Basic Team Building
A major role for a company CEO’s or a management leader is learning how to effectively motivate employees or team members. Some people are born motivators, but all of us can learn the skill sets that helps us support the motivation of other individuals or a team. Developing some simple skill sets can help you more effectively support the motivation of others while creating less stress for yourself while helping your company reach their goals and objectives. We have found at Two Degrees Marketing our clients respond well to training and coaching concerning motivating employees and management. Our leadership training we offer as part of business consulting services pays back large dividends in increased employee productivity, company growth, better morale, and generally increases the companies bottom line.
Understanding people and what motivates them takes building relationship with your employees or team. Ultimately, long-term motivation comes from people motivating themselves; below are listed some catalysts for motivation and ways we can effectively support employees in succeeding on the job:
ASK: Understanding what motivates people is essential to knowing how to motivate them. The easiest way to find out what motivates people; find out what their passionate about. Not only ask people, study their body language when they are answering questions for clues to how they really feel about a subject.
Asking for an employees or team members input is empowering; asking how things could be done better, will give you valuable information and allow the person to be part of the process. Responding with further questions, allows the conversation to open up further, creating the opportunity for several conversations of this nature; you will find relationships and trust developing while finding out what motivates people.
INCLUSION: When undertaking minor and major changes within your team or organization, go beyond asking for advice and opinions, involve people in the process, analysis and design solutions. Involving people in the definition of challenge will help people take ownership. Involving team members in the analysis to create solutions will help them with ownership in the solution alternatives while giving them an investment in the outcome. People appreciate being part of the process, consensus building is inclusive, creates team dynamics, builds trust, and the group involvement helps create better solutions.
COMMUNICATE: Communication seems like a basic, but in the flurry of accomplishment the communication process can get short changed. When anticipating change, let your team know your intentions. Include them in the goal setting process. Explain your process, hopes, goals and intentions. Include them in the process. Explain how to find out more information. Explain how they can be part of the process and their comments and thoughts are important. Listen. Listen to their approach, their aspirations, listen to how change affects them. Be sure to keep this channel open for both good and bad news. Keep the channels open and use many different mediums.
Starting your conversation with, “ I know you are busy or how can we do things different” are important ways of keeping communication open while obtaining valuable input from your team or employees. Explain your expectations; people appreciate knowing the standards you wish to see met. Make your wishes explicit. Develop standards people can count on. The standard will include a minimum and a measurement evaluation with time elements included. People can tend to be de-motivated by a whirlpool of information or an ever-shifting landscape. People are usually de-motivated by arbitrary rules or standards. Understanding creates cohesive relationships and a team that works well together.
APPRECIATION: Appreciation shows people they count; appreciate people’s achievements in public. Keep your comments first person, real, stating the achievement and what is being commended. No one is left in doubt as to what behavior created the consequences, because the precise behavior is being commended. You are reinforcing a precise behavior to your team with praise.
REPRIMAND: Privacy is the main component for reprimanding behavior. Embarrassing people de-motivates the team. Explaining exactly what behavior missed the mark, be specific about what, why and how the behavior was unacceptable and your rationale. Be specific about consequences about repeating behavior so your team member or employee has a choice. Ask for their input about how you can support them in improving their outcomes. Working together to create a favorable outcome builds trust and partnership.
CONFIDENCE: Help build your employee’s confidence by building on their strengths. Set up mentorship situations within your organization to share skill sets with other employees. Monitor progress and appreciate the steps they are taking in stepping into leadership roles. Being successful teaching another person builds self esteem and empowers both team members while building solid relationships. Use all resources within your budget to help coach and train the people in your company; the rewards will greatly outweigh the expense.
DELEGATE: Delegate responsibilities to competent people within your company. Clearly state what is expected, setting mutual goals. Only monitor at the beginning of the delegation process at agreed upon intervals, once competence is proven stop monitoring except for normal quality audits. Make sure the tools and skills needed for execution of the task are readily available. Lead like you would like others to follow; delegating tasks that your team member or employee are responsible for can decrease stress while building a motivated team.
The key to motivating people is understanding the people you lead, listening and valuing their input, while keeping communications lines open, and including your team management in your process, while taking mutual ownership of goals. Consensus building is a skill that helps you build a strong team with an investment in the outcome with each person taking responsibility in the success of the project or business. Building a strong team is a process that builds leaders as it builds a unified team and a successful company. Call us for a free consultation to see how we can help your company thrive!
Two Degrees Marketing
