Good Morning Ladies!
At work, I manage a team of 13 individuals. Our company is production-driven, so they are constantly required to meet quotas. The nature of their job is research-based, so balancing harder projects, quality, and speed is something that is contant pressure for them. Their morale can tend to get a bit low, even when I give them regular feedback on the excellent work they are cranking out.
I have tried to implement rewards programs but upper management doesn't think it's necessary. I've tried to get upper management to let me get my team involved in a charity (I had chosen a local food bank) but they won't support that- they quietly made a cash donation instead. They said they didn't want to solicit employees. (For charity? Really? Whatever...) I've brought up to upper-management the possibility of allowing people to work flex hours or work from home but they won't have that either.
I have a great team but what can I do with no upper-management backing to keep their morale up? Any ideas?
Since upper management doesn't want to cooperate, I agree with the "small token" of appreciation . Bringing in bagels/donuts and coffee for breakfast. Ordering a couple of pizzas for lunch. With the warmer weather, maybe ice cream for a fun snack in the afternoon. Little things do make a difference (especially if the team knows that you, personally, are footing the bill).
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When I worked a very degrading light-industrial job (years ago) we temps decided to take it on ourselves to make things better, because the management was pretty much tyrannical. They actually separated work tables by race, which was horribly awkward. The 'tables' got together and decided to have frequent potlucks, so each week or so everyone brought a dish to share. Just gathering around the food at lunchtime made people open up to each other, sharing recipes and chatting. This made things so much better, because we all realized that it was management that was so messed up,and that we could actually talk to each other instead of being embarrassed by someone else's poor decision-making.
I once was in the same position as you - I started asking my employees what was their favorite candy, and would just spontaneously give them a candy bar every now and then. You would be surprised how far just a small token can go. They knew that I was footin' the bill for it myself, and they really appreciated that I noticed and was rewarding them for their efforts even though it was "just" a candy bar!
It is so frustrating when upper management does not want to get involved in an incentive program. Seriously a $5 gift card for each of them every once in a while doesn't add up to much for the company, but it does a world of wonders for the people that get them!
For me its all about food.
You say that they have quotas, so work with that. If you have a balanced team where people meet their quotas regularly, or the same people aren't the ones always missing the mark it will work....
Gift card - everyone that meets quota goes into a drawing for a $25 gift card to (some mid-priced eatery). Then host a cookies/milk or ice cream, or donuts break and announce the winner on Friday afternoon.
Change it up. Sometimes have the gift card be to Starbucks, or Dunkin Donuts, or Target.
Since I knew my crew had a hard day ahead of them today I stopped and got some donuts and milk. :) We all love donuts and it seems to cheer people up a bit.
Having a discussion with upper management about morale equaling productivity isn't going to work in your situation. You will need to show them. They will need to see the numbers and how it can work. Unfortunately not all people are visionaries but need to actually see before they believe. They have no faith.
I would consider being a little more proactive with my team. I would think outside the box meaning of course there are certain set rules in place but where there are no rules you would have liberty. Unfortunately for you, some of your most brilliant ideas have already been shot down before testing them.
The next great idea you come up with before you shop it around to upper management, develop a written plan, set a time line, measure the true productivity coming from your team. After the determined time frame has passed you will present the analysis of the output of work to your upper management with tangibles and it could become a new way of doing things.
Many people here have suggested food as an incentive and it does and can help your team become more productive and cohesive. We used to celebrate birthday's of the month when I first started working at my job. For one entire year, we had some kind of food with cake and soda's to celebrate whomever was having a birthday. We always had this kind of party the last Friday of the month. After a year the person implementing this great idea found a new job and moved on. No one took up the mantle of party throwing. Everyone participating would contribute $5.00. It was simply great. I think the hardest thing was getting the cake to the job.
Impromptu breakfast is always nice and relatively inexpensive. Mini bagels, orange juice, coffee, tea, fresh fruit, mini muffins and what ever else you can think of is also very nice.
But I think showing the output after implementing a plan would be better than going to a negative management to try to get things turned around. The numbers never lie.
ha, I'm actually on a team of 13 in a production driven company. Be careful with planning incentives. It's become a running joke at our company with the incentives we've been offered over the years without implemetation. I'm still waiting on a $25 popper from 7 years ago. More recently we had a $100 offer for the first person to accomplish a goal. That was in October and I have yet to profit. As a team we were promised a day off and a Ranger's game, another time a suite at the races, and yet another time a trip to Shreveport. We worked for these incentives, achieved our goals, and for one reason or another the company backed down and said they couldn't do them
Something that really did help with our team bonding and building morale was food. A few years a go we did an informal barbq in the parking lot along with adult bevs. We did this a few times and it helped. Another fun thing that we used to do is the Fort Worth Zoo Run together. We had a team and went and printed team T-shirts. We also invited family members and my girls absolutely loved doing it.
You might also point out to management that often charitable efforts improve morale AND make the company look good in the community. It's easy to give a donation. It's harder to donate blood, food, clothing. They seem very out of touch (or unwilling to touch) with people. Face time is part of the process.
I agree that even something like a box of cookies, some doughnuts, etc. goes a long way. Have a pot luck for holidays (generically in December so as not to favor a particular holiday, or for Thanksgiving). Get everyone together for lunch (even if it's their own dime) after a big project is done or a quota met. I always enjoyed it when a PM got us together to say "job well done" after a big effort.
People work hard if they think the company cares about them. It doesn't have to be big. Heck, even Uncle Sam gives out 59 minutes of leave if you do a good job or for holidays. You bet the feds wait on Christmas Eve to see if the President will allow them to head home early. It's a small thing that goes a long way.
I haven't worked in the industry but know quite a bit about academic settings and research groups. One thing that always makes people feel good is food!
Some ideas (I am not saying you should do ALL of these ;-): You could bring donuts and coffee Friday mornings, order delivery sandwiches or pizza for lunch one day a week/month, bring cookies and tea to meetings, have a bowl of candies on your meeting table, hand out candy bars for a job well done, have a grill-out at the parking lot. Bring a cake when there is a big accomplishment to celebrate (we do this when a research article is accepted for publication in a scientific journal ;-)
For bonding, group outings are great. You could go on a picnic together over the weekend or do something else fun together. Ask for their ideas and see what they would want to do (mini golf, rafting, bowling, visiting a state park, etc...)
I don't know if this is a possibility but the best thing I have found for my team is time off. They love that more than anything because they have families and lots of things to do too. So we have a standing rule that whenever they are done with their work on Friday, they may go. The rule is I have to be happy with their progress/the work that goes out and of course we must meet deadlines but they are such good workers that isn't a problem anyway.
In addition, if I find a day that we are slow, I tell someone who just did something fabulous to take the rest of the day off. If something comes up, you may need to fill in but it shows your team that you care and are willing to roll up your sleeves too.
One more tip: if at all possible without getting fired, stop asking upper management for permission. Most of them have no clue about life in the trenches and over think most every decision. So if you can do what you want, and ask forgiveness later vs permission now it is better. Good luck!
