How to keep your team motivated

April 22, 2019

Most organisations perform better when they inhabit happy, motivated and cohesive teams. But what exactly keeps a team of people motivated consistently in order to achieve?

Below are 11 ways to keep your team motivated. These are especially important to keep in mind when busy and stressful times lie ahead as you can proactively prevent burn out, demotivation and unsatisfied workers.

Pay them what they’re worth

This is a straight-forward no-brainer. People don’t always enjoy or feel comfortable discussing their paycheck. However, it is a major motivator for many individuals. When members of your team feel they are not valued appropriately they can become frustrated and may even look for positions elsewhere. Know your teams worth and fight to pay them accordingly.

Make sure they’re aware of opportunities

An important driver for employees is knowing they can move somewhere whether it be upward or sideways from their current role. In addition, people don’t just want promotion opportunities but the ability to develop their skills. Make sure to bring up the conversation with your team about expanding responsibilities and what direction they see themselves taking. This not only generates engagement but also lets them know you are there to support them.

A man and a woman are stacking wooden blocks on top of each other.

Ensure a pleasant workplace

There are many things that can make up a good workplace. See our blog on work culture here. Some significant factors can be hiring the right people, genuinely caring about employees, and making sure people connect – just to mention a few. On top of this, the workplace should be clean and preferably bright with some natural light.

A group of people are having a meeting in a conference room with sticky notes on a glass wall.

Bring the team together

It’s important that your team enjoy each other’s company! Make time for team lunches and team building days. But more importantly, take the time to update each other on projects as they go along and organize brainstorms surrounding important developments and events. Make sure all team members feel included.

A group of people are sitting around a table laughing and eating pizza.

Keep communication open

Following on from team updates and brainstorms, it is the most important for a team to communicate effectively. Poor communication can hinder the team’s ability to work cohesively and can often cause unnecessary drama. According to Forbes contributor, Dean Brenner, bad communication can lead to a drop in morale, lack of innovation, failure of purpose and lack of focus. It can also cause a lack of faith in the team, especially when certain individuals have been left out or miscommunicated to.

Listen/Ask Questions

Communication is not just speaking and sharing. A fundamental factor of communication is the ability to listen. And, then after listening, asking the right questions. Hear from your people and do something about what they're trying to tell you. At the very least it is important to acknowledge their feelings and thoughts.

This tip isn’t just applicable to listening to individuals concerns. When working on projects make sure to ask the team what they think – there needs to be a sense of contributing and adding value for employees to remain engaged. It’s not always about doing work. It has to be about more, such as creating ideas and seeking solutions. This is the kind of work that feels significant.

Set clear directives and goals

When it’s time to do the work, it helps for individuals to have a clear direction. It is easier to lose motivation when you don’t know where to start or what you are working towards. This one will come down to open communication and ensuring your team knows you are open to answering questions. It can pay off to implement a ‘there are no stupid questions’ policy so that no one ever feels uncomfortable asking about something they are unsure of.

Two women are sitting at a table looking at a piece of paper.

Allow autonomy

No one likes to be micromanaged! It is impossible for people to harness their own creativity and workflow when they have someone looking over their shoulder constantly. People need space to excel and to experiment with their ideas and work.

A woman is squatting on the floor in an office looking at papers.

Trust

To allow autonomy, you need to trust your team. This means allowing them to work flexibly and/or in ways that work best for them. As a leader, you must understand the work ethic and style of the individuals in your team and ensure you are allowing the proper amount of freedom for them to fulfill that working style. When employees are aware that you trust in their abilities, they will have higher confidence levels and be more eager to produce quality work on time in order to maintain that level of trust.

Two people are shaking hands over a table.

Reward and acknowledge great team performance

It’s important to acknowledge people’s accomplishments individually… but to maintain great team motivation, it’s important to reward teamwork too. It is incredible how far recognition can go in terms of encouragement and inspiration. This can simply be more attention from you as a leader, it can mean a celebratory lunch or a bigger project that increases the impact they will make on the company. Whatever it is that you choose to do, employees will feel appreciated and recognised and this enables motivation to keep working hard in the future.

A group of people are standing on top of a mountain.

Inspire them with meaning

Purpose matters. When you are able to remind your team about the purpose of your company or the project and their role in fulfilling that purpose you will have engaged employees. In an article from thinkPARALLAX the five main benefits of purpose-driven employees come to light. They include:

Increased productivity
Improved retention rates
Enhances recruitment prospects
Increases employee pride and engagement
Employees become brand ambassadors

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AI is raising the stakes on cyber risk. Are businesses funding the talent to match?

By Aniela R • October 22, 2026

Australian organisations are adopting AI at extraordinary speed. Copilots are writing code, agents are moving through business systems and employees are putting company data into public tools, often before security teams have had a say. Attackers are using the same technology to sharpen phishing, automate reconnaissance and identify weaknesses faster. Cyber security and the people responsible for it, has moved firmly up the board agenda. The question is whether boards and executive teams are backing their concern with the investment and capability required to manage the risk. Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT responsibility. In many organisations, it has become the foundation upon which digital transformation, customer trust and operational resilience are built. While it was once viewed as the digital equivalent of locking the front door, cybersecurity is now embedded in every aspect of business performance and growth. AI is expanding the cyber threat landscape Every new AI tool, integration and agent creates another potential way in. Proofpoint's 2026 Voice of the CISO report found 85% of Australian CISOs view generative AI as a security risk, up nine points in a year, while 83% believe employees are likely to use AI in ways that could expose sensitive data. The cost is rising too. The Australian Signals Directorate received more than 84,700 cybercrime reports in 2024–25, while the average self-reported cost per report for a large business rose 219% to $202,700. From Peoplebank's perspective, this makes cyber security as much a workforce challenge as a technology one. As AI expands the risk landscape, technology investment must be matched by investment in people who can secure it, govern its use and build resilience. How boards are navigating the evolving risk landscape The AICD's Director Sentiment Index for the first half of 2026 ranked cyber crime and data security among directors' top three concerns, while more than half said AI adoption was moving faster than their organisation could keep up. Boards are increasingly treating AI and cyber as connected risks. The conversation is shifting from "are we compliant?" to "what happens if this goes wrong?" Security leaders are expected to explain the potential impact on enterprise value, operations, reputation and data. Yet the expertise to challenge those answers can be missing. A 2025 Diligent Institute and Governance Institute of Australia survey found 53% of Australian boards named cyber security their top strategic priority, but only 13% had recruited AI-savvy directors and 21% mandated AI training. Diligent via KBI.Media ASIC has similarly warned that governance risks falling behind AI adoption. ASIC Peoplebank sees this as much a capability challenge as a governance one. Strong oversight depends on having expertise across the boardroom and the business to translate emerging AI and cyber risks into informed decisions and effective controls. Are boards approving more budget? Largely, yes. Gartner forecasts Australian information security spending will exceed AU$7.5 billion in 2026, up 9.5% on 2025, with AI adoption and AI-enabled attacks among the drivers. PwC's 2026 Digital Trust Insights found nearly three in four Australian organisations expected cyber budgets to rise, with 37% naming AI as their top cyber budget priority. But more budget does not automatically deliver more capability. Proofpoint found 79% of Australian CISOs are managing expanding AI risks without a proportional increase in resources or expertise. The tools are being bought, but the people needed to secure and govern them remain harder to find. Peoplebank identify a continuing talent shortage and a growing need for AI-literate security staff. The tools are being bought; the people needed to run and govern them are harder to find. What Peoplebank is seeing in executive hiring One sign that organisations are taking AI-driven cyber risk seriously is movement at the top of the security function. Peoplebank is seeing increased activity at CISO level, alongside greater appetite to build the teams beneath them. Demand for dedicated CISOs and Heads of Cyber has grown by around 20% year on year across Australian enterprise, government and SME organisations , with hiring activity particularly concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne. Peoplebank data shows that around 60–70% of executive briefs for CISO and Head of Cyber roles now explicitly include AI governance, AI threat mitigation or responsible AI adoption among their core responsibilities. The CISO role has expanded. Security leaders are increasingly expected to secure AI alongside the wider technology environment, from employee use and vendor risk to agents accessing business data. Security leaders are also open to moving. The IANS and Artico Search 2026 State of the CISO report found nearly seven in ten CISOs were open to a career move within the next year, while 52% said their scope was no longer fully manageable. New security leaders often arrive with a mandate to close capability gaps, creating demand further down the function for architects, engineers and governance specialists who can design controls, secure AI platforms and establish appropriate policy and assurance. The bigger picture for cyber talent and how it's shifting The most in-demand cyber security roles Peoplebank worked on in FY26 were Security Engineers, Security Architects and cyber security support professionals. Demand also remains strong across cloud security, security operations, identity and access management, and governance, risk and compliance. The wider skills challenge is significant. ACS Digital Pulse 2026 backs this finding, showing 84% of workers had used AI tools, but only 7% demonstrated advanced AI literacy. Peoplebank data shows cyber security roles take an average of 33 days to fill, eight days longer than broader technology roles. In FY26, 84% of Peoplebank's cyber security placements were contract engagements and 16% permanent. That model reflects how many organisations are accessing specialist capability. AI security requirements are often tied to defined programs, from securing new platforms to establishing AI governance, making contract specialists, project teams and salaried consultant models valuable ways to access capability quickly. Turning investment into capability For boards approving greater cyber investment, the challenge is turning that budget into capability. The organisations that do this well: Get the leadership right. A CISO with a clear mandate, reporting line and budget can turn investment into a coherent security program. Link hiring to risk. If AI data exposure is a priority, fund roles with the expertise to address it. Blend contract and permanent talent. Bring in specialists for urgent programs while building a permanent core that retains knowledge. Invest in existing people. Upskilling security and risk teams in AI can complement external hiring for scarce skills. Move quickly. With cyber positions taking longer to fill, slow approvals and lengthy interview processes increase the risk of losing strong candidates. AI will continue to reshape the threat landscape. Leadership teams that invest in the people, not just the platforms, will be better placed to adopt it safely and turn cyber investment into genuine resilience. How Peoplebank can help Peoplebank partners with organisations across Australia to source cyber security capability across permanent, contract and workforce solutions, from analysts and engineers to architects, security leaders and project teams. Whether you're appointing a security leader, securing an AI platform or building internal capability, our specialists can help you find the right people. Contact Peoplebank to discuss your cyber security hiring requirements.

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How Australians move between jobs

By Aniela R • August 3, 2026

New data reveals how Australians move between jobs and what it means for employers and job seekers Australia's workforce is more dynamic than many people realise. New research from Jobs and Skills Australia highlights how workers move between occupations and industries throughout their careers, providing valuable insights for employers, recruiters and professionals planning their next career move. According to JSA's newly released Occupation Mobility Interactive Tool, career pathways are often far more interconnected than traditional job titles suggest. Careers are no longer linear One of the key findings from the report is that occupations tend to form clusters, with workers moving between roles that share similar skills and experience requirements. Rather than following a single, predictable career path, many Australians build careers through a series of lateral moves, stepping stones and transferable skill opportunities. For example, Australia's most common occupation, Sales Assistant (General), acts as a significant gateway role. Workers frequently transition into related customer service positions, while others leverage their experience to move into higher-skilled roles such as retail management, administration and clerical positions. The research identifies eight broad occupational mobility clusters across the labour market, including: Social, Education and Service Health Science and Research Engineering and ICT Other specialised occupational groups These clusters demonstrate that many careers are connected through transferable skills, creating opportunities for workers to pivot into new occupations without starting from scratch. Careers are like LEGO creations. Even when you dismantle one model, the individual blocks remain valuable and can be reassembled into something entirely new. Transferable skills are the pieces that make career pivots possible.