Article provided by MiWay
It sounds counter-intuitive, but it takes hard work to keep a team motivated enough to … work hard. While everybody is still busy setting up their strategies for the year, why not include “team motivation” in your plan? Here are four ideas to get you started on the road to making your team excited about coming to work (yes, even on Mondays):
- Sociable team meetings. We all need something to look forward to (even bosses and business owners). Turn your regular team meetings on its head and turn it into a team breakfast session. Chocolate muffins and buttery croissants go a long way in coming up with solutions towards completing large orders for clients more efficiently, or increasing your social media following substantially.
- Make your employees feel valuable. In the working environment, praise and appreciation is too easily neglected. It is imperative to take some time to talk with each of your team members individually; express how happy you are to have them on-board, how much you value their work and ask how they are coping in general.
- Set an example. Besides good time management and sticking to agreed deadlines, it is just as important to set an example of how to realistically balance work and personal life. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
- Scheduled downtime. Why not arrange to get together after work to meet for dinner or a fun activity? You don’t even need to go off-site. Book half an hour on a Friday afternoon to play a quick game – 30 minutes of 30 Seconds, anyone? Switching off for a short time enables you to focus better afterwards and improves team camaraderie.
Fun aside, while you’re putting your plan together, don’t forget to ensure that you have adequate business insurance in place. Your business needs to keep going even if your team is off celebrating its biggest order yet.