How to motivate staff

[DragonofAna]

obviuosly not in this case :hihi:, sorry but you need to show them you are the boss, and some banter is ok, but you also have a line, and when this line is crossed, they know about it

 

I think the question is how? What are you going to do - make them stay behind after work for detention? If you go running to the upper management every time the staff get a little out of hand then you are failing in the job you are supposed to be doing. When people push the line too far - what do you do?

[esme]

bonuses and treats are for people who exceed their job expectations not those who barely meet them

 

I'd go with what tripitaka suggested you aren't there to be their friend you are there to be their manager and if you can't turn them around then you will probably lose your job as well as them losing theirs

 

create a new regime with HR, warn the staff of the regime change, give them time to comply and then use the disciplinary system to weed out any that still fail to do the job they are paid for

 

don't lose your temper with them, don't shout at them, you are the one in charge, if they refuse to follow your instruction then you replace them

[DragonofAna]

Fear of unemployment is the oldest motivational factor in the book.

 

I don't think a team leader can sack staff. They can report disruptive behavior, but then some bosses would say - "Well that's your job, take care of it - that's what we pay you for."

[Waldo]

Personally never been keen on rewards for 'best' achiever etc. Someone is always going to lose out even if they tried harder, but might not be the fastest at what they do and in turn will lead to their demotivation if they don't get any reward but can see others doing so for less work.

 

That's very true. Another very important flaw in the idea of just rewarding the top achiever, is that it encourages people to be competetive, rather than work as a team, it actually rewards them for sabotaging their work-mates!

 

However, I do agree with the principle of reward good behaviour, more than pubish bad behaviour.

 

A better alternative to medusas' suggestion, could be to fix a target, and everyone above that target gets the same reward, and set it up in such a way that everyone wants to encourage everyone else.

[BettyBooHoo!]

Sounds like it's more a case of staff discipline than it is motivation!

 

Not knowing what type of work you do makes it difficult to suggest a solution but assuming that it's a measurable office based role what I would arrange individual one to ones with each staff member where you can set them objectives/targets to achieve over a certain timescale, maybe on a monthly or quarterly basis.

 

Make them aware that you are not happy with the department's performance and behaviour overall and things are going to be changing, also make them aware that their performance is going to be monitored, recorded and reviwed on a regular basis.

 

Clearly outline what is and is not acceptable behaviour at work so there can be no excuses.

 

Maybe invite your boss to sit in with you at these one to ones too.

 

If your staff then don't get their heads down book their ideas up and meet objectives, maybe you could issue them with Performance Improvement warnings with the threat of them being replaced if they can't keep up with the role's requirements.

 

That's my suggestion! What ever you choose to do, good luck.

[Grandad.Malky]

 

If your staff then don't get their heads down book their ideas up and meet objectives, maybe you could issue them with Performance Improvement warnings with the threat of them being replaced if they can't keep up with the role's requirements.

 

That's my suggestion! What ever you choose to do, good luck.

 

key performance indicators

 

As destructive as they are constructive, come Thursday you have met your KPI what’s the incentive to do anything on Friday.

[truconstruct]

obviuosly not in this case :hihi:, sorry but you need to show them you are the boss, and some banter is ok, but you also have a line, and when this line is crossed, they know about it

 

That's the bottom line, who's the boss?

 

They obviously don't respect you, YOU need to change that.

[BettyBooHoo!]

key performance indicators

 

As destructive as they are constructive, come Thursday you have met your KPI what’s the incentive to do anything on Friday.

 

If you set the KPI wisely, they'll constantly have enough work to do! Maybe I was just a slave driver!

 

If they can finish it all on Thursday, then a full time position is not justified!

[Grandad.Malky]

If you set the KPI wisely, they'll constantly have enough work to do! Maybe I was just a slave driver!

 

If they can finish it all on Thursday, then a full time position is not justified!

 

Well in that case people are just going to slack it in the week and spin it out until Friday, KPI are a waste of time.

[truconstruct]

Well in that case people are just going to slack it in the week and spin it out until Friday, KPI are a waste of time.

 

Exactly, I think the phrase in communist russia was 'they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work'.