6 Ways to Motivate Your ENTIRE Team

1. Set goals

What are some group and individual goals that you can set to keep everyone moving forward?

Get to know your team… what motivates them? Food? Free time? Stuff for the shop or office? Perhaps create a contest or fun way for team members or departments to compete for a prize.

2. Focus on Purpose

Share the mission of the company at your weekly, monthly, or quarterly meetings; make sure everyone is aware of the vision and how each of them plays an integral part.

This is especially important to the younger people on your team – it’s been proven that turnover decreases as more team members commit to a common mission.

3. Build Trust of Leadership

Nothing kills morale more than when a team no longer respects or trusts their leader.

Build trust by being a “firm & fair” manager, being direct and straightforward as possible, and making your team feel appreciated and engaged.

4. Work Across Departments

As your team grows, each department may begin to internalize, and this can breed finger-pointing and blame when something goes wrong.

Think about how your service advisors and technicians interact, for example.

Come up with some team building exercises you can do, where teams are made up of representatives from various departments and each team must solve a problem, puzzle, or challenge.

5. Create a Culture of Recognition

While some team members feel more comfortable receiving praise and recognition than others, it’s a great way to motivate the team and call out individuals who go above and beyond.

Don’t just do it at the end of the year – get on a regular schedule of recognizing these “go-getters” at weekly or monthly meetings.

6. Get Creative

Recognition means way more when it’s memorable and personal.

Maybe monthly winners get to sit in a special chair at the weekly meetings and park in the VIP spot for a month. Send a letter home to the employee’s family sharing the news of the recognition. That always goes over well!

Call them out on social media so their family and friends know what a great job they are doing too.

How about you?

How do you motivate your team members? What tactics have worked best for you? What tactics haven’t worked? Please share your experience in the comments below.