Ways to motivate your staff at work: 5 tips from EO Melbourne Members

One of the factors of a successful business is having a strong and dedicated team that keeps the organisation running like a well-oiled machine. However, no matter how passionate, hardworking and talented your people are, they still experience exhaustion, burnout, boredom, frustration, disappointment and all other things that may slow down or hinder your progress.

Your workforce is an important asset of your business. It is just fitting that you look after their welfare and keep them motivated at work to inspire them to do their best, perform well and hit their targets. EO Melbourne members share various ways on how to encourage your team members and inspire them to keep going.

Communicate your vision and plans

Having a shared vision and goal, such as where you want to bring the business and how you want to get there, is essential in leading a team. Apart from being transparent when it comes to your objectives and plans for your enterprise, there are also advantages when you present to them how they can grow and develop within your organisation because it helps them to visualise and understand that when your business advances, it also has a positive ripple effect on them.

A helpful tip from John Liston, Director at Liston Newton Advisory is “I try to communicate clearly the vision of the business and where we are going together. The vision of the business is that we grow in size, and there are more opportunities for career growth, development and personal wealth for all those involved. The price of admission to be on that journey is that all staff own their numbers and hit their targets.” 

Give affirmation

Sometimes, all it takes is a little push or a few words of encouragement to bring out the best in them. Trusting in your team’s capabilities enables them to prove themselves worthy of such trust and empowers them to come up with strategies and plans that will help them achieve their targets. Affirming their good works also emboldens them to always put their best foot forward in everything they do. That is why Carlo Santoro, Founder of RetailCare, makes sure that he is “standing alongside the team at all times and giving them deep confidence in their skills and ability.”

Conduct regular huddles

Constant interaction and communication is key to a stronger team. And even when some of your staff may be working from home or in remote locations, find time to have regular contact and huddles to discuss various updates, concerns and other aspects of their job and areas that may also be affecting their work. Take this also as an opportunity to talk about light matters that can make your regular meetings more interesting and fun.

As an example, Punchy Digital Media Managing Director Anthony Lam shared, “One of my favourite things that we do is we start our Friday weekly huddle with a communication starter and go around the team. These can range from light-hearted to some very deep questions that let us learn more about each other.”

Jason Ellenport and his team at Edison Partners also do something similar to what Anthony imparted. “During the lockdown, we ran regular short 30-minute daily WIP sessions to ensure the team was on the same page. This was supplemented by a ‘Friday drinks’ session to maintain informal team interaction and culture,” Jason conveyed.

Have some fun activities with the staff

Organise some fun activities and interesting initiatives for you and your team outside of your regular meetings. You can do team building sessions or have monthly or quarterly get-togethers or arrange for small put a hobby corner at your workplace. There are many things you can do and you can even tap on your staff to take the initiative on this. Sometimes, it’s good to see the various sides of your team members where they are not confined to stiff and structured environments.

Professional EOS Implementer and the Director/General Manager of DWM Solutions Jeni Clift shares a brilliant idea on how to inject enjoyment in the workplace. “I am an eDISC Practitioner and run some activities around the different behaviour styles to give people a greater understanding of how different people behave. One of these is set in a pretend café and is always different and fun.”

Reward them for a job well done

Having a reward system is one of the methods business owners implement in organisations because it’s a key motivation as well as a form of recognition to those who do their job well and even beyond expectations. Some rewards may come in the form of incentives, awards, promotions or gifts. It’s also important that you understand the kind of remunerations that will appeal to your team. There may be those who appreciate getting material gifts while others may prefer having a one-of-a-kind experience.

One example is going on trips like how Nathan Chan, CEO and Publisher of Foundr Magazine, and his team has done. “We did an all-expenses-paid trip with our team to Thailand for hitting our annual revenue goal targets. It was an incredible shared experience and brought the team closer together.”

There are various ways to encourage your staff to perform well and achieve their goals and targets. Please share with us your experience on how you have done it in your organisation through the comment section below. We’d love to hear your story as it may also inspire others to do the same.

An ounce of fun in your workplace to make work enjoyable for you and your team

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

That’s a famous saying that we’ve heard time and time and again. Good thing that many companies and organisations inject fun into their work culture to make the environment more encouraging and energetic. Others even cap their workweek with an enjoyable Friday pursuit where the staff can unwind and bond together. Moreover, some are not deterred by the current crisis and even find it helpful to have a fun Friday activity to motivate their team.

Take inspiration on how these entrepreneurs create a delightful business culture for their people and get some ideas on how you can also enliven your work atmosphere.

Organise team activities and social events with your team

Fun! That is one of the core values of StudioHawk, which Harry Sanders founded in 2015. As a specialised SEO agency, they take their work seriously, but not themselves. Which is why they were named SEMRush’s 2019 agency of the year, as well as 2019 Optus Media Marketing and Advertising Business of the Year.

With restrictions in place, they try to still make working as enjoyable as possible. According to Harry, “We do 3 things every Friday during isolation to keep things fun and the team as connected as possible while working from home. Every Friday, our office manager will send around a random fact for a thing she likes to call 'Fun Fact Friday'. We also have a 'StudioHawk Friday Feels playlist' wherein every week, each team member picks a song to add to the playlist and 20 different songs are included each week on the playlist. Then at 5:00 pm every Friday, we have a team Zoom catch-up and end-of-week drinks.”

In addition to all these, “once or twice a month on a Friday, we host a team social event. So far, we have had a couple of games and pizza nights. Last week, we did Cork ‘n Canvas, then next Friday we will be doing pottery! We set aside a 'culture' budget each quarter that we use for activities to bring the team together,” Harry shared.

And if these are not enough, they are planning more activities these coming days. Harry revealed, “We are about to kick off our fitness and health month in September called 'SWEAT-TEMBER'. As a team, we will be doing a PT session run by one of our clients once a week, meditation a few mornings a week and a fitness challenge that includes a step challenge! This will help us all keep connected, active and, hopefully, help unwind.”

Because of these efforts, it strengthens their corporate culture while continues to build relationships among their team members. “We have a really strong team culture at StudioHawk, ask anyone here and they will tell you their favourite thing about working here is the people and culture. This is one thing that we did not want to lose while working in isolation. Bringing people together is made even more important. These initiatives and small tokens of appreciations help drive people forward in a time when things may seem a little lonely and allow us to continue excelling with our values. In David Ogilvy's words, agencies that don't enjoy what they do don't put out good work - so make a culture that people love working for,” stated Harry.

Build sustainable ways for work to be enjoyable

It is a different case for those in the food industry, such as Etto Street Pasta Bars. As explained by its Founder, David Ansett, who is also the Founder of the marketing tech company Brandvas and branding agency Truly Deeply, “We’re a 7 day-a-week business with different staff working different shifts so there’s never a sense of ‘end of the week’. Our end-of-shift each night is our ‘Friday’. Once the last customer has gone, the doors are closed and the volume of the music goes up. Clean-up and pack down is a pretty casual affair.”

So how do they inject fun into the work environment? “Our 7 day-a-week trade means we have to try to build sustainable ways for work to be enjoyable. For us, this is all about a relaxed but hard-working place to come to work. For instance, we encourage social chat throughout a shift,” David remarked. Not only that, but they also provide certain benefits for their people. “All the staff get a free meal of their choice for any shift they work. Managers have the authority to open a bottle of wine after a tough shift or to celebrate a birthday, for example,” he added.

While they try to make their work environment an enjoyable place for their team members, they also make sure that quality is observed at all times. “We have a pretty strict framework for performance, but from there, it’s up to each manager to make a workplace that fits with them as a leader and their staff as a culture. It means each restaurant has its own culture. South Melbourne has a cheeky, Italian culture, while Kirkdale has more of a South American love-for-life feel.”

“As we encourage each manager to see their restaurant as their own business, they create their versions of the Etto culture. Having run a branding agency for 30 years, keeping a positive culture in restaurants is easy by comparison. Although the role of a hospitality worker is tougher than working in a creative agency, the type of people the industry attracts, the form of work, their expectations and the camaraderie formed between teams lead to a relatively positive staff culture that requires less management. It helps that we pay award wages, which for many of our staff is a relatively positive experience in our industry,” David shared.

Create a culture of caring

It’s almost the same case for wine store brand Blackhearts & Sparrows. Co-founder Paul Ghaie described the scenario they have in their stores, “Due to the flexibility of our working hours and the fact that we are a 7-days-a-week, 362-days-a-year type of business, we don't so much do ‘Fridays’.”

But it doesn’t mean that they don’t do something for their team members. Fun things don’t need to have a lot of fanfare and can be done at any given time that is convenient for everyone. As long as your people enjoy what you do for them, that is what matters most. “We keep things pretty simple, such as regular dinners and drinks with the staff,” he clarified.

Caring for their people is important in their organisation, recognising the long-term effect of this on their members and their business, as well. “We tend to focus on ensuring our staff group is looked after really well over the year. We think this creates a culture of caring with the staff feeling their welfare is a priority,” Paul added.

Do regular catch-ups with some rewards and surprises

Since most staff meetings are now done virtually, add a bit of fun to your weekly catch-ups by doing online socials. Add a dash of surprise or some rewards that they can look forward to each week by having fun talks over their choice of drinks or playing games with prizes that you can do over Zoom.

If you have other ideas for fun activities with your team members, especially during these interesting times, please share them with us through the comments section below.

10 fun activities for team-building

Taking time off from one’s busy schedule is a welcome respite for every person – business owners and staff members alike. Apart from vacation and annual leaves, a good way to break free from the confines of workspaces and work routines is to have team-building activities where the entire team can have fun together. The beginning of the year is the best time for some pep rally to set the tone for your internal environs.

Whether it is your annual planning or team-building session or a weekend getaway or an after-office bonding activity, doing something out of the usual work that you can enjoy as a group keeps a healthy business atmosphere. As they say, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” When things go dull around the workplace, it can pose a problem to the business as well.

Team-building activities bring great benefits to a company, no matter the size of the business. The change of environment, especially when you hold it somewhere conducive, and the intention of nurturing your team provide positive reinforcement to your staff. These sessions can motivate individual members of your group and engage them in your business on a deeper level. The activities can also enhance their creativity, leadership and problem-solving skills. They also strengthen the communication between members as well as build trust, confidence and teamwork among them. Most of all, it is a time for them to enjoy each other’s presence. In the end, it will increase their productivity, which can bring good to everyone.

If you plan to hold this annually, it would be good to come up with some exciting exercises for them. Below are ten games and activities that can make your team-building extra fun and enjoyable.

1.) Telephone charades

It’s a great icebreaker where, in each team, a person acts a charade for the next person in the line without the others watching. The second person then passes on the charade to the next until it reaches the last person who will guess the word or phrase. Not only will this generate lots of laughs but it will also tap into the creativity of each member and establish rapport among them.

2.) What’s my name?

Members will have a tag on their backs indicating a famous person, a profession or a type of person that they have to guess. Everyone will go around to ask questions, preferably answerable by yes or no, and observe how others treat them to get clues on the word written on their backs. This exercise can help determine stereotypes and allow members to interact with each other.

3.) Jigsaw puzzle contest

Let teams complete a jigsaw puzzle where the fastest one will be declared the winner. You can also modify this activity, such as hide certain pieces, set challenges to obtain the last piece or mix some pieces with the other teams so that they negotiate and exchange. Here, you will see the dynamics of the teams, which ones are good at leading, negotiating, and problem-solving.

4.) Survival game

You can set a scenario for this game, such as being stranded on an island or lost in the wilderness. Teams can choose ten objects they will bring to survive. It can be a pen-and-pencil activity or actual items in a box. Each team will then rank the items and justify the rank. You can even ask the teams to build or create something out of the items they have. It’s a decision-making and creativity exercise for everyone.

5.) Helium stick game

You can involve the entire team where members line up facing each other with their index fingers extended in front. Place the helium stick over their index fingers. They bring down the stick, which must remain in contact with all the extended fingers at all times. Otherwise, they have to start all over again. It’s a fun game of patience and teamwork.

6.) Escape room

Escape room games are gaining popularity, especially for team-building. Members are locked in a room and must solve a mystery or challenge within the allotted time for them to escape the room, or else, they will suffer the consequence. The situation will allow members to exhibit their capabilities in negotiating and solving problems.

7.) Scavenger hunt

What makes this activity fun is that members can do this around the neighbourhood or outside the venue. Teams are assigned to find or do a particular scene and take photos of the assignments on the list. You can take this further by requiring them to come up with a slideshow or movie of the photos they have taken. It will bring out the creative side of your members.

8.) Minefield

Divide the participants into pairs or small groups where they choose a member to be blindfolded. This member will go through obstacles and must avoid mines until they reach the end of the course. Teammates can only shout their instructions to guide the blindfolded member. Learn how different individuals issue orders and carry them out.

9.) Cook-off

Another fun way to strengthen the bond of your staff is to do practical activities, such as cooking. You can implement this in different ways. Some do this as a relay where only one team member can perform a particular task one at a time. Afterwards, you can dine together and enjoy the dishes your staff has prepared.

10.) Community service or volunteer work

Doing community service or volunteer work is an activity that your members can do together and find fulfilment. Let them do the planning, preparation and implementation, including choosing the service and the organisation that will benefit from this activity.

Having a strong, dynamic team is a vital pillar in keeping your business formidable. Infuse the fun aspect in your corporate environment and nurture your corporate culture with your company values. Always build your team up to drive them forward to your goals.