A motivated team is a must for any business. Thinking of ways to motivate your employees can be difficult at times. You don’t want the same old, same old over and over and over because it gets boring after a while for your employees.
When we were young our teachers would draw a smiley face on our papers with a “Great job!” handwritten on the top of the paper. It made us happy and we ran home to show our parents. If we did our chores well, our parents would usually praise us. When we graduated high school or college we got awards for the various things we accomplished during that time. The rewards or pats on the back motivated us to keep doing well throughout those years. Students that didn’t have the support at home or boring and unmotivated teachers, usually didn’t do as well.
After getting out of school and going to work for a living, things change. Many companies don’t reward or motivate their employees at all and wonder why business is down. My oldest daughter is working at Costco as she goes to college. She loves it there. They give her a turkey each year just before Thanksgiving to take home. They have BBQs to reward their employees for a job well done. They have photos of employees and notes about all the great things they did hung on the wall for other employees and customers to see. They know that happy employees work harder and are dedicated to their company. Their customers love going there to shop because of their happy employees and great service.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
As a manager or company owner there are things you can do to help motivate your employees. You don’t have to break the bank in order to keep employees happy. There will always be those customers and employees that like to complain and aren’t that motivated. You can’t go back in time and change the way they were raised and figure out why they have a bad attitude. You can do your best to try to change their attitude to a more positive one from here on out by leading by example.
Here are a few things that I found do wonders for motivating employees.
1. Lead By Example: As a manager or owner of a company you have to lead by example. The manager or owner that has a positive attitude and is self motivated tends to inspire others around them to do the same. Think back to your elementary, middle school and high school teachers. Think of your favorite one right now. That was easy! It was that teacher that made learning fun and inspired you, right? You can also think of teachers you didn’t like that were boring and seemed to just hate their job and life in general. Sometimes it’s difficult to even remember their names. We try to forget those that didn’t inspire us.
The same goes for thinking of an old boss or manager that you liked or didn’t like. You want to be in charge, but also show your employees that you are motivated and happy to get things done. If you want happy and motivated employees then be happy and motivated!
2. Random Acts of Kindness: It doesn’t take much to make someone’s day or an entire department’s day. Bring in coffee and doughnuts for a random department once a week. Have a random drawing for a gift card to a local restaurant for the
employees that went above and beyond that month. Spending $3 a person for a cup of coffee and a doughnut for your employees could change their entire attitude for the better that day. If they don’t want coffee, have orange juice or bottled water available as a backup.
Planet Fitness gives their members pizza for dinner one night and bagels and coffee for breakfast one day a month. Feeding people that want to stay fit is kind of funny, but it keeps their members happy and coming back for more. They don’t have to spend all the money on food at their 1,300+ locations, but they continue to do it to show the members they care about them.
3. Acknowledge Employees Efforts: It’s easy to acknowledge employees efforts and let others know about them going above and beyond. Just like they do at Costco and countless other companies around the world, post a photo of the employee, a comment card a customer filled out praising them or a little write-up about what they did that impressed you.
It could be as simple as “Congratulations, Becky Smith! Becky sold 20% more product this week than last week and signed up 4 new clients for us.”. Have an employee of the week and month and then name an employee of the year at the end of the year at an annual awards banquet. It’s as easy as typing something out, printing it and posting it. I little acknowledgement can go a long ways.
4. Empower Them: Make them feel like they are part of the team. Yes, they are part of the team, but many employees don’t feel like they are. Make them feel like you value their opinion by asking for it. Ask them what they think about different projects coming up or what they are working on. Ask them if they have an ideas to make it better or how you can make them and other employees more motivated and create a stronger team. Great communication along with motivated employees is the key to the success of any business. If the boss isn’t approachable and not friendly with their employees, having motivated employees might be a little more difficult.
You can still be in charge and approachable and friendly when you need to be. When Jim Sinegal, co-founder and former CEO of Costco, would visit each of their stores he was very approachable by employees and customers. He’d walk around with a simple name tag on that said “Jim” on it and you wouldn’t know he was co-founder of this multi-billion dollar company.
I had the chance to meet him while shopping there one day. I told him how much I loved his company and how he treats his employees. He thanked me and then introduced himself to my two youngest children that I had with me. He even showed he cared about my children and that made me even happier than I already was. He’s just such a nice man. He is great at communicating with his employees and they love him. I hear he still shows up from time to time, even though he is retired now. Why? Because he loves his company and people in general. Costco is a company I’d love to have on my list of clients. I know they’d be fun to work with and I’d love to help them motivate their company as much as Jim does.
I watch TV shows like “Undercover Boss” and am always amazed that the employees don’t know their company’s CEO, even after they walk into the room without their disguise on. You expect your employees to go above and beyond for you, but they don’t even know what you look like? WOW! If they were involved in their company more they wouldn’t have to go undercover to see what’s going on in their company.
5. Offer Promotions and Incentives: A job well done and an incredible work ethic sometimes deserves more than a simple pat on the back and a paper on the wall saying they are great. Sometimes promotions and incentives can do wonders to get your motivated employees even more motivated. Incentives could be a better commission on an important sale you want to land, movie tickets, a cash prize, paid day off or a number of other things. A pay raise, a better position in the company, etc. will make the great employee very happy and show others they can move up in the company if they stay motivated and do a great job for you.
These are just a few examples to help you motivate your employees. Since I like to overdeliver, here is a bonus tip for you.
6. Have A Day Filled With Fun: When I was in school once a year we had a school picnic, a school fair and other fun activities. A magician, singer or other speaker would come in for a school assembly and we’d all get so excited to see who they brought in. It gave us a mental break from school while making us happy and educating us / motivating us. We’d return to class full or energy and talking about what we just learned. It made learning fun.
Many companies let their employees take the day off from their normal duties to have a day of team building activities, an awards banquet, luncheon or other event. Over the past 30+ years I’ve been hired countless times to motivate and entertain and motivate their employees at sales conferences, awards banquets, trade shows, conventions, customer appreciation events, stockholder meetings, etc. These companies know that having me come in will motivate their employees and encourage them to go above and beyond for their company. What type of event can you put on to show your employees you appreciate them all while educating them throughout the day?
Companies that hire me are usually companies that want to try something new and a little out of the box. They’ve hired regular motivational speakers and keynote speakers before that plant themselves behind a podium and don’t involve the audience. Since I combine motivation and entertainment, my presentations include a lot of audience participation. Your employees will have fun while getting motivated and learning. Like the Benjamin Franklin quote stated earlier in this post, people learn better when they are involved in the process. By hiring someone, like myself, to show your employees that you appreciate their hard work, all while motivating them at the same time, it’s a win / win situation for all involved.
If I can be of help motivating your employees, please let me know. I look forward to working with you.