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What to do when your team isn’t growing as much as you’d like and you think you’ve tried everything

Motivate your team

Do you have a team of people who aren’t doing as much as you’d like? You want your team to sell more, recruit more, produce more. You’ve tried everything and you’ve run out of ways to motivate your team.

You need some new ideas

It may be that you’ve been doing everything right in your own business. Your own sales are growing and maybe even your own recruitment is going well. The trouble is that your team don’t seem to be following your lead. You feel like you’re saying all the right things but they’re not responding.

Before I tell you what I started to do to motivate my team let me tell you what I stopped doing. I stopped spending time on the people who simply weren’t doing anything at all. There will always be people who, for whatever reason, don’t do anything. There is little point wasting your time and energy trying to move them. Instead focus on the people who are doing, even if they’re only doing it in small bursts.

Here are 4 ideas to motivate your team so they will grow.

These ideas are simple, low-cost ideas that you can use to say ‘well done’, ‘keep going’, ‘nice one’ in order to make your team members feel special. They don’t take a lot of time to do but will encourage those who do, to do more.

Shout outs

What do you do when someone joins your team? Or when they make their first sale, or sign their first recruit or complete their first project? Did you let everyone else in the ‘office’ know? Or did you say nothing because after all they’re only doing what they were meant to do anyway?

Giving a ‘shout out’, especially when someone starts new, can be a real boost. People need to feel valued. Even though your team member is responsible for their own business and if they work hard they will get the rewards of the company, it helps to get a virtual pat on the back. If you want them to grow then you’re going to have to give credit when they make achievements.

A simple mention on Facebook, on the office noticeboard or wherever others will see your ‘welcome’ or ‘well done’ will not only make them feel noticed and valued but may encourage others too.

Cards

While getting a mention on Facebook is nice, getting a handwritten card through the post is much better. It carries with it so much more than a quick text. It doesn’t cost much in time or money to write and post a card to say well done, keep going, thank you or whatever.

Freebies

Has your company just brought out a new product? Do you have some company business stationery that could be useful? How about rewarding your team member with some such freebie. Not only will it be a lovely thought but it will save them a few quid buying the new product and they’ll be able to use it productively in the business too.

Gifts

There are lots of low cost gifts you can send to motivate your team. Depending on the achievement attained you can choose an appropriate gift. My upline has sent me a small bar of chocolate, a personalised mug and a bunch of flowers on different occasions. Other ideas include a personalised bar of chocolate or even a small hamper.

It doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money to motivate your team. You do need to stop wasting time and effort on those who aren’t doing and focus on rewarding those who are. A little encouragement goes a long way.

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The Day that Changed my Life

Follow your dreams Phoenix Trading cards

I didn’t know it at the time but that day was to change my whole outlook on life. What happened planted a seed in my mind that was to grow over the next few years.

I was in my early 20s, just married and in my second job following graduation. I had a career ahead of me and any thoughts about children were way in the future. Although everything may have seemed fine on the outside, on the inside I was struggling. Battling with depression as a side effect of the contraceptive pill, I was finding it hard to get through each day. I wouldn’t say I was actively suicidal but the thought of my life ending abruptly wasn’t unappealing.

Feeling under the weatherIt was at this time that I had a review with my line manager.

He had noticed that I’d had a few days off sick, not a lot but a few. He’d noticed that I was struggling and didn’t seem at all surprised when I confessed that I was seeing the doctor about my depression. (I had stopped the medication but was still climbing back out of the pit.)

I was encouraged to hear him say he understood, he’d been there but his next words knocked me for six:

‘Well, we clearly don’t want to push you over the edge but we do need you to work extra hours.’

Extra hours??? I was barely making it through 9-5, 5 days a week!!! And for what? Extra hours wasn’t going to earn me any extra money or even develop my career path, it was simply to be able to bill the client more and put more money in the pockets of the shareholders. How pointless that seemed then.

Moose of MotivationI left that job shortly after but it wasn’t until years later that I discovered how to work for myself. I wish I had known then but life’s experiences have shaped who I am now so no regrets. I now have 4 children and run my own business selling Flamingo cards and stationery. I’m not making millions, which isn’t surprising as my family are my priority just now not my work. Like any business you only get out what you put in and right now I’m investing in my family but quietly building a business for when I do have a little more time to make it grow bigger.

Being with my young children is priceless and I wouldn’t change a thing. Being my own boss suits me just fine. Life is really too short.

Only I can push me over the edge and I choose not to.