Motivation Rx: Your Daily Prescription
Your employees are dragging their feet… summer is here, the sun is out and they’re feeling uninspired to work.
What happened to your energetic, super star team? They seem extremely unmotivated.
As an owner of a small business, it is up to you to consistently motivate your team every day.
Zig Ziglar says, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
Just like you need to take your vitamins everyday, I prescribe that you motivate your team everyday.
If you have a motivated team, it will improve your business’s productivity, quality, and service. You’ll also create an environment that will empower and focus your staff to increase sales during this summer season.
OK, so you understand the value in daily motivation in the workplace, but you might be thinking I can’t afford all that time.
Well, it’s actually quite easy. In fact, you can’t afford NOT to do it.
Here are five simple tips to help motivate your team.
1. Assess Your Team
It is important to determine what motivates your team. Ways to do this include:
- Providing a questionnaire/survey
- Conducting informal conversations
- Having team brainstorm sessions
Some typical motivators are:
- Career development
- Learning andknowledge
- Health andbalance
- Materials andpossessions
- Status andprestige
- Recognition andpraise
2. Communicate With Your Team
Open communication in your business allows you to:
- Share financial information andgoals
- Provide an update of upcoming sales
- Let your employees know the impact they are having on the business.
- Display the status of your employees’ or team’s performance (e.g. a “performance thermometer”)
Ways to communicate include:
- Formal sales meetings
- Impromptu huddles
- 1:1 Meetings (employer with employee)
- Buddy system (peer-to-peer)
3. Empower Your Team
It is important for your team to feel empowered in order to build team spirit, to have a positive working culture and to encourage creativity.
Ways to do this are:
- Change it up – change people’s responsibilities each week
- Take turns chairing meetings
- Have a “manager for the day”
- Have group discussions to share creative sales ideas
4. Recognize andReward Your Team
Recognizing and rewarding your employees’ contributions is essential.
Here are some ways to recognize your employees for excellent customer service/sales:
- Create a performance points system
- Remember birthdays and anniversaries
- Hire a corporate travelling masseuse
5. Have Fun with Your Team
Finally, it’s important to have fun!
Some ways to do this are:
- Create team outings
- Have “Snoop Days” – allow your employees to go out and shop at your competitors, and discuss what they see
- Engage in weekly team building activities (puzzles and games)
- Develop sales contests
- Play a motivational song first thing in the morning
The above five tips will help you create an environment that motivates and empowers your staff to improve their performance.
However, in order to motivate others, you need to model the way and be self-motivated.
Ways to model the way and to be self-motivated include:
- Having a vision
- Setting goals
- Finding your voice (speak from the heart)
- Having a positive attitude
- Being passionate
- Being proud of what you’ve accomplished
- Being confident
- Taking risks
Motivation starts with you, and it doesn’t sustain itself on its own. Therefore, I recommend you taking your motivation prescription daily.
Follow those five easy tips, and your team will be energized in no time!
