10 Ways to Keep Your Yearbook Staff Motivated

When working in a group setting with others, it’s essential to ensure everyone has a good time, completes their work and gets along with one another. When this happens, working together becomes easy and fun. It can be difficult at times, especially at 10 p.m. when a deadline looms and everyone is on edge. We provided a few ways to help make sure your yearbook staff stays efficient, motivated, productive and fun.

1. Communication 

The best way to ensure work gets done and people feel good emotionally about their job is to ask! Sending out weekly forms asking things like “What are your goals for this week?”, “What is something you’re struggling with?” and “What can be done to make sure you’re doing your best work?” not only gives the adviser answers to the questions but also allows the students to think about the answers and communicate any problems, either with another student or with their  assigned work. Keeping the forms anonymous can help students feel comfortable saying if there’s something wrong.

2. Give Out Options 

For students to learn about the yearbook, they need to experience the different roles of being on a yearbook staff. By taking the first few weeks of school to have the students rotate between copywriting, photos and design, they can learn a little about what each role entails so they figure out which one they like the most for their “specialty.”

3. Recognition 

If you notice outstanding behavior or someone going out of their way to do a good job, don’t let that go unnoticed! Pointing out good behavior and acknowledging when someone does something helpful for the staff makes students more likely to continue or replicate that behavior. This could be an award handed out every week/month to keep people excited or a sticker on someone’s desk saying their work doesn’t go unnoticed.

4. Environment

As the adviser, your job requires you to not only lead the staff but also make them want to be there. That’s why it’s important to stay positive and encouraging. Joking around with your staff and having a good time helps form connections that can make the staff excited to be there and want to come back.

5. Encourage Friendships 

Who doesn’t like working with friends? Play games together for the first few weeks to let your staff get to know each other. Ask them a question of the day or have them talk about some of their favorite things. People love talking about themselves, so when given the opportunity, your staff can have the option to share their interests with everyone.

6. Competitions  

Keep your staff motivated by providing the occasional friendly competition. This can go hand in hand with making a “staff member of the week/month,” it can also serve as a way to motivate staff to get work done well and on time. Along with staff members of the week, a photo, design and story of the week can be beneficial so staff members do their best to submit quality material on time.

7. The Real World 

If high school purposefully prepares students for the real world. Deadlines are critical in college, the professional work environments and in many other situations. Hammering home the importance of things like deadlines helps demonstrate future expectations. Editors also learn how to manage people in a work environment, a helpful skill if they want to become a boss or manager one day.

8. Stay Organized 

A clean area means a clean mind. Clutter all over the room can make it challenging for students to lock in and finish their work. When everyone’s space remains nice and organized, they’re less likely to get distracted and have difficulty getting work done. Schedule a periodic cleaning time at the end of each week to help maintain a clean working environment for everyone. It also helps to know what materials you need to restock.

9. Celebrate 

Celebrate the little things! When your staff meets a big deadline, have everyone bring snacks and drinks and make it fun! When the adviser shows their excitement about getting things done, that energy can rub off on the rest of the staff and make them excited too. This also keeps your staff from getting too stressed out. Celebrating the little wins and telling them how good job of a job they do will create a happier staff who are more excited to come in.

10. Have Fun 

Above all, having fun is the most beneficial way to keep a yearbook staff happy and motivated. While staff members need to have fun, don’t forget you as the adviser also need to have fun. Your bad day or bad mood easily rubs off on the rest of the staff, making it harder for them to have a good time. Do the best you can to provide a happy and fun environment for everyone to be in because your attitude shapes the entire staff.