‘How can I motivate my staff?’
That is the question I am asked most frequently when I spend time with business owners and managers.
They are looking for some kind of miracle solution, something they can say or do right away and that will provide them with highly motivated and engaged employees.
So I return the question; to do them do to motivate your employees? Then they tell me about bonuses, incentive schemes, team building exercises, days off, and all sorts of things that generally cost money and have limited results.
Well, here’s the good news, and it won’t cost you anything – not even very little – to implement, other than a little thought and some of your time.
The # 1 motivator for people at work is: the work itself. It is not money as many people still think it is, not even recognition. In all the surveys that have been conducted over the years with employees, this is the single most important motivator that comes up every time. No matter which country the research is conducted in or the industry, the results are always the same.
Employees are highly motivated and engaged if they feel they are doing something meaningful. If they believe that what they do makes a difference; if they like what they do and find their work interesting.
You might be thinking, ‘What if they don’t like their work, how am I supposed to motivate them?’ You can make up for their lack of job satisfaction by spending quality time with them. Giving them positive feedback and empowering them.
However, there are other practical actions you can take to make a team member’s work more meaningful and interesting:
- Vary the jobs they do
- Give them more responsibility
- Give some of your tasks
- Ask them to train or mentor another member of the team.
- Ask them to attend occasional management meetings.
- Give them more training
A few years ago, I inherited an unmotivated telesales team. This was in the beer industry and the main task of the people on the team was to phone pubs, clubs, bars and hotels. They got the customer’s order for different types of beer and entered the details into the computer system.
These are some of the actions I took to make the work more interesting for the seventeen people and for the group:
- I promoted the supervisor to team manager.
- Two team members were promoted to team leaders, each leading a team of seven
- A range of minimum cost incentives, product promotions and team competitions were introduced.
- Each team member spent time with a field salesperson who visited clients.
- Product awareness sessions were held to give the team a better understanding of the different beers sold by the company.
- New products were introduced, including soft drinks, wine and spirits.
- They all attended a wine appreciation seminar.
- Friday afternoons were designated as party times (with work still to be done)
- The team became involved in fundraising activities and charity events.
- The team participated in a national telesales competition (they came in second place)
Many other things were done in order to make the work more interesting, to make it fun!
This is probably a totally different business than you work for, but I’m sure you could produce your own list that would make the work of your team members more interesting, more meaningful, and a lot more fun.
“Nobody motivates the workers of today. If it doesn’t come from within, it doesn’t come. Fun helps remove barriers that allow people to motivate themselves..
Herman Cain (American businessman, founder of Godfather Pizza)