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Motivating Your Staff

Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 10:25AM

Motivating Your Staff

Motivating your staff is a very important way to better what you already have. In business, there is not a day that goes by without change. You either get better or worse, you do not stay the same. I challenge my staff on a daily basis to constantly strive for greatness.

Picking the Team

Part of creating a great company starts at the hiring process. It is my challenge as a manager and goal I put upon myself, that if I have an opening and I have a highly skilled applicant, no matter what, I will find a position to fill in my company. Once the applicant is hired and becomes part of the team, whether he/she knows it or not, management has seen something in them to already better the company. This realization that we all affect the success of the company is a step in the right direction. From the helper on residential to the mechanics, from salesman to CSRs, everyone doing their jobs correctly and safely is vital for total success.

Guiding the Staff

Who has the responsibility and ability of guiding the staff all depends upon the size of the company. For the sake of this article let’s reduce our scope to a specific region that a General and Operations manager would have control over. It is up to those in these positions to drive staff to be the best they can be. A few ways to drive success can be:

  • Set goals both long and short-term for each individual. Let the individuals set some for themselves.
  • Meet in intervals throughout the process and monitor progress in reaching goals.
  • Give an incentive for goals reached and an extra incentive for goals exceeded, especially for those individuals who did it to do it, not just for a financial bribe.

I like to reward an individual who went above and beyond and did it with a smile. I do not like to say, “do this, do that, do this and you will make $____ per hour.” I take trust into account. I trust my employees and, in return, they trust me. This bond brings out the best in everyone. No one wants to be an order taker or receive them. Make tasks colorful and explain to some degree the importance of a task assigned to someone. When people know what they are working for, they work harder. When they feel important and are treated with respect that they deserve, they work like family.

Family First

I was blessed growing up to have a loving family that was there for me when I needed them. I grew up in a family of seven and a large extended family. I got to see firsthand exactly what a properly guided family has the potential to achieve in all the successes over the years from my siblings. I take this style of leadership and management into the work force. I am blessed to have a workforce that has a feeling of a big family. Of our 80 employees, 10 of those are actually family (a mixture of uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters) and the remaining 70 are treated as blood relatives. Our tenure ranges from three to eight years and accounts for 90 percent of our current employees. The rest of the 10 percent have been here three years and less. Many of our employees share a lot of the same hobbies and including them on company trips makes them feel at home. We have quarterly company cookouts where all employees are invited to bring family members. We sponsor many adult league softball and flag football teams. Many of them love to hunt and fish (which is my main hobby after my sports career resided). I also enjoy taking employees on these trips and spending time with them away from work.

Motivational Mondays

Every week, leave your management, operation staff and key employees with food for thought, such as a general idea or quote and see how they respond. Below is an e-mail example of what I have sent to members of the company in the past:

Good morning all,

“Always do your best, what you plant now you will harvest later”- Og Mandino

This is a true statement. I cannot think of any plants that can be planted and yield a crop the next day. With that said, take a step in the right direction. Metaphorically speaking, if you commit to planting a crop to reap its harvest as a reward, you are also committing a sense of responsibility of nurturing your crop along the way.

What do you choose to undertake at Florida Express Environmental and see through to fruition? Hint … not only must you choose your goal; you are responsible for making it become a reality!

Let’s have a great and successfully safe week.

Thank You, John Paglia III General Manager Florida Express Environmental

My employees have responded to this in mixed ways. When I first started the weekly motivation, it was unannounced and out of the blue. I never told anyone to respond, nor would I ever. I continue to write it weekly. I have many that message me with a quick answer, and many that put thought into their responses. To those that I would say have “bought in”, I have seen great results in little time. For those that I hoped and expected a response from, and did not respond, they have left me no choice but to pass them up when opportunities to climb the ladder arise. 

Building Loyalty

Many of my management tactics are built on loyalty, trust, faith, family and hard work. No one is perfect and no one will ever be, but I would put my employees up toe to toe with the greatest. Business is like a competition to me. I can assure you that, like me, all of my employees have an appetite for competition and success. When we all succeed, everyone wins. | WA

John Paglia, III is a 4th generation garbage man. Before he climbed the ranks to become Florida Express Environmental’s General Manager, he had a successful career in college and professional athletics. John has been around the garbage industry since his carseat days. Currently, John is focused on growing his company and offering the highest level of customer service and prolonging the world we live in today. John wakes up every day knowing the impact professional haulers have on their community is far greater than most realize. He can be reached at (352) 629-4349, e-mail John3@floridaexpress.us or visit www.floridaexpress.us.


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