Tech teams form the backbone of all the unseen infrastructure within a company. Despite this, most users and entrepreneurs overlook how vital their tech companies are to the success of their business. Keeping the tech team motivated and at the top of their game ensures the competitiveness of the business.

But what does a tech team need to remain motivated and happy in a corporate work environment? Below,13 members of Forbes Technology Council share their insights into what elements a highly motivated and happy tech team needs to remain that way.

1. Create A Tiered Reward System

Create a tiered system where employees are constantly rewarded for meeting certain goals and objectives. At the end of the period (quarter or year) add them up to determine their reward, such as cash or prizes. Many small goals and objectives versus one huge one will prove to be significantly more effective in helping the team achieve more. - Zaher El-Assi, Lightship

2. Show Them Their Impact

Enable the team to make the right connections and build a network so that the team is not insular. Ensure that they understand how the work they are doing is connected to the business outcome and priorities. This is more than just their leader explainingits hearing it from others who are impacted. Connect the team to resources within the company that can help them achieve their work, such as subject-matter experts. Connect them with people who understand and can personally articulate the value of their work, and connect them with resources that can help them achieve their professional goals or help them understand how other parts of the business work. - Suzanne Taylor, Unisys

3. Include Them In The Tech Reporting Process

They need ownership:Your team has to believe that they are making an impact on the scope and definition of what they are building. This also includes making them part of the reporting for the tech so that they can see how people are using the product and where improvements in the experience can be introduced. - Derrick Morton, FlowPlay

4. Rally Them Around A Meaningful Mission

The best way to keep your tech team motivated and happy is to have a meaningful company mission and rally the team around that mission. If someones job is to build a widget, thats not very motivating. But if they are working to make positive change in the world, thats meaningful. - Miron Lulic, SuperMoney

5. Provide Them With Challenging Work

Tech team motivation comes from a multitude of different factors. The core aspects involve being able to provide the tech team with technically challenging and interesting work, providing them with creative freedom in selecting technologies and methodologies used, and ensuring that communication regarding technical requirements is crisp and clear. Give the technology team the feeling that they are being listened to and heard when it comes to development languages, tools, practices and processes, as well as timelines for developments, and be honest. - Sampo Parkkinen, Revieve Inc.

6. Include Them

Include them in the overall strategic vision and plan. Collaborate with them to work on defined business outcomes and get them connected with the business leaders and users who will be part of the desired business outcomes. - John Wondolowski,Solutions II

7. Provide Perspective

Provide them with visibility into how what they're building will impact your retail clients or their customers. I've found that the more the tech team understands why they're building what they're building, the more fulfilling their work becomes. - Jeremy Neren,GrocerKey

8. Encourage Diversity Of Opinion

To keep your tech team (or in fact any team) motivated and happy, it is critical to provide a clear and common vision for the team that is directly aligned with the larger corporate vision. From there, there are three more essential elements to focus on to keep your team cranked up and psyched up: promote transparency, encourage diversity of opinion and a responsibility to participate, and require respect for those individual opinions. Focusing on these points while providing the necessary technical tools to succeed productively are a recipe for powerful engagement. - Dave Landa, Kintone Corporation

9. Find Problems They Are Good At

The happiest employees feel their work is meaningful and fulfilling. So, find problems that they are good at and help them understand how it helps the company. - Aaron Raddon,Lytics

10. Offer Education

Keep the team engaged and educated on new trends and technologies. This allows them to keep skills current as well as be independently innovative. - Cody Barnett,US Med-Equip, Inc.

11. Provide A Good Balance Of Projects

Our people love to be challenged and on a constant learning and improving path, as they like to explore new and old technologies and try new things out. We nurture this by letting them evolve and providing a good balance of must do projects with new and exciting ones. Additionally, we make sure they understand what they are working on, why is it important and the kind of values we provide our clients with. - Boaz Shunami, Komodo Cyber Security LTD.

12. Give Them Creative Freedom

Give them the freedom to build things in the best way the team sees fit. Guide the what, but not the how. Provide interesting projects to work on, a solution that solves a real problem and areas to grow and learn both inside and outside of the core job. - Steven Fitzsimmons, Freshpaint

13. Involve Them In Tactical Decision-Making

Give the tech team a sense of ownership of the software features they work on by empowering them accordingly. Nothing is more demotivating for developers than being considered as a coding factory that must deliver a solution that is already fully designed. Instead, collaborating closely with product managers, they should be fully involved in tactical decision-making, from discovering customers and users pain points, through experimenting with new solutions, to prioritizing features in the roadmap. They are key to finding the right means to execute against the vision, main objectives and budget set by top management. - Jean-Cyril Schtterl, Sidetrade

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Struggling to Keep Your Tech Team Motivated? Try These 13 Tips - Forbes