One of my favorite quotes is from Lou Holtz, paraphrased as “People ask me how to motivate people. It’s easy; get rid of the people that aren’t motivated.”
Sounds like he’s being flip, but it’s true. There are self-motivated people, and there are people that aren’t. I’ve given up on believing I can take a mediocre or poor employee and make him into a great one by throwing some more money at him or giving him more pats on the back. I disagree with Royster on this point. An employee that doesn’t love competition and winning isn’t going to be motivated with a reward program. Get a group of employees that love to compete and win, however, and those reward programs will be incredible.
The types of employees that will come in and think “outside of the box” have it on the first day. They were born with it, and it was instilled in them by their environment. They thrive on a feeling of self accomplishment, and they have a whatever-it-takes attitude.
These people usually cost more, and your turnover will be faster. You can catch some great high school kids that are going to move away to college, and some great college students that are going to graduate or move onto another job closer to their desired field. It is what it is. The type of employee you’re looking for is generally not the same one that is looking to have a career working nights and weekends in a pizza shop.
If the thought of raising your labor rate is difficult (it sometimes is for me) consider it a marketing expense in your mind, because that’s what it is. Having service oriented, critical-thinking employees managing the interaction with your valued customers is the best marketing possible.
So to the original question of how to get employees to think outside of the box… the answer is to hire those types of people in the first place. When you know you’ve hired a lemon - and we know after the first two shifts - cut your losses and move on to the next one.
