How to Motivate Staff and Increase Productivity

Managers are first and foremost motivators. Better motivated staff means greater productivity. Greater productivity means more profits. Job done! The problem is that many managers are not good motivators; in fact some are exactly the opposite. There are many ways of motivating the people for whom you are responsible; one of these is to deliver a team building session.

Before doing that, you need to consider what constitutes good team building. The simple answer is that it should happen in an enjoyable and positive atmosphere that develops the key skills needed within a successful business atmosphere. But what are these skills? In short, the core skills are communication, planning, flexibility, co-operation and dealing with the unexpected.

Early attempts at team building inevitably involved problem solving activities - get from A to B using only C,D and E. The problem was that many of the activities were exclusive. By that I mean that only a few people were actively involved at any one time. So early team building days tended to be a bit boring and were a de-motivator.

Team building companies gradually realised this and their activities evolved. The activities were wrapped in a theme such as espionage or combat games, escape and evasion style - hunter and hunted. But many of these were very male orientated and involved a degree of discomfort such as being outside in cold and wet conditions. But how could these adventure games be brought in from the cold and be made universally appealing? Simple, set up a series of time sensitive themed tasks that can be arranged in a series of rooms within a hotel.

Then there is the problem of actually delivering the core skills development. For that, the tasks need to be set up so that the teams have to communicate, think and act as one in order to achieve success. Take for example an activity such a mock diamond heist or other robbery. A video is created that is allegedly taken by the CCTV in the establishment that has been 'robbed'. It is shown to the whole team, the team then have to assemble an image of the thieves on the video using photos of various facial features. No single person will be able to remember or even spot the different clues on the footage. So the successful teams will have pre-planned a strategy for example, each team member focuses on a different feature - hair, nose, mouth etc. The team members will then need to communicate and co-operate in order to successfully recreate the faces they saw in the video in a short time slot.

The team's ability to deal with the unexpected can be set up in various ways, for example via an adventure game using lasers and a room filled with disco smoke. The task is actually carried out individually. The team are invited into the room one at a time and have no idea what is coming. They then have to cross the room, under and over the laser beams without blocking them. Each time one is cut, a buzzer sounds and the team loses points.

The full range of core skills can be covered by activities such as bomb disposal. The team needs to crack a code to work out, within a given time frame, the correct sequence of unplugging the wires, they get only one go at it. This involves working under pressure, a few minutes planning a division of labour will pay real dividends and teams that plan will almost certainly have a greater chance of success.

Such tasks, carried out in the comfort of a hotel, will be enjoyed by all staff and generate a real buzz in the office for weeks after. Staff will have developed the habit of planning, communicating and co-operating on the day and it is then up to you to ensure that it continues in the workplace. But that is the subject for a whole different article ...