Motivation is everything

Published by Inge Geerdens, on 29/08/2014

When Sander and Wannes, my two sons, returned from a summer camp the other day one of the first things they told me was how they’d won a cooking contest. My two boys, whom I thought didn’t know what a cooking pot looked like, prepared the best meal out of all their friends. I was so proud! Turns out they made an extra effort because of the prize. “We could win a luxurious breakfast, mum. With sugar and everything. We really wanted to win, because the food served there was way too healthy. We had to eat fruit and vegetables all the time.” LOL. Another proof that people can exceed expectations with the right motivation.

Same goes for a professional environment. Since I opened an office abroad, in Lisbon, I was faced with a problem. I had two teams working on two different locations. No matter how many video conference calls were organized, the two teams were perfectly able to work together professionally, but didn’t really connect on a deeper level. So I came up with the idea an ‘exchange program’. One by one, the Belgian and Portuguese coworkers are visiting each other for a week. They get to know their colleagues, the office, the clients but also the surroundings and the culture. I live by the motto ‘work hard, play hard’, so I found a comfortable hotel in the middle of the party district in Antwerp and in Lisbon where my coworkers can relax and discover the local nightlife after their working day.

Somehow the exchange program has become more than ‘getting to know each other’ and discover the nightlife. It has also made them realize that they are part of a bigger story. That they are helping building CVWarehouse into the successful international company it is becoming. They too realize now that they are not just paid to come in every day to do their job, but play an important role in directing the company towards a bright future.

The exchange program costs me their plane tickets and the price of a hotel room. In return I get super motivated coworkers that come to work smiling, have nice stories to tell and are eager to walk the extra mile. No raise in the world could buy me that !

What motivates you? How do you motivate others?