Lifting Up Company Spirit by Staff Motivation

My auntie, when she was owner and CEO of a successful company (having to do with medical supplies for the fields of cryogenics), was, from what I heard, the queen of staff motivation. It was simple: she would take a call from a client, for example, who would mention how wonderful to talk to her administrative assistant was. She would then finish the call and walk out into the outer office and hand the administrative assistant a hundred dollar bill, saying thank you and saying how much she appreciated the good work.

Staff motivation is a complex concept or practice for many, but it really doesn’t have to be. Think about what you want from your staff and what that staff is made of: humans with human feelings and needs. Humans are, of course, odd creatures. In one study I read when I was taking an elective course on management psychology (which included such phenoms as staff motivation), a factory staff was subject to light changes. The heads of the company brought in light bulbs with dimmer wattage…and the staff grumbled but worked harder: production went up. The heads then brought in bulbs of a brighter intensity (than the original bulbs)…and the staff cheered and worked harder: production went up just as much.

So changes, or screwing with human heads works as a mechanism of staff motivation. But, hey, so does sane treatment. After many years (decades) of working for and with and “over” teams of employees, I have found that the best of staff motivation was in ego-boosting and belly-feeding. I was the spirit leader in one company, coming up with freaky Friday and Muddled Mondays ideas for staff motivation by way of staff morale-boosting (for the company and the work was typically quite Kafkaesque). We had, therefore, make-your-own-sundae days, international food days, and show-and-tell days…yes, just like in grade school but with adult objects and stories that distracted temporarily, enlightened, humored, and entertained…getting us through another week. We also encouraged ideas, worked together on processes and procedures (learning the jobs each had for a change of pace and for support of whomever was bogged down or behind).

Some ways to destroy staff motivation—those you don’t need to learn but might choose to avoid—then, are those which do the opposite of the above, those whaich are the antithesis of good leadership: I also worked in institutions where inexperienced and unqualified leaders made their mark (for unsavory political reasons they got into the position in the first place). One leader would hold brainstorming meetings and then say no to every single “idea”. Another would insist on a project, get everyone working at completing the project/presentation, then on the day of debut would bring unrelated changes and items and schedules so that only one person looked together and knew what she was doing: the signs, tents, flyers, and fundraising items were all tossed aside as irrelevant and thereby tossed away potential buyers and supporters, too. Another would schedule “working retreats”, which we employees made fun but where the leaders would bastardize the concept of “retreat” in the first place…. Still, games, fun, open exchanges of ideas and togetherness projects, and the honoring of (by listening to, acknowledging, crediting, and rewarding) individuals wherever possible seems to work in favor of staff motivation. Duh.