Creating A great Team

21 May Creating A great Team

We often expect our staff to provide a certain level of service, because we are paying them to do so. As business owners, our heads get so caught up in the business and the clients, that we often forget that our staff are humans too.

Putting our staff above everyone else will guarantee that your clients are getting the absolute best out of your business.
While money is a part of having staff, money isn’t always a motivator. If you have a look at the 5 love languages, you will see that different personality types feel love and appreciation in different ways.
This is the way you need to reward your staff on an individual level.

Instead of only pulling your staff members aside to point out something that they may have done wrong, try pulling them aside frequently and thanking them for all of the things they do right!
You’ll be amazed by how much showing some appreciation can turn around your team’s attitude to work!

What I’d recommend doing is sitting your team members down one by one and chatting with them about what they want in their life, what’s important to them. Uncover their love language.
I had a client do this with her team recently, and she found out that one of her staff members was trying to save for a house.
Another absolutely loved travelling and another was more of a homebody and enjoyed reading, watching movies and another’s dream was to one day become a manager or open her own salon.

As you can see here, there are 3 different motives to earn money.
And my client took advantage of this knowledge and rewarded her staff, motivating them and encouraging them to achieve their dreams.

Employee 1 got a separate account set up for her, and instead of getting her bonuses when she reached her targets included in her pay it was put in a separate account that would contribute to her savings. + appreciation deposits at random.

Employee 2 got extra travel days and annual leave allowances instead of monetary bonuses when she achieved and surpassed her targets. These additional days were conditional of course and were still required to be approved as per any other annual leave request.

Employee 3 got extra training, became a supervisor when the salon owner wasn’t in. This allowed the owner to cut back on time spent in the salon and could focus on growing the business. She put her employee through extra training courses that interested her that weren’t necessarily part of that particular salons growth plan and helped her to pay for courses and such instead of monetary bonuses when targets were reached.

Just these small things instantly changed the way the team worked together to achieve their targets.

On top of that, the salon owner would get a takeaway lunch order every week on their busy day because she appreciated her staff and she knew that they loved not having to buy lunch that one day a week.
She would randomly gift them with flowers, chocolate or gift vouchers just to say thanks, especially if it had been a particularly hard week or super busy.
It’s the little things that mean the most when building a team.

When you value your staff, they will be loyal and they will give their everything to their clients because they feel appreciated.

Take from this what you will. Sometimes, a pay rise isn’t the answer to motivating your staff.