Rewarding Teams along the Way

 

Today many employees work in group settings. Working successfully as a team requires hard work, as individuals with different personalities, skills, and agendas learn to work together to achieve a common goal. Even though their contributions may not be exactly equal, it's important to recognize the team's efforts and the individuals themselves if you want to continue to get high performance from your team. Here are some suggestions for getting the most out of teams, whether they are beginning or long-standing:

  • Start a new team with an informal retreat or off-site meeting that can be used to set goals, as well as allowing team members to get to know one another.
  • Encourage group leaders to acknowledge individual achievement during group meetings, as well as compliment the team as a whole on working well together.
  • Highlight interim successes with a team lunch or food brought into a meeting. Such mini-celebrations are a great morale booster.
  • If productivity dips, consider an activity to recharge and refocus the team. Even an inexpensive overnight stay at a nearby hotel can boost a team's productivity.
  • Celebrate the completion of a project in some manner - an in-house celebration, an after-work activity, an afternoon at the movies, or whatever the team chooses.

Copyright © 1999 Bob Nelson, used with permission of the author. All rights reserved. Excerpted from Bob Nelson's Rewarding Employees newsletter.

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