Using Progress as a Motivator for Taproom Staff
I'm guilty of it, too. Host a to go beer competition. Reward a team member with the highest tip percentage. Offer a prize to the person that does ABC or XYZ. Often, we focus on rewards, recognition, and opportunity as prime motivators. But how about using progress?
Think back to when your elementary school raised money for the local SPCA, or whatever charity you supported that month. Somewhere in the hallway was an oversized fundraiser thermometer tracking how much was raised. Each day we would check to see how it was climbing. We’d get excited. We’d come together over a common goal and were deeply invested in achieving it.
With progress, you are seeing the results of putting in the work. Think of going to the gym. You feel better the more regularly you visit, and maybe even a bit stronger. Perhaps they have a leaderboard showing members’ standing based on specific criteria – frequency of attending, time spent, etc. Each day when other members visit, they see the leaderboard, and may desire to be on it or climb higher in the rankings. Seeing this progress and results is motivating.
This contrasts with rewards benefiting top performers. Rewarding top performers isn’t recognizing progress, it’s rewarding based on specific metrics. These are one-off campaigns that often do not generate the same continual level of motivation. The value of these can be temporary. A team member may be motivated to sell more crowlers one week, then once the contest is done, the habit may not stick. For this reason, if motivating via the top performer model or single criteria, regularly mix up the metric monitored to encourage results across different areas. This also gives the opportunity for more team members to be rewarded and recognized, instead of the same rockstar receiving the bulk of the benefits.
While I am a huge advocate for these contest-like motivators, using progress as a motivator can better help create habits and ongoing positive behaviors.
In the Harvard Business Review article The Power of Small Wins, by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer, the authors share:
“Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work. And the more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run. Whether they are trying to solve a major scientific mystery or simply produce a high-quality product or service, everyday progress—even a small win—can make all the difference in how they feel and perform.”
Simply put, we like to see things move in a positive direction. It increases our desire to continue on that path. On the flipside, it can be demotivational to see backwards movement. It can be frustrating to work and see negative results.
Targeted motivational tactics (i.e., whoever sells the most, wins) can also be frustrating to those who work hard, but don’t come out on top. Employees in your taproom work different shifts and a different number of hours. Utilizing a progress-based system for motivation allows for rewards based on hours worked. Think of it as “win at your own pace” while competing against no one.
Using progress as a motivator is a strategy that can be used to either motivate individuals or teams. Johnny may only work 2 days a week, while LaShanda may work 5. Offering a general bonus for whoever hits a certain level would favor LaShanda, unless broken down by hours worked. A fundraiser-style tracker allows you to reward team members based on their individual efforts.
For example, offer a $100 bonus for every 25 to go sales a team member generates. LaShanda may receive this bonus quickly and frequently; however, Johnny still has the potential to receive the same reward but based on their own timetable.
Progress can also motivate your staff as a unit. Think of the thermometer showing the progress to sell X number of pints or have Y number of people sign up for your mailing list. It can increase teamwork and ultimately result in all involved celebrating the win at the same time, and receiving a piece of the reward-pie.
Whether you implement contests or set goals for your team to reach, regularly motivating your staff can help create a better understanding of taproom metrics and create better workplace habits. We all like to see the needle move in a positive direction. Progress, as mentioned in the Harvard Business Review article, is the single most important motivator. However, to take this to the next level, offering a means to visualize the progress can be the added component needs to see greater success in your taproom.
Action Items:
Pick a metric that you want to see improvements in.
Decide whether to motivate your staff by having them band together towards the goal or work individually at their own pace.
Print out a few fundraiser-esque, but beery, thermometers to track progress.
Offer a prize for when the goal is reached.
Report back and let us know how it went