Are you leading a team? It may be a team which is directly reporting to you, or maybe it is a cross-functional team coming together from different parts of your organization. If yes then read on…..
Team members not only perform their work, but they are also contributing tremendously to make you a successful team leader. If your people are motivated, their effectiveness at work will be of a much higher degree and your reputation as an effective manager and leader will also be prominent.
Employees must be led so that they are motivated and must be eager to work with other team members.
You cannot motivate people to do their best by bullying them, making all their decisions for them, treating them like children or by intimidating them. When people are not motivated, they will do their work, but they will not do their best work.
Top down approach to the management kills initiative, enthusiasm, productivity, and creativity. Be sure that you do not look at your people as those who do not work unless prodded or forced to work. Also do not treat your employees who might steal your customers away. Most members of your team want to do well, they want to be proud of their work and you can help them conquer the empires far more important and bigger than the one you have now.
Here are nine, time-tested ways to keep your employees motivated, excited and eager to go the extra mile for you.
1. Let me know what is expected: There is a principle of misdirected expectations. As per this principle the less time you spent discussing with your people what you expect them to accomplish, the more chance they will accomplish something else. The principle of autocratic inaction says, the more you tell people what to do, greater the chance they will do it at the lowest acceptable productivity levels.
Do not assume that your people know what they are supposed to do. Many bosses commit this mistake, and their people get on to the job without understanding what is expected of them. And then you know what kind result will come in. Therefore, meet your people and explain them what you expect them to do. But in this process do not spell out their job in minute details. Discuss the goals and standards and get in agreement with them.
2. Keep them Informed: People like to know what is happening. Make sure that your people know what is going on inside the organization. Keep them informed how the organization is growing and in which direction it is moving. Look at all the reports and the financial data and keep communicating with your people time to time. For the purpose of information even a five-minute communication will do. In addition to the general information about your organization, you need to ensure that each of your people have been given sufficient information needed, to do their work effectively. The Principle of Information Invention says, the fewer facts available the more people will assume and the more they will go wrong. Do not let your team members guess. Make sure that your people have information whatever they need for doing their job.
3. Let them Control: People will astonish you when they are given control over the work they do. People feel good if they have the discretion to decide certain parts of their job. Letting people run their own jobs make sense from a motivational point of view. No one knows more about the work than the people who are doing it. For example, a secretary can suggest different ways of improving the workflows of his boss’s work. Workers in the shop know twenty different reasons why a particular product is getting rejected again and again? Encourage all your people to find better ways to do their job. You can run a contest to see who comes up with the most innovative and workable ideas. You can use the Principle of Shared Ownership, which says,” the more you allow your employees control their own areas, the more ownership and interest they will have and the harder they will try to do a better job.
4. Give Them Start to Finish Responsibility: Doing little piece and small chunks of the work doesn’t turn on the people. We know that from industrial assembly lines, there are people who are turning one screw through all the day become so bored and feel so little of what they are doing, they turn hostile and even sabotage the very products they are turning out. Do not fragment responsibilities. When a person has start to finish responsibility, he realizes that whatever happens on the job is up to him and his reflections of skills and competence. If the job is done well, he can take the credit, or if not, there is no one else to blame. Follow the Principle of Complete Responsibility this will make the person responsible for the process hustle to see that it is done quickly and right.
5. Make Them Champions: The tone you set, your attitude towards your team and the work it does, has a big influence on how the team members see themselves. To make sure your team feels good about itself, you must show that you-
· Believe, the work they are doing is important.
· Are excited about the work they are doing
· Are confident they will do a great job.
Show to your people confidently and sincerely that you believe your people. Everyone in the team is doing some good job. Your role is to identify that good work they are doing and appreciate them so that they feel like champions. Follow the Principle of Inspired Self-Perception, people who feel like champions act like champions. Which means you must treat your people like champions. Set stretch goals with your team. Show them how their goals are attainable. Make the goals visible to them.
6. Give them feedback: Constructive feedback must be given to all the employees. People want to know how they are doing. Due to their own apprehensions they might not come and ask you. But if you give them the constructive feedback then they will also appreciate it. Constructive feedback means that you tell them both the positives and negatives. Especially when you are telling them negatives you must make sure that the feedback is given in such a way that it is not the feedback on the person rather it is the feedback on the job. Make sure you do not humiliate the people and force them to stop working in future. The personal humiliation creates lots of the motivational problems and it distracts them from work. If you can relieve them of the personnel responsibility about the negative things and mistakes and find out which particular process can be improved, that will give the positive impact and they will be motivated. Give negative feedback in such a way that it helps them in their learning. The positive feedback to the good performance must be given publicly and frequently.
7. Reward them: Rewards in the form of cash or kind always motivate the performers. Since people primarily come to an organization for earning the decent money therefore if somebody is performing better than their targets then you can reward them for the good job they have done. But it is not necessary that you always pay them only in cash. Many times, even rewarding in kind will also deliver good results. More important than reward is that you are giving them due recognition. You can publicly recognize your good performers. You can recognize, your team members with pins, plaques, and stars. When give them special letterheads and business cards they feel good about it. You can also give them badges and logos like “Goal beaters” etc. You can be innovative in your approach of recognizing.
8. Help them learn and grow: Learning and development is a very good motivator for most of the people. Most of the employees understand it very well that learning only will take progress in their career. It is your responsibility to ensure that people know their work very well and they are producing good results. It is your responsibility to acquire all the skills needed for the job they are doing. However, you should not take the responsibility of force feeding them. As a leader you are only a catalyst. As catalyst your role is to set the atmosphere that will encourage people to develop themselves.
9. Be approachable: You must have heard lots of managers saying that I have an open-door policy. Having an open-door policy means that you listen to your employees. You take their viewpoint in day to day working and improve accordingly. Make sure that people are comfortable in coming to you with their issue’s problems and feedback. You must actively invite questions from your team members. You can also occasionally go to their desk and find out how are they doing.
As a business leader you must follow the above nine steps to continuously motivate your team. A motivated team will produce great results which will add to the growth of the company and also contribute to the welfare of employees. If your employees do a great a job, you also earn a reputation of great leader in your company.
If you have any queries write to me, I am always available and happy to help.
Cheers until next time!
