by Steven Branstetter | 8/25/14
It’s Tuesday afternoon around 2 p.m. and all of your employees are flat. The entire office has a feeling similar to a morgue, and you are thinking to yourself, “How am I going to get everyone motivated?” There are thousands of theories, methods and techniques to motivate your team, and hundreds of books on leadership and teamwork that you can read, and they will all work great. However I have discovered a simple tweak you can make to your office that will energize you team today.
I discovered this when my company recently moved offices. Our new office did not come equipped with a coffee maker and we were forced to purchase a new machine, so we treated our staff to a top-of-the line coffee machine. As soon as we opened the new office you could tell the new machine was a big hit. As someone who regularly drinks coffee, I very quickly started noticing new faces in front of the coffee machine. It would be safe to say the amount of coffee that was consumed in the office tripled with the new machine. I soon noticed that the office productivity went up as well, either from the excitement of something new or just from the higher caffeine intake. Now this was never our original intention but it was paying off very well. Employees were coming in earlier, they sounded more alive on the phone with clients, and the productivity in the office never seemed to dip at midafternoon. We have a group of guys that show up at 3 p.m. every day to get an afternoon shot of espresso together in the café. This also gives new opportunities for employees to bond over and share something that they typically may have never done before. By adding a new coffee machine to our office, we not only able to boost morale, but we also increased productivity.
Now maybe a new coffee machine is not what your office needs. Maybe it’s free snacks or something else for your staff to drink. The point is by giving them something new you will make everyone in your office happier. Happy people work harder and are more effective. The best part is this is something you can do right now and see the changes the very next day. Upgrading your company’s coffee is a no-brainer, and with Americans’ love for coffee, it is safe to say that almost everyone in your office will enjoy this upgrade. Of course, this new jolt of motivation might wear off and you will be forced to find another way to do so. As Zig Ziglar said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.” When this time comes, be sure to make yourself a nice strong cup of coffee and take some time to think of the new solutions. I am sure you will come up with something.
Steven Branstetter is an executive recruiter at Crawford Thomas, a nationwide executive recruiting firm based in Orlando, Fla., with offices in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He has extensive knowledge with recruiting in the office technology industry for both OEMs and independent dealerships. Branstetter can be contacted at 1-321-257-0811 or www.crawfordthomas.com.
