How to Motivate Your Staff

The best way to motivate your staff is to create a motivating environment. More than anything people want to be recognized for who they are and their contributions to the organization. People want recognition more than money, more than time off, and more than any or form of inspiration and motivation that you can think of. Here are some key components for motivating your staff:

First get to know your staff. What are their interests. Who are their husband/wife and children and what are their interest as well. For example Sally's husband is a bowler and has just entered a bowling competition over the weekend. After the contest ask Sally how her husband did in the competition. How about the kids. Did they enjoy their time at the camp.

When employees understand that you have some interest in them and their family they will become more motivated. They will realize that they are more than a number to you and the organization. Not only should you get to know your staff but your staff should get to know each other as well as you. The more you know about someone the easier it is to care about them. It's a lot easier to go to bat for someone that you know and care about as opposed to a stranger.

Next always have some type of games and competitions. In order to do this you want to ask the employees what motivates them. Maybe it's money for someone, and time off for another person. For someone else it could be a lot of recognition. Some people like to receive gifts as a form of motivation. It can be anyone of a number of things.

Once you find out what motivates individuals you can stage your contests and games around those motivating factors. Each month you can have a different contest centering around the different motivators.

Next always try to catch your employees doing something good and reward or compliment them in front of the entire team or department.