Is your team stuck on motivation and in need of a bit of positive encouragement?
Providing incentives can be a great way to help restore their drive and creativity again – but incentives are more than just the promise of a financial boost!
In fact, financial incentives are often the least productive and useful ways to inspire your team to move forward. Read on to find out some of the great incentives that really do work:
Create a fun environment
Everyone has heard about Google’s famous “work and play” environment – take a look at it here! Half adult-playground and half creative office space, the overall impression it creates is that your workspace can be an enjoyable and exciting environment.
While you don’t necessarily need neon wall paint to create a fun environment, you can make your workspace more appealing by incorporating spaces that give team members a chance to take a break, celebrate a success, or re-charge their energy when needed. Try incorporating a yoga area, nap room – or even your own karaoke bar!
Encourage family involvement
Your team members’ families are often the ones who end up sacrificing time when they’re in working on a deadline or helping you overcome a challenge. So taking the time to acknowledge them and involve them can be a deeply rewarding and motivating incentive.
Offer a performance award that includes the winner’s family – a chance to have a meal out, a day together or even a relaxing getaway is a great treat! And you can also involve families on a more regular basis, by encouraging them to bring friends and family to company picnics and celebratory events.
Reward the whole team
Remember that it’s rarely the effort of a single person that leads to success. It’s been a group effort to get this far – so acknowledge the whole group, and reward everyone!
A motivating team getaway or night out can be a great way to show you appreciate their team effort. But as well as simply being a reward, acknowledging the whole group can also help to boost and strengthen their bonds as a team, helping them to come closer and work even more effectively in future.
Acknowledge every success
It’s easy to notice the big successes – huge sales, successful projects and brilliant presentations stay in the mind. But there are also plenty of smaller day to day achievements, that often go unnoticed.
Take the time to get to know your team, and highlight these everyday successes too. It doesn’t have to be an overdramatic gesture – a “heroes and heroines” board is a great way to share their achievements on a daily or weekly basis, or a scoreboard with points for targets can help encourage light-hearted competition, as well as show the team how well they are performing. A small prize at the end of the week for the highest score provides an encouraging treat!
What do you think is the best way to provide incentives for your team? Share your thoughts and ideas with us in the comments!