomplishments and say “thank you,” you’ll be surprised how great it makes you feel.

Employ positive language

How we think and speak has a direct effect on our mindset. Instead of saying “can’t,” “won’t” and “shouldn’t,” start using phrases like “I can,” “I will” and “I am able.”

Focus on solutions

When things are stressful at work, it can be all too easy to fall in the trap of complaining about the situation. An easy way to break free of this is to simply focus on the solution to the problem and the steps needed to accomplish it.