From Managers To Leaders

I know a lot of companies believe that Potlucks are great employee motivators. My experience has been more along the lines that they are de-motivators. Here’s why.

~ If money is tight for your employee a Potluck is now asking them to take money from their rent to buy and / or make food they most likely will not eat that much of.
~ Lack of interest due to other things going on in their lives. Come on – we are all busy. Who wants to remember the cake they need to bring in on Wednesday?
~ Resentment towards others on the team. Ever notice the person who did NOT bring anything is first in line? And the most critical of the entire presentation? Unless someone stands and polices the lay out to ensure those that did not participate don’t eat you’re not going to be able to ensure fairness. And seriously who has time and employee manpower to extend towards policing?
~ Lack of direction or planning. Just saying you will have a potluck does not make it happen. Most companies forget about that part.

Over the years I have implemented the following steps to try and ensure that Potlucks are a team motivator.

~ Create a theme! Desserts, Snack foods, most recently we had a huge success with Breakfast foods!
~ Keep it economic. Let’s face it; if it’s cheap they will come! And they will thank you for being understanding to their money woe’s.
~ Rotate days of the week if possible. For those that have teams working 7 days a week this allows everyone a chance to participate. If your team is strictly Monday thru Friday try planning one day monthly – like every third Friday is pot luck and dress down day.
~ Place a person of trust in charge. If your teams like them and gravitate towards them they will be able to talk them into bringing food.
~ Keep it to one point of contact and one master list. This avoids duplicate work, confusion on who to speak to about plans.
~ Send out a reminder One week and One day before the event. This can easily be set up in Outlook or most mail programs. So when you know you are having the potluck as part of your set up you can create these automatic messages.

Manager to Leader special points.
~ Talk to your employees who do not participate. Find out why.
Is it lack of interest and if so how can you make it interesting for them?
Is it lack of motivation? Is so, what is going on?
Is it money? Maybe they can give just a few bucks to someone else making a larger dish (yes, this does work). Crunched for time? I have worked with many students. They advise the organizer who usually will pick something up for them if they provide them the funds.
~ Remind your team, this is about them, to allow them time to talk and get to know one another just a bit more.
~ Get their feedback and suggestions. In your 1:1’s or monthly team meetings ask them what they thought about the last pot luck and what could have been better. Is there a theme they would like to see? Play into their interests and they will rise to the occasion.

Successful potlucks make for a good day at work. A good day at work makes for happy, engaged employees. Do it right and something like a potluck will become an easy and affordable motivator for your team as well.

Malisa