Motivate Your Accounting and Financial Teams

Having a strong, motivated team is like having a well-oiled, top performing machine. If you want your machine to run at peak performance and give you long-lasting enjoyment, then you need to take care of it. Regular maintenance and checks need to happen to maximize longevity and performance.

The same is true of the business world. If you want to have a strong, trusting, and motivated team that is willing to work toward your corporate objectives, then you need to conduct regular maintenance with your team. Think of your accounting team as a well-oiled machine! Hire the right people, motivate them, conduct regular “check ins,” and give them opportunities to grow their skills. PrideStaff Financial can help you motivate your team, and become the performance leaders of your field.  Here are a few tips to start:

Hire The Right People. Have you ever heard the expression even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while? You can either take your chances hoping that you’ll “get lucky” finding the right candidate for your team, or you can be prepared and get exactly what you want. For this to happen, you need to know what you want from an employee before the interview process even begins. Don’t rely just on the job description to guide your interview process; know what you want as a manager and leader of your team. Are you looking for soundness of character? Do you want a candidate who is willing to tackle challenges? Do you want a candidate with raw intelligence, or emotional intelligence? Are you looking for leadership qualities? What are the goals your team is striving for? Questions like these are vital when it comes to hiring the right person for the job.  

Be Hands On. If you want your team to trust and invest in you, and by extension the company as a whole, then you need to trust and invest in your team. An “effective” manager takes responsibility for ensuring that each individual within their department succeeds at individual goals as well as the collective goals. This requires interaction and communication skills that allow you as the manager to instruct, as well as listen, to your team.

Managers who communicate effectively can process information and relate it back to their team clearly. Good communication also allows you to better understand and decipher the needs of your team, and being able to do that will help you align individual goals with overall team goals. Invest in cultivating individual talents; it will not only lead to better productivity but will show the employee(s) that you’re invested in them as individuals. This will develop the cohesiveness and trust that you’re looking for as a team.  

The Right Incentives = Happy Employees. It’s not always about the dollars; in this economy employees are looking for more out of their company than pay incentives. Harvard Business Review recently conducted a study on non-financial perks that would keep employees motivated to stay with their current financial companies. 50% said “taking on new internal projects,” 19% said “company covering the cost of training or seminars,” 14% said “added vacation or personal time off,” and 18% said “having input in the hiring of colleagues.” Invest in your employees and they’ll invest in you!

PrideStaff Financial will help you hire the right candidates for your team. Our expert financial and accounting recruiters are committed to helping you get the best performance out of your team. Contact your local PrideStaff Financial office today!