为什么你的员工缺乏干劲？

对大多数领导者而言，“激励”意味着鼓舞他们的团队尽可能多干活。我对此深有体会，因为我曾经也是这样的领导者。我曾以为，激励只是一种达成目标的手段，好比汽车需要汽油，你需要确保油箱里有足够的油来保持前进。但实际上，这种理解既不准确，效果也很差。

真正的激励建立于令人信服的使命之上，让你的团队能够自主高效地朝着目标前进。关于激励的建议，有太多人都把重点放在了报酬、“很酷”的办公室文化，或是与员工谈话“鼓舞士气”等方面。但与激励更加相关的，是使命本身，而不是奖金、免费小吃和乒乓球桌。

在Soma公司，激励的重点可归结为员工是否清楚如何为我们的使命而努力。我们的使命是净化世界的水源。员工们能否把每天的工作与客户的日常生活联系在一起？他们是否知道我们的公益事业会帮助到世界上那些无法获得干净水源的人们？

如果答案是否定的，我们就需要明确公司的愿景，以及员工们应该如何融入这个愿景。如果答案是肯定的，我们就需要移除障碍，继续前进。

作为一家初创公司，障碍通常包括人力稀缺、预算受限和自主性问题。尽管如此，我们在Soma制定了三项独特的制度来明确使命，鼓舞员工：

每隔六周，让所有人走出办公室

我们每个季度会举办两次户外活动，以明确公司的愿景和战略，同时借机提高团队凝聚力。每个季度初，我们都会离开旧金山，去租用海滩上或深山中的漂亮房子，回顾公司从使命到价值观在内的一切。我们还会举办活动来提高团队凝聚力，例如烹饪比赛、瑜伽、远足，偶尔还有对口型假唱大赛。

而在每个季度中期，我们还会用一天时间离开办公室聚在一起，评估我们六周前设立的目标的完成进度。这两次户外活动的重点都是明确Soma的愿景，告诉每位员工如何为这个目标贡献自己的力量。

不限制工作时间和地点

没有人喜欢被微管理，这不是什么新鲜事。不过有一点常被忽视，就算不采用微管理，普通的工作环境也存在着限制。大多数公司的内部流程（会议、办公室设计、工作时间等）只是可以令人接受的程度，却并不是最优选择。

因此，Soma让每个人都有机会选择自己喜欢的方式和地点工作。当然，面对面的交流是必须的，不过员工在需要调查和调整的时候，他们可以自由选择在家或是在最喜欢的咖啡店工作。让员工拥有自主权不仅能够提高生产力，还能让每个人感觉他们是自己的老板。我们相信他们的判断力，相信他们能够确定最高效的工作方式。

确保身心健康

把一群佼佼者聚在一起存在着一个风险：他们不会花时间去关心自己。因此，我们提供了一系列方便实惠的健康保健项目。Soma最重要的一个文化特征就是活力。这是我们评估工作环境是否健康的标准。员工们是否能量充沛，乐观向上，光彩照人？

我们推出了许多旨在提高活力的举措。例如，在每周一早上，我们会进行冥想来开始新一周的工作。此外，我们还会在每周一、三、五进行7分钟的训练营活动。这期间，我们会把音乐放得很响，走来走去，然后大笑，提醒自己不要太严肃。只需要7分钟，我们就能重拾活力。我们还会召开步行会议。想想看，如果你住在加利福尼亚，可以享受到阳光和新鲜空气的话，大部分时间还坐在办公桌旁就太没有道理了。

要实现上面这些既简单又容易，不需要什么计划——你只要有足够的领导力让每个人都知道，除了坐在会议室外，我们还有另一种不错的选择。

本文作者Mike Del Ponte是Soma公司共同创始人。

译者：严匡正

审校：任文科

For a most leaders, ‘motivation’ means energizing their teams to squeeze as much work out of them as possible. I know, because I was one of these leaders. I understood motivation as a means to an end. Like gas for a car — just make sure there’s enough in the tank to keep moving forward. In reality, this understanding of motivation is as inaccurate as it is ineffective. True motivation is based on a compelling mission and providing your team with the autonomy to effectively contribute to that mission. Too much advice about motivation focuses on compensation, “cool” office cultures, or giving pep talks to “rally the troops.” Motivation has more to do with mission than it does with bonuses, free snacks, and ping-pong tables.

At Soma, it comes down to whether everyone understands how they are contributing to our mission to hydrate the world. Can they connect the dots between the hard work they do daily and how our products benefit the daily lives of our customers? Do they understand how our philanthropy efforts help people without access to clean water around the globe? If the answer is no, then we need to get clear on the vision of the company and how they fit into it. If they answer is yes, we need to remove roadblocks. As a startup, roadblocks typically include a need for human capital, budget limitations, and autonomy. That being said, there are three specific and unique things that we do at Soma to provide clarity around our mission and keep employees motivated:

Get everyone out of the office — every six weeks

We hold two company off-sites per quarter to provide clarity on the company vision and strategy, and the opportunity to bond as a team. At the beginning of each quarter, we get out of San Francisco. We rent a beautiful property on the beach or in the mountains and we review everything from our mission to our values. We also participate in bonding activities like cooking competitions, yoga, hikes, and the occasional lip sync battle. Mid-quarter, we spend one day together — outside of the office — assessing progress on the goals we set six weeks earlier. Both of our off-sites are focused primarily on clarifying Soma’s vision to hydrate the world and how each employee is contributing this goal.

Work anywhere, anytime

No one likes to be micromanaged, this is nothing new. But what is often overlooked is that the normal work environment has limitations, even if micromanagement is eliminated. The internal processes of most companies (meetings, office design, work hours, etc.) are usually tolerable, but certainly not preferred. That’s why we give everyone at Soma the opportunity to work however, and wherever, they want. Of course, face-to-face interaction is necessary, but anytime an employeeneeds to check out and recalibrate, they’re free to work from home or their favorite coffee shop.Giving autonomy to employees not only produces higher productivity, it also reminds everyone that they are their own bosses and we trust their judgment to decide what will make them work most efficiently.

Empower health and wellness

There’s one risk that comes with getting a bunch of high-achievers together: they won’t take the time to take care of themselves. That’s why we provide a number of health-and-wellness programs that are convenient and affordable. One of the key attributes of the Soma culture is vibrancy. It’s the metric we use to gauge health and wellness in the office. Do people have energy, optimism, and that discernable glow that happens when both one’s mind and body are nourished?

To make sure this is the case, we have ongoing initiatives to increase vibrancy, such as Monday meditations to kick start our week. Additionally, we also have a seven-minute bootcamp workout every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We play loud music, move around, laugh, and remind ourselves not to be too serious. All it takes is seven minutes to get us energized again. We also hold walking meetings. When you live in California, it doesn’t make sense to spend most of your working hours at your desk when you could be enjoying sunshine and fresh air. This is one of those things that simple, easy, and requires no planning — just enough leadership to let everyone know this is a good alternative to sitting in a conference room.