Pumped and Ready to Motivate

Hi Cordelia,

I just recently started a new job as a manager at an electronics store. The leader who was in this role before me didn't really spend a lot of time working on employee morale or development. As a new leader, I would like to change that. The corporate team for the company thinks it would be better to just get rid of older employees and start building a new team, but I know with the right guidance the team we have can be great!

What are some ways I can help motivate my employees and make them feel valued?

 Sincerely,

The New Leader in a Not So New Store

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Dear New Leader in a Not So New Store,

Anyone who says that you can’t help motivate employees simply has never had a really good leadership team backing them. There are many things you can do to help motivate employees and while some may seem like small gestures they go miles with your employees:

Help cater goals for your employees that help them develop personally as well as professionally. This is especially important if you work in a place where employees typically work there for only a few years at a time. When you help them with their development goals, make sure you are also taking the time to work on a skill that will help them even after they stop working for you. For instance, if they have a hard time organizing their thoughts, invite them in on a project that involves brainstorming. Have them see how their peers brainstorm and problem solve so they can collaborate and learn from each other. Or maybe one thing they struggle with is communicating professionally. Have them start sending you recap emails at the end of shifts, it will help keep everyone up to date on the business, but teach them to better structure their communications.

1. Take the time to write a 30, 60, 90-day plan with your employees. What is one big attainable change they would like to make in their career? What are a few steps that they can implement over the next three months to make them happen? How can you help guide them through this process? Plan weekly check-ins to follow up on their goal and help them if they are struggling.
2. Have a “round table meeting”. This is a meeting that you would have with your employees to discuss the working environment. What are some things they feel are going really well? What are some areas of opportunity? Leave the meeting with a plan for how you can all improve the situation together.
3. Find ways to plan little employee appreciation events on holidays. For instance, on the Fourth of July, we grill out for our employees that have to work. The last Sunday before Halloween every year we plan a “ghoul night of spooktacular fun” where we have a potluck and vote for the best entree, dessert, and appetizer. The winners get a prize (usually a little goody basket that we make with dollar store goods and decor).
4. Outside of holidays, we like to have events to celebrate great milestones in our business. For example, one-month credit card applications were a huge opportunity for our store. We had been struggling for a while and we wanted to come up with a creative way to motivate employees to promote the card. So, the three employees who got the most people to apply got to pick a manager of their choosing to pie in the face. (I got pied). It was a great way to let loose, get out frustration and have fun with our team.

All in all, it doesn’t take a lot to motivate your employees, there are so many other ways to do so. You just have to put a little effort into showing them that you value them and their work. The more that you invest in them, the more they will invest in your company.

Thank you for being one of the great leaders willing to go the extra mile to help them out and rebuild the team instead of just scrapping them and starting over!

I hope this helps!

~Cordelia Cross