Praise

How do you motivate your team? Before answering this question there is always  a long pause!

Most people feel that to motivate our teams we must pay them well.

However, I found in the past that most people are motivated by praise.

Spending 5 minutes with each team member on a one to one basis, informing them of everything they have done well in the past week and setting goals for the next week is an invaluable task to undertake.

But if a team member does something that you would measure as outstanding you must tell them there and then.

When you praise someone it is important not to say ” You performed A B and C very well this week, the goal for next week is to push D to the next level”. It is better to go into detail about A B and C. What was it that was performed so well?

We work in a customer focussed profession and therefore it would be good to descibe to your team member that their body language, tone of voice etc was very good. Then ask them what their goals for the following week will be and if you agree go for it!

Praise is the key to motivation – not necessarily improving a team members bank balance!

Laura