Motivating your people
By Kristyn Haywood | thebigchair.com.au | 23 January
Develop a fun and energetic environment
Caring about what motivates individuals and teams so they work smarter for their boss, team and company is the key to improving their productivity and developing a 'buzzing' culture. People who belong to a fun, energetic and successful team will not readily leave it. Gone are the days where team members will give you their commitment and energy without getting more back other than their pay packet.
There are many wonderful ways to motivate your team to achieve but none so inspiring than a set of measurable, outcome focused goals that are rewarded and celebrated with gusto! They must be goals that are meaningful and more than just some writing on a performance planning form.
We are all goal-focused creatures. We set goals to get up in the morning, get to work at a certain time, complete our tasks and save for the things we desire. Goals inspire us to be and have more than we do. Organisations could do well to capitalise on the way our minds work and make regular goal setting sessions an accepted and enjoyable part of our working lives.
Inspire creativity and innovative thinking in your team by getting them together regularly and asking them for ideas on how to improve the team, division, and organisation. Turn their ideas into measurable, outcome, focused goals and reward them.
Some say it's all too hard especially in call centre environments. I say it's even harder not to. Highly capable yet lowly motivated individuals will not be hugely productive and will not stay long.
In addition to setting goals with your team, there are many other wonderful ways to get the best out of them including:
- Discover what motivates individuals in your team and tailor rewards accordingly
- Appreciate the uniqueness of individuals
- Get your team members buy-in when decisions critical to their work need to be made
- Find ways to boost morale during negative periods
- Use regular meetings to communicate, inspire and motivate
- Develop a fun and energetic environment
Know what gets your people out of bed in the morning. If it is just their pay packet then you are not getting the best out of your people.
