How to motivate staff - without money

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Many of us are in this familiar situation: you have a great "team" of workers who you are ready to lead ahead into exciting growth areas, BUT salary and other fringe benefits are outside your ability to control. The big question is: How do you get your team to continue to push the envelope when the "powers that be" do not come through with more cash at crunch time?

-- j kulbert (jkulbert@gladstone.k12.mi.us), October 15, 2000

Answers

If you know what the values of your organization are and you aim to be true to those values, money often doesn't rear its ugly head unless with non-monetary values such as respect, responsibility etc

How to you continue to push the envelope at crunch time is to row in the boat that everybody else does. If you are trying to row your own boat don't expect others to be understanding. People remain in jobs because those jobs are meaningful to them you just have to establish what is meaningful and most never be compromised. If it is, where do you expect people to charge with first, but a weapon called the money issue. People do recognize when you have fought battles for them, and they will recggnize within those battles what isn't in your control, unless you promise things you know you cannot deliver.

I recognize its a tough thing to do and I don't envy your task, also look at other professions and see how their people cope with their crunch times. See what you can draw from similiar experiences.

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), October 16, 2000.


How about asking the employees what would motivate/reward them? If they give you a silly answer, keep asking until you get a straight answer. They'll get the idea pretty quickly that you are serious. The other question I would recommend you ask is: "What would tempt you away?" Scary to ask? Sure. But isn't it better to know ahead of time than at the exit interview.

With your answers in hand, begin acting on the information. You may have to make some judgement calls, but act on those things over which you have control. Acknowledge with your staff what you may not be able to change. It builds credibility that you don't give out empty promises.

Good luck!

-- Diana Smith (bluhiwaas@aol.com), October 20, 2000.


One of my ways to motivate the team is on the spot appreciation. Add phrases like fantastic, that is a great value addition, you did it in no time, u are proving a great team memeber in your day to day talk. One best way to keep ur comments with respect is maintain a distance between freind and team member relation ship .. one need to float in between these two areas. This helps in getting good respect to your comments.

Keep conducting seminars and presentations in different areas. Make a pool of presentations on leading technologies and give chance to all team member to talk in front of 20 ppl.

-- Chetan Sahasrabudhe (chetans@wisorindia.soft.net), March 06, 2001.


Most workers don't want extra cash,simply because they are in dire straits and need the money desperately. But what do they expect, extra cash will give them? For example he or she could book the next holidays in that nice resort, or buy that new car and so on. And what will that resort or that car give them? Well, if one kept asking this question, there would probably be something like "a good feeling" at the end. Suppose we are warm enough, have enough food, basic needs fulfilled: What makes us feel good? What have resorts, cars, Jewlery, nice clothes and so on in common? I think the mechanism is always the same: They are strokes. Caresses, if you will. They boost our self esteem. People need that as much as the air in their lungs and food in their belly. So money is a stroke-substitute. Problem is: we are so used to those substitute caresses, that we don't even ask for the "real thing" any more. So should you go around and caress your team members. NO! (Unless you want to be sued for sexual harassment...) Caresses in the corporate world are any form of appreciation, expressions of greatfulness, that your corporate culture allows. People want to be recognized, respected, their contribution appreciated. In short: they want to feel loved. And they want someone to love. Ok, not that way (the lawsuit issue again?) But it's true: Teams, that apparantly love (for lack of a better word)their team leader, respect and honor him (or her), not fear him (or her), but fear their own embarassment in case of failure - those teams tend to be excellent performers. Have you had a teacher in school, that you respected and loved so much, that you would have felt very bad if you had disappointed him or her and therefore put extra work in? Well, it's that quality. But how does one achive such great appreciation by the team members? Most important: Be honest! Always! Then: work as hard, as you expect them to work. But don't brag about it. They will notice it anyway (The hard work AND the bragging) Ask questions. Be interested in their lifes, feeling well being and so on... But don't ever pretend to be interested in them. If you are not genuinly interested, aks yourself why not. How much love and respect do you have for your team members? (If it's a lot, than you will be interested). Don't ever overlook an achievement, a change for the better, an extra effort by someone. I believe, that honest appreciation is the key to high performance of teams . Last but not least: follow your life path. not someone elses.

have fun, with it, Martin

(PS: I am German, so pardon my English mistakes, please.)

-- Martin Spuetz (spuetz@netcologne.de), March 16, 2001.


Bravo Martin !!! Your absolutely correct. Certificates of appreciation & award programs work very well. Though they cost some dollars it is less than handing out cash and builds tremendous loyalty and gratitude.

-- Steven Haleo (aecslh2@e-dr.net), March 17, 2001.


Despite the belief that time is money, in the case of giving employees 'Compensatory Time Off' always seems to work for me without it being an expense to the business. Managing "take a day off on me" so that you don't dilute the overall team responsibility and doling out time in both spontaneous and planned instances is also a good idea. All of this works particularly well for those new hires who might not yet have accumulated much needed vacation time or for those parents who need the morning to go see Johnny or Jane's special school presentation.

-- Vincent Mangelli (mangelli@nortelnetworks.com), October 18, 2001.

Sometimes greater autonomy is an excellent reward. This began for me when a boss told me, "Why are you calling me about that problem? You know your job, and you're good at it. Now, go work the problem." It was perhaps the single most empowering moment of my life.

Another reward is, believe it or not, increased responsibility. The catch? It should be in an area that the worker desires extra responsibility. This way, the responsibility itself is the reward.

Best wishes for your continued success!

-- Ezra Adams (Ezra.Adams@ConserveSchool.org), April 23, 2002.


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