By Evan Vitale
While the dog days of summer are upon us and everyone is thinking about (or taking) a vacation, back-to-school sales will begin soon, followed by the march to Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. It can be both a busy time and a serious distraction for your business.
How can you keep your staff focused on the work at hand; not be distracted by long weekends and holidays and stay motivated?
Here are some ideas that will help:
- Start now. Don’t wait until November rolls around to implement steps on keep your team focused and motivated.
- Keep workloads manageable. This doesn’t mean giving an employee less work or less responsibility. However, if you don’t overwhelm them, they will be happier, work will be completed more efficiently and you’ll do a better job of retaining your employees.
- Make sure they know their role in the company and the tasks involved. Show them what needs to be done. “Showing” them and “telling” them is two different things.
- Reward your team. This can be anything from gift cards to extra time off, etc. A business friend of mine would take his staff to lunch when they reached performance or production goals or helped bring on a new client. Before a long, three-day weekend, he would tell his team if “such-and-such” is completed by Friday, then we’ll close the office at Noon and have some extra time off. These kinds of things went a long way to keeping his staff happy.
- Recognize your staff members at meetings or in the company newsletter for their work accomplishments and for personal accomplishments. Praise and recognition is appreciated.
Believe-it-or-not, but financial rewards do little to motivate staff. Other rewards and factors about their job go a long way. Talk to your employees and find out what motivates them. Incorporate them in helping everyone stay focused at the job at hand.