Motivation games

My property is in the Midwest and winter is our slow time of the year. We are approaching that fast. Leasing has nothing to rent or earn commissions because occupancy is strong. Maintenance is just tired of the same thing day after day. I need to put some excitement into the workplace. I'm looking for some employee motivation games or team building games. Suggestions?

While not exactly a "game" you'll definitely have the motivation part covered...Why not host a surprise party to celebrate your team and invite all of your residents? We recently pulled this off at a property with over 300 homes. Not only did we have a phenomenal resident turnout (with many bringing goodies to share), but until they walked into the clubhouse to find it filled with residents, food, & drink, our Maintenance Team was none-the-wiser. Even though it was a bit tricky to come up with a convincing reason that they guys needed to be far away from the clubhouse while our residents made their way in, we pulled it off and our Maintenance Team was truly surprised and grateful for the heartfelt appreciation they were shown. If your team takes care of the residents, which I expect they do if you have nothing to lease, you'll probably have no trouble getting the residents to play along and celebrate your team for the service they provide!

I'd love to hear what you end up doing and how it turns out.

That's a great idea! How much fun would that be to find a party waiting for you and you are the Guest of Honor! I have always been big on taking the team out on a slow afternoon to do something like see a movie with popcorn and candy. Or bowling ... or whatever. Send the maintenance guys out to play golf one afternoon, the leasing team to the mall.

It might be time to have some fun competitive games, too, like the Maintenance Team practicing for the Maintenance Mania contest. Once they are pretty good at changing that light bulb, invite one of your comp's team over for a head-to-head challenge and give out some prizes, including bragging rights.

Maybe your leasing team could divide up with $50 each to go buy items to spruce up the model or create a mini model. Share photos with your corporate office on their creativity. Share the info in a presentation to your local apartment association.

It's a good problem to have!

In the Midwest our market slows down due to cold weather. The office staff morale is down due to lack of rentals. Maintenance is getting depressed knowing that snow removal is around the corner. I'm looking for some motivation games that I can do with them. Team work building, motivation, get to know your fellow co-workers more, etc. I've been in the industry for too many years and cannot pull out anymore tricks out of my hat. Suggestions?

Following! Definitely need some as well!

One thing that we did was very helpful. We set the staff up into teams. Putting together personalities that conflict, followers. leaders, etc. I gave each team a stack of index cards, scotch tape, markers and a stapler. They were to build a house within a certain time frame. After the house was built they had to try to sell it to their other co-workers. They put prices on the house, built dog houses, garages, fireplaces, etc. An absolute blast. As the Property Manager I observed and watched the different personalities come out in each team. Where I thought someone was a follower I discovered they were very creative. I therefore delegated her to handle all the property activities.

Another thing we did was to purchase huge 46 piece kids size puzzles. Broke the staff up into teams and they had a time frame to put the puzzle together. This developed team work. It was so much fun we actually switched the teams with different puzzles.

I have combined two related discussions on this topic, and we will share in the newsletter next Tuesday - hope we can get some more motivation ideas for you!

Great idea and thank you.

It sounds like energy needs to be pumped into the team every now and then from all teams.

I found that new energy was always found by serving others. Giving back to residents in ways that your team comes up with is a great alternative to them focusing on their personal relationships with one another. Quick ways I can think of immediately is to deploy a weekly "adopt a building"...take a portion of your community and let the residents know your entire team will be out there cleaning patios, decks, walk ways, trash rooms, laundry rooms...and make sure you give residents an opportunity to make special requests.

I am the only woman on my team. Growing up, I was taught that "the way to a mans heart is through his stomach," therefore, I use food to motivate my staff.

Being halloween, there are lots of treats in my office today; but usually it's just cookies, and once a month we have breakfast or lunch at the restaurant of their choice.

Thank you. Great idea. I haven't done that one in years.

I was reading about this topic today and found an article stating:

Research by Shawn Anchor at Harvard University showed that helping employees manage stress and creating a positive working environment increased overall productivity by up to 30%.

Another statement by the same researcher said to praise employees at least once per day. I've set a reminder on my calendar to do this.

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