Motivating your team to grow your business

Unless you are the only person in your business, then the success will be determined by the performance of others.

To get the most out of others, how can you motivate them?  In sales, we should always be looking at what is it about the product or service that creates need in the customer or client, and how can we make sure we communicate that effectively.

So to motivate our team, we should use the same logic. We should look to motivate based on what is in it for our team members.

Now for some of us we can offer a great work environment (think the Google offices), some can offer flexible working arrangements (work from home, telecommuting, etc), a career path, or commission bonus pay structures.

These are all things that may motivate our team, some will work for some people and not for others.

But what about those workplace environments that to not lend themselves to any of these? An example that springs to mind is waiting staff in a cafe. The environment is a cafe, and whilst it could be a groovy cafe with a highly fashionable interior, the team don’t have a “corner office with bean bags” or if they do, there is not the time to use them. The opportunity for flexibility is limited to hours and the roster that is in place, and whilst this may be flexible from an hours perspective, you can’t wait on a table from home! If the cafe is relatively small, or the key management team is small, then a career path may not be on offer, and whilst the team may be bale to impact the tips they receive, the ability to put a meaningful reward or bonus scheme in place is limited.

So how could we as business owners motivate such a team?

Think back to your first job, and it is likely that it may not have been high on glamor or pay, but you can probably remember the types of things that gave you a buzz.

Firstly, it is highly likely that your team will be motivated by the thought of “a job well done”. So if you can provide training and support to make sure they are doing the very best they can, they will feel “masters” of their roles. This is also a great way to help “modify” any behaviors that are not aligned with the mission of the business.

Second, if you can provide them with a level of control over how they do their job, then that autonomy can be a powerful motivator. If they know that by doing the right things at the right time in the right way that they will continue to have that control over their role, that will encourage ongoing excellence.

Third, purpose. Now in some ways, you might consider that a career path or a bonus structure is “purpose”, but as business owners you have the right and even the obligation to impart a purpose to your team. If, for instance, it was clear that their purpose was to ensure that customers walked out extremely likely to recommend to friends and associated that they visit your business, then the likelihood of your team performing in a way to support this will increase.

And, in the case of a cafe, tips may indeed be a fourth motivator….

But the most important thing is to remember that no matter what the business you are in or the roles that your team are required to fill, by looking beyond pay scales, you can indeed find alternate motivators. They may not be obvious at first, but by looking, the chances of finding them increase exponentially.

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For a more personal approach to growing and developing your business even more, feel free to contact me on adam@mbrgroup.com.au or +61393857700