How to motivate your team in this busy time
Peak times – chaos or fun?
As we head in to one of the busiest time of the year for everyone though especially for retail, pubs and restaurants, and the NHS, it is key that managers help motivate their teams to deal with the additional pressure that they are experiencing.
Our staff will be juggling the additional festive requirements at home such as extra shopping, wrapping presents and attending family events. Which is on top of the expected increase in the volume of work in their workplaces. Some people may find this festive period fun but there will be many who think it is chaos!
What can we do to help motivate our teams?
I have come up with 10 top tips that will help you to help your staff be motivated at this peak time and may be even have fun with it:
1) Be proactive – Help them by anticipating the key busiest times and ensuring they have plenty of notice of required overtime.
2) Be understanding – Many of your team members will have families so try to accommodate them (where possible) when they request to attend that Nativity play that the school has only just told them about! Your understanding will motivate them to work harder and be more committed to you and the organisation.
3) Seek volunteers – When we need more hands-on deck ask rather than tell – your teams are much more likely to respond better.
4) Lead by example – Be visible and available to your team throughout this busy time – everyone appreciates it when they see the boss getting stuck in to help.
5) Have fun – Why can’t you and your team have fun and enjoy what is, for many, a lovely time of the year? Play seasonal songs and games (if time permits), why not do secret santa? Or even create a little competition between departments, areas or teams with a prize going to the highest performing team.
6) Problem solve together – When a problem occurs, involve the team and get them to come up with solutions – let them implement their best solution and give them praise when it goes well.
7) Reward and recognition – Praise your team for the extra effort they make and try (if possible) to reward them – this can be as simple as buying them a bottle of wine each, chocolates, extra time off after your peak time or a special mention in the newsletter.
8) Be personal – A manager that knows their team, will know what makes each individual within their team tick – so find out and do your best to accommodate them. This could be knowing that certain team members like to go out for a meal, or some team members like shopping in certain places or going to a football match. If it is within your power then try, your teams will totally appreciate it.
9) Look after them – It may be the busiest time of the year but your staff’s well-being is much more important. Show them that you care by encouraging them to take their breaks and don’t allow only a few to do all of the work.
10) Look after you – don’t forget that you are important as well – make sure that you take time out, relax and enjoy the season where possible. Whilst your staff are feeling the pressure, so are you. Make sure you have strategies in place to ensure you minimise the pressure you are experiencing – go for a walk, read a book, listen to music – anything that will help you switch off.
So if you follow the above tips you will ensure your teams not only engage more with you and the organisation but will deliver more for you over this busy time.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, you can develop yourself further by studying one of our ILM online courses in leadership and management, click the link below for details of the course where we cover how to motivate to improve performance and understanding performance management :
Don’t forget you can try our courses free before you buy so you have nothing to lose!
Or you can join us in the classroom, contact us on info@professional-futures.com for details on our next courses scheduled for February 2018 in Manchester.