How do I motivate people?

I work at a fast-food restaurant. Recently, I began training for a manager position, which basically involves doing everything a manager does, except what requires me to access the safe.

The problem is, there are some people who are dead weights. Basically, if I ask them to do something, they will, for a little while, but they'll do it half-assed and slowly.

My question is this: Does anyone have some good general motivation techniques?

I'm thinking about measuring how many cars come through and how long each car takes on drive through (to make a competition with themselves to lower the time, and makes sure they need to have everything stocked to speed up time), and how many customers each person on the front counter serves individually (which basically results in the same thing, but is easier to measure on the front). I'm trying to think of a way to reward a good number and good times, without increasing break times (which I'm not allowed to do). If anyone has any ideas about this, or just general advice, it would be helpful. I'm not in position where I can fire anyone right now, so that isn't an option. Thanks in advance!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Typically I've found that you really can't motivate people unless they truly want to get motivated. However, if there is a way to light a fire under someone it is to push their backs against the wall. If you could somehow make them feel that their jobs aren't safe then they might work harder.

If not then there isn't much else you can do IMO.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Generally:

1) Give the good example yourself. Have charisma.
2) Hand out the right tasks to people, looking at their level of education.
3) Give attention to them, give positive and negative feedback.
4) Always look out for frictions between your members, they might not tell you, but you should be wary of everything that goes on, because you're the leader.
5) Give courses and lessons to them so they feel comfortable.
6) Coordination, delegation. Empower your workers with responsibility and tasks with the right difficulty. This means you should be fully aware of their personality.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The problem with shit jobs like McDonalds is that the people who work there generally don't care about the work. I worked in a supermarket for 7 years, and there were so many fucking dregs who just simply didn't care and didn't listen to authority. If there was one thing I learned is that you need to be stern with these people. You need to be more of an asshole than anything, otherwise they will step all over you and not care what you say. Maybe be nicer and more lenient towards people who actually do their job well, but for the most part, take no shit from the half-assing morons.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The trick isn't necessarily in forcibly motivating people around you, but getting them in a position to 'motivate themselves' without taking the credit for it. People want to be independent and its always easier to improve upon oneself if someone feels the spark of motivation is coming from within. If people feel that you are being patronizing to try to get them to do more work, they'll have no part of it. Its a difficult balance to strike.

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Originally Posted by sprouticus

The problem with shit jobs like McDonalds is that the people who work there generally don't care about the work. I worked in a supermarket for 7 years, and there were so many fucking dregs who just simply didn't care and didn't listen to authority. If there was one thing I learned is that you need to be stern with these people. You need to be more of an asshole than anything, otherwise they will step all over you and not care what you say. Maybe be nicer and more lenient towards people who actually do their job well, but for the most part, take no shit from the half-assing morons.

This seems to be the problem with a lot of people. It's kind of weird, because when we first opened (about a year ago, I've been there the whole time), everyone was a good worker, helped each other out, and just stayed busy in general. About May, everyone started getting fired for bullshit reasons like being casual (in a good way) with customers and other crap like that. After that happened to a few people, the rest left. We had been hiring off and on until about October, and now we've reached a pretty stable group of employees again.

As I was saying, though, the new group just doesn't seem to be motivated like the old group. I really like both your answer and RainMan's, because it seems like the thing to do is balance between the extreme of not taking crap, but making the workers want to work. Thanks for the advice, both of you.

This isn't to discount everyone else's advice, but it just seems like sprouticus and RainMan managed to post about a more specific problem I'm having.

How ya doing, buddy?

The easiest way is to give everyone a raise. Everything is about money on this worthless planet.

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Is it wrong that i saw the title of this thread and the first thing that came to my mind was "How do I shot web?"


I think I need to extend my internet break a little bit longer. XD

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Hmm...it's harder when it's a fast-food chain. Some ideas:
-Compliments/thank-yous
-Friendship with yourself, other employees
-"Come on, I want to be able to give you a good reference when you leave this place"
-If possible, giving people "ownership" of something. Some task or area that they are always supposed to be on top of

Unfortunately, may not be much you can do.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I think having to dangle that carrot in front of them works. Both in the positive (you'll get a raise) and negative (you'll lose your job) way. Being strict and stern will work, although don't be surprised if for a while you have to go through several employees until you find ones that work hard and are suitable for the job.

Heck, I still remember my mother basically giving people a 'one-day trial' (or from what I heard). If you couldn't do your job well within a day (and the job was pretty bland), then you were gone by the end of the day. It took a while for her to find some suitable employees to say the least.

Realize also that for jobs like McDonalds, people may simpily not care. They may see it as 'McDonalds' and that if they can't work there, then there is always Burger King, Hardiees or the next fast food joint. IN that case, realize that most likely they won't care what you say because they don't feel any reason to do so, job or no job.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Megalith Prime

The easiest way is to give everyone a raise. Everything is about money on this worthless planet.

How true.

I hope that your restaurant is somewhat fair and on top of shit like raises and/or promotions, I work at a one of the shittiest franchised-run BK's and when it comes down to the pay its pretty bad ($7/hr, plateaued wages), for myself I wouldn't want to be promoted because thats more bullshit you have to put up with not to mention its only a fifty cents to a dollar increase in pay (which should be somewhat near raise material, but come to find out out RM basically threw out the paperwork which was to be submitted around July, lulz). I cant wait for what the excuse is next September when my state's minimum wage goes up 25c from what I make now, I guess they'll pass it off as a raise.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

We tend to be pretty fair about raises and promotions. If someone knows what they're doing, but isn't quiet ready to be a manager, we'll tell people to go learn from them, which I think is a positive thing (that's what I was doing before they talked about promoting me).

We'll also give people raises based on how hard they work, and how long they've been there. I think one of the problems, though, is that we don't tell people about raises, it just shows up as a rate increase on their paycheck. This is supposed to prevent fighting about wages, but I think some people are given too much credit and simply don't notice when they deposit the check.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Quote:

My question is this: Does anyone have some good general motivation techniques?

Try giving them something to look forward to in the future. Rewards for efforts also work, if I'm not mistaken.

I was speaking idiomatically.