With fall upon us, how can you motivate your team to put forth their best effort day after day?
HAVE MEETINGS AND SET CONCRETE GOALS
A lot of times, when productivity lags, it’s because there aren’t any common goals set out in view of the teams.
It’s harder for people to excel in a vacuum – and much easier for them to reach goals that have already been established than to try to creatively impress their bosses. So that in itself is an argument for setting goals and objectives together — and that means having meetings.
If people don’t like meetings, try to jazz meetings up to make them work for you. Make sure that you are generating good feedback and concrete recommendations to get things moving and keep them moving through September, October, and November. Some smart managers are using something called “gamification” – making goals into a kind of game, with creative embellishments, and that can work wonders, especially in a down season.
TRY NEW PROGRAMS
Fall is a great time to try a new pilot program or another new initiative. There’s less at stake, because you’re not fighting the “Holiday crunch.” You’re not looking at end-of-year numbers and trying to stay on a particular course.
A new pilot program in any area of your business can really spice things up and get people moving. It might be something new with customer interaction. It might be something new with product development. You might even be able to offer product samples as part of the effort. Making it appealing to people is a critical part of making it work. You can’t force people to be enthusiastic about something, but you can set up situations where the enthusiasm is natural and evident.
INVEST IN FALL EVENTS
Fall is a great time for outdoor events. Rather than letting vacationers have all the fun, set up something fun for your employees. You might see it as time lost, but in reality, you might be surprised at just how much you gain by giving your employees a different workplace setting and allowing them to recharge to tackle big tasks even better after they’ve had their fun.