If you've just started leading a team of people, it can be a steep learning curve. Especially if you're stepping into an established organizational culture.
Is your team engaged, or just present? Do they seem to care about what they're doing?
Having a disengaged team will at best make your organization stagnant and at worst hurt you and your organization beyond belief. Having a highly motivated team will help your organization reach levels of success and productivity that you may not have thought possible. If you're struggling with this you already know first hand. If you've been on a winning team you might be able to identify how good leadership can contribute immensely to motivation. Let's articulate some of those things that good leaders use to motivate and break them down into actions we can take.
Here's three key concepts that changed how I think about leadership and that I've used to better motivate my teams:
1) Be Curious and Care
Be curious about your team. Care about your team. Care about your work. Care about your organization.
Leadership roles typically come with a degree of control and a power dynamic attached to them. Used intelligently, this puts you in the driver's seat for motivating your team.
First, remember the obvious. Beyond whatever your roles are in relation to each other in your organization, you're a human being and they are too. This is important because it's at the heart of motivation. Understanding what your employees care about, what matters to them, what they want and need, gives you insight into how to get them engaged.
Think about it. What motivates you? Think about places you've worked or volunteered. What made it a good or a bad place to work? You'll probably think of the manager or other leader. Things they did or didn't do. How you either felt appreciated and like what you did mattered, or like it was a waste of time and energy. You either felt valuable, or like you were treated as just another number.
Remember this feeling. Let it guide how you communicate with your team.
You know how it feels to have a leader who just can't engage or doesn't make the effort to. You know how demotivating this is. Do not be that person.
Pay attention to what your team is saying. Value their input. Listen. Find out about what's going on with them. You don't have to be friends, but you need to have a mutual understanding and respect if you're going to motivate them.
Remember that you only exist as a leader in relation to your team. You aren't doing this alone. Your mission is to lift them to new heights, to inspire, you're part of the team not something separate from it.
To do this you will have to make time for it. Make time to talk to your team. One on one and in groups. Some things will come out and become apparent to you in the group, others will only come out in one on ones.
Yes this can be hard or seem like a lot of work. Understand that the biggest challenge is overcoming your own mental conditioning. It isn't as hard as it seems and is a skill you can develop, you'll become more comfortable with practice. It takes time, but it is definitely worth it. Building relationships with your team where they feel like you care will keep them going when they're having an off day.
Remember that your team members are the heroes in their own stories, not you. In their eyes, your job is to empower them. You're just helping them get to where they want to be.
Are you leading in a curious and caring way? Use the inner dialogue of considering the three A's as you go about interacting and making decisions:
Ask - Ask questions, stay curious, ask yourself questions, reflect on changes in behavior and ask questions about them.
Appreciate - Appreciate responses, appreciate actions, appreciate outputs and outcomes, celebrate your team, recognize your team, value your team's accomplishments, encourage and push forward.
Action - After asking questions and gathering information, evaluating and understanding circumstances and situations, take action.
2) Communicate Constantly
One of the biggest mistakes that a leader can make is not communicating clear expectations. If people don't know what they should be doing, you really can't fault them for their disengagement. As leaders, we fail by not setting up a foundation for everyone's success. You may have a vision, but people can't buy into it if it isn't communicated or understood.
If they don't know what to do, provide direction.
If they know what to do, do they have everything (tools, resources, support) they need to do it properly?
Ask yourself these questions and ask your team these questions.
Use the three A's constantly.
Ask, Appreciate, and take Action.
As a leader, it is your responsibility to make space for the conversations that need to happen. Whether it is regular team meetings or one on ones, you have to create that space. You have to make the time for it and organize it.
When you have that space, that is your opportunity to work towards the changes you need. Often, your team is looking to you for guidance and about what to do to be valued and appreciated. These are huge intrinsic motivators for people. You set the stage for what behaviors are valued in the organization, and it really does come from you and your communication (or lack of communication) with them.
This is your team. You need these people and they need you. Show appreciation for the things that they do, treat them as the competent and valuable people that they truly are. It takes time to build up a culture of trust and respect, if you do this very deliberately from the beginning with new recruits it will make it all the easier.
3) Collaborate and Coach
Empower your team and support them. Give them the tools that they need to do what is expected of them.
No, not every decision needs to be made by committee, but your team will be engaged when they feel a sense of ownership over what they're doing. As a leader, you're a coach guiding your team to succeed at achieving the shared vision. You establish and cultivate that shared vision and then make and implement the plan with the team.
Everything is about them and their success, amplified through the organization, facilitated by you. When you know what they want and need, you can work with them to bring out their strengths for incredible results. You have to ensure they see the value of being part of the team, of the organization and it's values, and of themselves.
Deal with problems through discussion. Be assertive and use data and documented information to back up what you're saying. Remember, this is a human being who is going through something too. Never make a personal attack. Your mission is the success of the organization and that depends on the success of the team behind it. A team that depends on each of it's valuable people. Get to the bottom of it, ask the right questions, understand the problem, then make decisions about it.
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