After 25 years as a church pastor, David Cheek knows how to motivate a congregation.

But he also knew he was going to need help after he took the position of customer service manager for a Joplin, Mo.- Internet business that ships toys all over the world.

Cheek said that since he took the position with 3000toys.com, there has been lots of turnover in his department. After a year, he finds himself managing mostly younger, new employees and a few older, longtime workers. He said he had big questions about things he could do to motivate both groups of people.

"I see myself as the middleman between employees and owners, and I want to help both of them," Cheek said. "I want to strive to do the best job for the owners, and I want other employees to do the same."

Half the battle, according to Paula Hartzell, an instructor at the Small Business Development Center at Missouri Southern State University, is not de-motivating employees who are functioning at 99 percent. She said giving good employees room to do their jobs and not overmanaging is one of the most effective tools.

Using the "trust-but-verify" approach works well, she said, by allowing a boss to be hands-off but also to maintain involvement by asking follow-up questions such as, "How's that going?"

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Hartzell said. "It's resisting the temptation to put your stamp on something."

Hartzell spoke recently at Missouri Southern on developing positive motivational techniques, improving morale and making sure all employees are committed to company goals.

Some of her lessons:

* Unmotivated employees are often the fault of a manager.

* Even employees who come to work only for a paycheck can be transformed into more productive workers by effective managing.

* Sometimes employees labeled as "lazy" are really just struggling with a given task.

"I'm not promising every employee will be a 99 percent functioning employee, but through motivation, you can take a 40 percent employee and turn them into a 60 percent," Hartzell said. "Think about it: How can you, just by your verbiage and just who you are, make it better or worse for this person?"

Hartzell recommends that managers talk with employees and identify whether they have appropriate goals and just need help or whether they have inappropriate goals and need to be fired. Inappropriate employee goals would include coming to work to hang out with friends or just to collect a paycheck.

As for an employee who wants to do a good job but who is struggling, Hartzell said managers need to find out if the person has the skills or tools needed.

Even employees with inappropriate goals can be turned into productive employees through a "stick-and-carrot" approach, she said.

The difference between merely satisfied and truly happy, motivated employees is exceeding the base workplace expectations, Hartzell said.

Physical needs, such as safety and security, and social needs are job "dissatisfiers," she said. If those needs are met, employees feel neutral about their jobs, but if they're not met, employees feel negatively about the jobs. Employees need to feel safe and comfortable in their work environment and have fair relationships with superiors, peers and subordinates to not feel negatively about a job, she said.

Hartzell said "satisfiers" go above and beyond, and push employees toward motivation and productivity. These include meeting self-esteem needs through recognition and advancement and meeting self-actualization needs by letting employees feel they are fulfilling a purpose.

An important aspect in motivating employees, Hartzell said, is not getting frustrated. Too often, in trying to help employees increase productivity, the managers or the employees get frustrated with the procedure and abandon it - a loss for both sides.

Melissa Dunson writes for The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.