Reward and recognition

The ability to reward and recognize is an essential skill in management. How you go about doing that depends on your team and your organizational culture. If your organization doesn't already have reward and recognition built into its culture or budgets, it may be time to get creative. There have been many times in my career where I've reached into my pocket and bought my team lunch or brought coffee or candy bars, and even let my team go early on a Friday if they had worked hard that week meeting a deadline. It's not that you are creating an expectation that every time they work hard they will get something. You don't want a team to become demotivated because they are not rewarded the way they think they should be every single time, but setting reasonable expectations and goals and then sticking to your side of the bargain is an excellent place to begin. It's tough to motivate until you truly know your team on an individual level, but...