Maintaining Engaged and Motivated Employees

- Kathy Grayson

Summer is behind us and the busy season is about to unleash. The days are shorter, event calendars are full, and members are flocking back to South Florida with high expectations of a staff ready to go above and beyond to serve them daily. As a leader, what is your plan to ensure your team stays engaged, motivated, and excited for the next six months? Consider the following five simple ways to have a high performing staff and a productive season:

1. Understand the Mission

Do your employees understand the mission of the club and more importantly, are they aware of the importance of their job in achieving the overall goal? Ensure each of your employees is in receipt of a written job description, quarterly goals, and how he/she will be evaluated. Do not wait until the review process to point out shortcomings. A poor evaluation should never be a surprise to an employee. A performance improvement plan should be implemented for any non-performer well before the evaluation takes place.

2. Best Practice Meetings 

Employees are more motivated and engaged when they feel their ideas are listened to and implemented.
Meet monthly with staff and encourage them to share ideas or a best practice learned from a peer or another facility. As a leader, implement at least one idea they propose.

3. Equity

Employees work harder when they know they are being compensated fairly. Incentivize employees with gift cards, tip sharing, clinic money, commissions or any other monetary opportunity. Most importantly, pay your staff fairly, according to market value.