How To Motivate Your Finance Team Out Of Their Post-Holiday Slump
POST WRITTEN BY
Expert Panel, Forbes Finance Council
Successful accounting, financial planning & wealth management executives from Forbes Finance Council share trends and tips. development & careers.
As any good leader knows, keeping your employees motivated is the surest path to success. Yet, as the holiday season winds down, employees may start to dip in energy and productivity. One of the key traits of effective financial advisors is in engaging the client, and that certainly cannot be achieved if advisors are half-asleep themselves.
So, what are the best ways to motivate your financial team as their post-holiday winter blues set in? To help you find an answer, we asked nine members of Forbes Finance Council to share their most effective ways to keep motivation high during a post-seasonal slump. Their best answers are below.
1. Encourage Collaboration And Accountability
The difference between a partner and employee is that the former understands that their decisions influence their compensation, while the latter is typically on a non-performance-based wage. By including employees in annual budgeting or strategic discussions, you create a collaborative environment that encourages accountability and ownership and builds momentum heading into the new year. - Damian Lo Basso, Compass CFO Solutions
2. Set Objectives And Key Results
Setting Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) each year will drive your team toward achieving the objectives before the end of the year. An important and typically missing piece to those who set the objectives or goals for their teams is a reward at the end of the year. You can also make adjustments toward the end of the year if the objective has already been met to improve the reward. - David Gass, Anderson Business Advisors, LLC
3. Offer The Right Perks
I keep my team motivated by offering simple, inexpensive perks that recharge their energy. Perks can vary, including early dismissal for whomever finishes their work first, gift card raffles for an on-time month end close, extended lunch for an important milestone reached or team pizza lunch for early project completion. These fun little surprises keep them on their toes and always bring smiles to their faces. - Geanette Rodriguez-Ojeda, ARRI Rental
4. Focus On Constant Innovation
Our firm is driven to deliver quality advice at a fair price. This philosophy is baked into the firm's long-range plans, is reflected in our quarterly strategic projects list and is revisited at our weekly staff meeting. Being so focused on this long-term vision leads to consistently rolling out new benefits to our clients. Constant innovation doesn't leave much time for the blues. - Erik Christman, Oxford Financial Partners
5. Set Attractive Goals For The New Year
Set goals for the new year. Feed off that New Year’s resolution and encourage long-term goals for the year ahead. Once your team has something to work toward, it’s easier for them to stay motivated. Use the post-holiday time to re-evaluate and make it a team effort. Building up a team goal can help your employees tackle new tasks without the stress of having to go at it alone. - Greg Herlean, Horizon Trust
6. Roll Out A Thoughtful Incentive Plan
Many companies have year-end or Christmas bonuses. Many times, they are purely discretionary and depend on what the boss wants to give. Instead of it being a gift, after the holidays, roll out a thoughtful incentive plan for your key staff that shares with them your goals, what they can do to help you reach those goals and, specifically, how they can benefit financially if you hit the targets. - Scott Bishop, STA Wealth Management
7. Calibrate Your Office Environment
Whether your region is cold and dark in winter or sunny and warm year-round, don't underestimate the impact the environment inside your office can have on productivity, no matter the weather. Maximize natural light and regulate the temperature. Studies show that the optimal temperature for productivity is around a cozy 77 degrees. Anything much lower or higher may result in negative fallout. - Ismael Wrixen, FE International
8. Clearly Articulate Your Vision
Goal setting is crucial. When you can clearly articulate the vision you have for your company with your employees, they can see the reward of rolling full steam ahead. Their motivation for personal reward can often advert the winter blues. Your excitement will be contagious and help propel them to work through the new year with new enthusiasm. - Justin Goodbread,Heritage Investors
9. Set Good Habits
We have completed our 2019 business plan for all our associates. They have established production/sales goals. It's important to set a higher level of activity now that is required in 2019. By focusing on activity for future business, teams can maintain momentum by focusing on next year's goal today. - Mike McGlothlin, ashbrokerage.com