I am always looking for ways to motivate the GreenStones team and someone has nearly always come up with a great idea.
A couple of months ago I was consulting with another accountant and we got talking about the dreaded January tax return rush. She shared an idea that I thought was great!
You see…..
As you know, there are two sides to every story.
We chase our customers to make sure they deliver the information to us but as the deadline approaches the team become more and more focused on getting the returns in.
Julie had come up with an idea to focus the team on the number of returns (and have some fun every time a return was submitted) and it was really simple.
At the beginning of December the team “blew up” a balloon for every tax return they still had to process. Those balloons were stuck to the ceiling and one was popped every time a return went in. They instantly had a visual and physical measure of their process.
As you will see from this picture we did the same…
Only from the 1st of January not December.
Has it worked?
I believe it has – we have been more focused and aware of what needs doing across the team (not just those doing the returns) and we have had some fun in the process.
So ask yourself…
What can you do to show your team the progress they are making with a project, with a goal or with something they need to focus on? The bigger and brighter you can make it the better.
And if you can throw in a little bit of fun along the way that’s even better!
I’d love to hear what you do.
Simon