\Any ideas to help make a tense teller line go smoothly and with more teamwork?

Question

I am the manager of 5 tellers at a bank and we have had quite a few issues with the lack of motivation, team work, and lack of attention to customers.

These are great people, but the teller line seems to be very tense, and lack of teamwork is a huge issue.

Any ideas to make sure that these workers become more compatible, get motivated to actually enjoy their job, take customers promptly, etc?

Answer 1

Reward... reward... reward.....

Set out comment cards... when you get so many excellents.. have a pizza party.. JUST for the tellers... not the entire bank....

They have to have a goal to work toward... many banks make being a teller a competition.. the one with the most new account leads get's something.. the one with the highest productivity get's something.. what they don't try to do is come up with a group wide incentive.

I also noticed when I was the trainer.. or lead teller.. they took a HUGE que from me.... and they will also from the bank manager..... the more you include all of them in things.. the more they will feel like they all belong to the group.....

Above all... don't treat them like arguing children.. set them all down together.... and tell them what you see.. get feed back.. and take suggestions.. then EVERYONE works at it....

hope things get better soon.....

Answer 2

Perhaps they never get any positive feed-back, only complaints.
You need to catch them doing something right.
Have little contests; like first one balanced or most accurate or most customers.
Or have customers nominate the Teller of the week/month.
Have some kind of little prize that is visible.
It could be posting their picture for all to see.
Make work fun, have costume days, e.g. Western.
followed by a BBQ after work or on Saturday.

Answer 3

Try to get a gathering together outside of work, and do something together as a team (rock climbing, paintball, basketball table tennis, anything to get them to interact in a positive way with each other. I am a manager as well, this worked for my team. Goodluck!