[tracer4201]

> “But most improvements come from investing in your team.”

I agree on this but you have to cut your losses at some point. Some people just aren’t motivated. A surprise pay raise, catering lunches, taking them to an offsite, etc whatever motivational strategies you have may provide some short term result, and that could be sufficient if your goal is just X and it’s in the line of sight, but sometimes raising the bar on your team means finding a different spot for the unmotivated folks, and if they’re not investing even in that, then cut your losses and let them go.

[jimbokun]

> A surprise pay raise, catering lunches, taking them to an offsite

I don't think any of those things will increase team productivity at all.

Mentoring and training and encouraging learning new things and constantly giving new challenges and expanding responsibility and tying company financial success directly to employee paychecks, are the kind of investments that can improve a team's performance.

[rifung]

> Some people just aren’t motivated.

Is it really that people aren't motivated or that they aren't motivated by the incentives you're offering?

> A surprise pay raise, catering lunches, taking them to an offsite, etc whatever motivational strategies you have may provide some short term result

I imagine what might be more effective is actually talking to them and figuring out what they actually care about.

[mieseratte]

Absolutely agree. Some people are just beyond saving. Sometimes this a matter of skill, and sometimes a matter of will but the result is the same. If you're hiring pipe-hitters and grafting them onto a JV squad the results will often not be what you'd hoped for, unless you have a particularly high-tolerance for projects being over (time-)budget.

Having personally burned myself down in such an environment, a good interview question to ask is if everyone has gone through the same hiring process and if not ask what the previous process was and why things have changed.