Motivating staff is always a difficult task.

In fact, I honestly don't believe that you motivate an entire "staff." You motivate individual people.

I say this because it is very difficult to find one thing that motivates the masses. A nice happy hour after a long week may motivate many employees, but what about the sober employee that has a family of four at home?

Effective motivation first comes with getting to know your employees on a level beyond what they can do for your company. Are they sports fans? Do they have a family? What do they like to do in their spare time?

During my years as a business manager, I used the skills I learned as a journalist in order to find out what type of employees I really had and what would make them happy while at work.

What I found was a staff that all wanted different things. One younger employee was willing to work 15 hours a day if need be, he just wanted a pint and a game of darts when the week was done. I had another employee of the same age that valued his time away from work. When his goals were exceeded, he was rewarded with an extra "flex" day in which he could either sleep in or leave early every month. Provided he gave me a weeks notice, he could use it at any time.

Proper motivation reaches beyond just offering up rewards and gold stars for accomplishing exactly what they were hired to do. Your staff needs to know that you are always there for them. The best way to do this is to always physically be around. Always offer concise and understandable answers to their questions. Always back them up in front of others. Offer constructive criticism behind closed doors. Always make yourself approachable. Your busy day is not an excuse as to why you can not handle their problems or questions. Offer your employees the opportunity to critique you as a manager on a regular basis. I would send out e-mail surveys once a month allowing my employees the chance to tell me what they felt I could do better. It let them know that I was just as accountable to them as a leader as they were to me as employees.

Finally, train, train, train and train again! Developing your staff in your image. Train them on what your duties as a manager. Once they have learned it, delegate those responsibilities to them. It makes them feel like a more vital cog in the system.

To recap: 1) Talk to your employees. 2) Always be there for them. 3) Develop their talents and put them to good use.

Remember, there is no one lid that will fit every pot. It is your job as a manager to find the right fit to create the steam that powers the locomotive.

Learn more about this author, Joe Jenkins.
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