Highs & Lows Method

There is a lot of talk on how to encourage positively, how to give feedback and how to care when it comes to motivating a team, but not so much noise on the importance of money as a means of appreciation. It might sound like 101 basics, but in big companies and start-ups, money can be seen as taboo.

I am not saying that money can compensate for the rest. I am just saying that money serves as an essential motivational piece. Unless you work free for a foundation, you work to earn money, to sustain your life. So it is only natural that you expect to be paid when you do a good job.

If your team members are delivering well, try hard to remunerate them fairly at the best of your capacity. If you are outsourcing services, try hard to pay them fairly to the best of your capacity. If you cannot do it, try harder.

People need both verbal and financial recognition. Don’t be the manager who thinks only the employees who ask for a raise need a raise. Don’t be the manager who judges by the look of their employees whether they need money or not. Don’t be the manager who treats the company money as his bank account and act unnecessarily stingy when it comes to paying the worth of people’s engagement and effort – which was the only reason why the company did so well in the first place.

Be the manager that is fair and considerate both emotionally and financially. It is guaranteed when your employees do better – your business will do better.

I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages.

Robert Bosch