Manic Mondays — How To Get Your Team Motivated
We have names for the days of the week. Not just the typical Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday names, but nicknames denoting our view of the day in general. For instance, Wednesday is often known as “hump day.” Sunday has been referred to as a “fun day.”
Even our popular music talks about the days of the week. The Bangles hit song “Manic Monday” brings out the fact that most people dread going to work at the beginning of the week. It lists different distractions and delays faced by the main character in the storyline as reasons for not being motivated or on time.
Society in general understands the song because most of us, at one time or another, experience a Monday doldrum. So how do you combat a less-than-cheerful workplace on Monday morning? How do you get your team focused on the task at hand and in a good mood?
The following tips come from some of the most successful people in the world of business. These tips include building a strong sense of community, keeping your employees informed, and being open to suggestions from your staff on how the company should progress. Putting this advice to work could be just the cure you’re searching for if your staff is struggling to stay motivated.
1. Build A Community Within The Workplace
Focus On Individuals
According to Forbes, one of the most important means of accomplishing a healthy attitude in the workplace is to take an individualized perspective. Business owners and managers should consider whether employees are fairly compensated for their skills.
Bring The Individuals Together As A Team
The idea of the workplace being a community should also be prevalent. Even though employees are individuals, they must function together and be made to feel as though they are important to the company.
Find Activities Employees Are Passionate About
Perhaps the biggest thing to consider is what makes each of your employees tick. What is it they are really passionate about in life, and whether there’s a way to incorporate that passion into the mission of your company?
For instance, if you have an employee who cares about outreach to veterans, you could institute a company event to help that cause and put that employee in charge of the event. Taking the time to get involved in things your employees care about is an excellent means of motivating them to care more about the company.
Use Competitions To Motivate The Team
Inc.com suggests that adding competition and games to the workplace is a great way to build a sense of community and competition at the same time. Reward employees for reaching sales goals or completing tasks ahead of schedule.
2. Keep Your Employees In The Loop
One of the biggest things that can help employer relationships with employees, as well as boost morale in the office, is transparency. No one likes to feel left out when it comes to decisions. Nor do they like to be uninformed when changes are going to take place.
Inform Employees About Goals And Decisions
Be open with your staff about goals the company has set. Let them get involved in decisions that affect them at their job. Doing this helps build trust between the boss and employee which generates a more motivated workplace.
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3. Lead By Example
Warren Buffett suggests that the top staff of a company should live the way they expect their workers to live. He practices a lifestyle that does not focus on exorbitant spending. In fact, he still lives in the same house he purchased in 1958 in Omaha, Nebraska.
He noted in a letter to shareholders that the top staff of his company was expected to be as careful with investors’ money as the investors themselves would be. He writes “As long as Charlie and I treat your money as if it were our own, Berkshire’s managers are likely to be careful with it as well.”
I think that everyone in the business world would agree that Buffett understands the ins and outs of business as well as anyone in the world. Suggesting that leadership by example is the best form of leadership makes sense coming from a man as successful as he is.
4. Be Open To Ideas From All Employees
Keep An Open Door & An Open Mind
An open door policy is another great way to keep employees in the loop and make them feel valuable to the company. When your staff can approach you with ideas and suggestions they feel as if they are contributing to the company’s future.
This is also beneficial to the company, as some of the greatest ideas in the history of modern business did not come from the top brass of the company.
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The Best Ideas Can Come From The Most Unlikely Sources
For instance, in the mid-1980s Frito-Lay was going through a sales slump. In an effort to combat this drop in profit, CEO Roger Enrico introduced an initiative he hoped would cure the problem. He announced that all 300,000 employees should “act like an owner.”
The hope was that someone would come up with a marketable product that would boost sales. Surprisingly enough, Richard Montañez, a middle school dropout who was working as a janitor for the company, came through in a big way.
He called the CEO’s office and said he had an idea he wanted to pitch. Because Enrico was impressed with the gutsy move by the janitor, he agreed to the meeting. Montañez had noticed there was no Frito-Lay snack that was aimed at the Latino market. So he decided to pitch one.
He took some Cheetos that had not yet been dusted with the traditional cheese-flavored powder to his home. Then, he coated them with a homemade spice mix and took them to his meeting with Enrico.
The mix was extremely spicy and hot, and the 100 bags he brought to the meeting, each with a hand-crafted logo on them, impressed the board. The product he introduced became known as “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,” and we still buy them today, some 30+ years later. Montañez’s story is set to be released as a movie later this year.
While not every idea brought in by a junior employee is going to be a world-changing product, encouraging employee interaction with upper management is a great way to keep the creative juices flowing.
Implementing some of the ideas listed above could be just what your company needs to help cure manic Mondays and generate an energetic atmosphere that is conducive to success.
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