Real Estate Investment Tips and Strategies: How to Motivate Your Team
In his book, Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely wrote, “Should you give an employee a gift worth $1,000 or pay him or her an extra $1,000 in cash? Which is better? If you ask the employees, the majority will most likely prefer cash over the gift. But the gift has its value, though this is sometimes ill understood—it can provide a boost to the social relationship between the employer and the employee. Think of it this way: who do you suppose is likely to work harder, show more loyalty, and truly love his work more—someone who is getting $1,000 in cash or someone who is getting a personal gift?
This reminded me of something that we did for our team (our head contractors, employees, attorney, etc.) a little while back. I designated a random week within our company “Appreciation Week.” We sent flowers to a couple offices, gave out gift cards to favorite restaurants (which we had elicited the week prior through a careful line of questioning), and gave out a couple rounds of golf. We hand wrote and signed a thank you note to each individual member of our team.
What an investment! And we only spent about $50 per person. The success of “Appreciate Week” was in part because it was so random. It did not coincide with a holiday or the time of year. It was simply a “thank you for all of your hard work. We recognize and appreciate your efforts.”
I can’t imagine handing them $50 and having a remotely comparable experience. John Dewey said that the deepest urge in human nature is “the desire to be important.” By showing appreciation (especially through a gift as opposed to some cash), our team gained their feeling of importance, and it showed through their hard work.
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