Motivate and Train Your Agency Staff

We all know that we love a bit of encouragement. Jobs where we receive no direction, gratitude, or training leave us feeling bored and depressed. And so it is for your own staff.

Even if you’ve never been a boss before, it is important to both motivate and train your staff. There is no need to send them on expensive courses if your company can’t afford it, but with some careful planning, a little research and by following some simple guidelines, you can help to turn your agency into a place where people really want to work!

Lead by Example

There is nothing worse than a boss who cannot be seen to be working as hard as their staff. You will not gain respect if you don’t pull your weight and neither will you be able to keep an accurate track of the business.

If you are busy behind-the-scenes doing company paperwork, then let your workforce know that; make sure your office is on site and visible by others.

Have Regular Meetings

A common complaint amongst dissatisfied staff is that they have no recourse to complain. They don’t want to complain to the person who pays their wages, and so they end up complaining to each other and forming a kind of ‘anti-group’ who are reluctant workers. This can be solved by holding regular meetings to find out how things are going, inviting feedback, addressing any complaints, and asking for suggestions.

Listen and Engage

It is important once you have set meetings in place to actually listen to what your staff are telling you.It’s no good just running a meeting solely to your own agenda. True, you do not wish the time to simply deteriorate into a forum for moaning so it is good to a clear objective of what you want to achieve, but at the same time if your staff are telling you the same thing time and again, you must pay attention.

They are often at the coalface of the business and can be more aware of what is really going on than you who are often busy dealing with business administration. By listening, you are automatically empowering your staff and making them understand that their opinion is important.

Support, Encourage and Appreciate

If your business is important to you, your staff should be too. Without them, you have no business and they have the ability to make or break it for you. If you support your staff, they in turn, will want to support you and your business. Remember to acknowledge their work each day, make note of any work that has been over and above the line of duty and reward this.

Offer incentives or extra commission for achieving certain targets or perhaps a bonus day’s holiday. Remember to thank your staff, take time to get to know them, and try to remember any important events. This will go a long way to building good relationships and create loyalty within the team.

Learning and Development

Invest in your staff. If you do so, it is likely that they will stay with your company for a long time to come. A rapid staff turnover is a worrying and expensive operation. You will need to advertise, interview, re-train, and invest more time and money in helping a new member of staff perform at the level you require. Much better then, to take a long-term view right from the start and create an environment which people don’t want to leave!

There are many free or inexpensive courses out there that you could offer as training for your staff. Consider allowing them time off to attend a language course or further training in skills which will be relevant and useful to your company. Someone who is constantly learning new things is more likely to feel motivated in the workplace and in return will put more effort into their work.

Have Fun!

Don’t forget to have fun! We all spend far too much of our lives at work. As a boss, try to sometimes take your foot off the pedal and build in some relaxation time into the workplace. This will re-energise your staff as well as work as a great team-builder.

If workers feel that they are not just coming into work, but coming to work with friends as well as colleagues, it says volumes about you as a boss. Try taking your staff out once in a while and buying drinks or a meal, or bring in cakes on a Friday. If it’s someone’s birthday, close the office and go out for lunch or suggest you create a 5-aside football team for charity! There is a wide variety of things you can do – it just takes a little imagination.