Presenting yourself as an earnest businessman and a figure that enforces strict company policies can get counter-productive.
Of course, you should ensure that your company respects all the rules and regulations.
But maintaining an image of a buttoned-up executive can serve no purpose, apart from instilling fear into your employees. And that is exactly what you should avoid at all costs.
Using fear as a motivator isn’t going to get you anywhere.
But what’s the most precious fuel that can get your employees reach their top performance?
Quite the opposite, actually! It’s the freedom to use their creative potential and imagination to contribute to their company. That’s what makes them truly satisfied! Knowing that their employer values their opinion and aims to cultivate their talents.
There are times when you should play by the book and get increasingly cautious. For instance, in times of company crisis or in a state of emergency.
But loosen up a bit sometimes! Show your employees you’re an open-minded person they can communicate their ideas to. Even if they’re wacky sometimes.
Inspire your employees using proactive, unique ideas! Play around!
You can start with our 5 wacky ideas to inspire your employees’ top performance. These are suggestions to get you thinking about some aspects of employee productivity you might not have considered up to now.
Try them out, think of your own ideas too. Then watch how your employee productivity curve shifts upwards.
1. Experiment with Your Office Space
Business psychology has long grasped how powerful the influence of workspace is on employee psyche. It’s one of the factors that can make or break your business. That’s understandable since poor office design can seriously affect your employees’ performance.
It’s estimated that unsatisfied employees cost US economy between $450 and $550 billion yearly due to costs related to lower performance, more sick days, and higher turnover rates. And the Australian results are not all roses exactly either.
So, it’s no wonder there’s a growing trend among companies of reevaluating the concept of office space. It’s time for experimentation!
You can think about installing an in-house gym, for example. This will not only impress your employees and competition. It will also enable your staff to do short workout sessions throughout the day. We don’t have to remind you how physical activity can boost performance, do we?
Or create a creativity room in your office. Make use of a neglected vacant room and redesign it into a collaboration room. Use it for creative get-togethers. A place where your team can have brainstorm sessions and let their imagination go wild. Try this concept out and you’ll get some brilliant ideas that you can put into practice.
Check out this infographic that offers a detailed overview of office space history and a bunch of examples to get you inspired.
Click the image to view the whole infographic
2. Fix Your Employees Up with Unorthodox Performance Boosting Training Sessions
Having regular job-specific training programs is a lifeline for your business. But this might not be enough. The contemporary business climate requires of you to think out of the box and deliver innovative solutions time and again.
To achieve this you must lead your employees off the beaten track. And strengthening your employees’ problem-solving skills is a must.
A good way to do this is by hiring trainers for a variety of creative skills development. Engage a motivational speaker or a business psychology expert. Organise creative thinking workshops.
Combine wacky and practical and offer your team an emergency response and evacuation training. With Alsco’s training you will ensure safety and wellbeing of your staff.
The feeling of security and of having things under control will further enhance your team’s productivity. Plus they will be armed with important life skills.
And when talking about safety, what about your important documents? Alsco offers you a much-needed service of Disaster Recovery Plan. We will store and secure your business’s valuable data so you won’t have to worry about data security anymore.
3. Smarten Up Your Team with Stylish Uniforms
Has introduction of work uniforms been an item of your management meeting agenda? If it hasn’t, well, perhaps it should. Having a professional look flatters everybody. It also boosts employee performance. And there’s scientific data that supports this claim. A study in which participants wore Superman t-shirts showed a shift of participants’ sense of achievement.
And there’s another thing. Just visualize how neat and impressive a team of waiters, office or industrial workers in stylish, professional attire look like. Professional looks can contribute to a good corporate image, which makes up some 63% of the value of most corporations. Consequently, earning and keeping a good company reputation is a major executive concern.
Ceri-Jane Hackling, founder of Cerub PR says, “How you dress does affect how people perceive you and I believe that in business you need to present yourself at your best. Everything you do reflects on you and your business from how you behave to how you answer the phone so how you present yourself is certainly a part of that.”
So choose top-quality workwear and leave a favourable impression on your employees and clients alike. Get Alsco’s professional uniforms and transform the image of your company. Regardless of your industry, we’re here to offer comfortable, durable and stylish garments to dress your team up to success.
4. Offer Incentives for Impressive Teamwork Results
Looking at employees as cogs in a company machinery each minding their own business is a thing of the past. Being a leading business today calls for collective creativity. Thus, organize your workforce into teams that will be working on specific goals but be able to see a larger picture as well.
To get a stronger feedback, offer bonus payment incentives for impressive teamwork results. This will work as a strong motivator. However, here’s where you should insist on open-mindedness, collaboration, and team coherence. This will boost your team’s internal motivation even further.
One important thing. If you want to make room for creativity and originality, you need to allow for mistakes and failure. Organizational psychologist Adam Grant says that “The greatest originals are the ones who fail the most, because they’re the ones who try the most.” He further points out that, “You need a lot of bad ideas in order to get a few good ones.”
Have a look at this Collective Creativity TED video featuring Harvard professor Linda Hill, co-author of “Collective Genius”. She’s been examining some of the world’s most creative companies. And has come up with a set of tools and tactics to keep great ideas flowing.
5. Let Your Office Mats Speak for Your Business
You’ve probably never considered the importance of floor coverings for your business. Sounds a bit wacky? Well, we hope it does. But having exceptional workplace floor mats can add up to your business image. Having an old shaggy rug or brand new top-notch carpeting makes a huge difference.
If you want to stand out, add some style and practicality to your office with Alsco’s design mats featuring modern colours and patterns.
And here comes the particularly wacky part. You can print captivating inspirational messages on your office mats and inspire your team to perform better.
With Alsco’s Chromajet printing technology you can print on your workplace mats about anything that crosses your mind.
Of course, you can use this technology for more conventional purposes, too. Like brand name printing, safety precaution messaging and the like.
Choose Alsco As Your Partner
We’ve tried to be wacky enough but still offer you some useful tricks to boost your employee performance in less conventional ways.
But if you want to make your company known for good work ethics and professionalism, choose Alsco as your partner. You’ll make no mistake. Our various services will help you build up your company’s good reputation.
Know that you’re choosing a reliable company that has been the repeated choice of over 48,000 Australian clients for over 50 years. Contact your local Alsco branch today! Our friendly customer service will be more than happy to meet your specific needs.
Photo courtesy of Freepik Images by katemangostar