Tips & Advice for Motivating your team

Go-karting, paint-balling and building rafts in freezing water are not everyone’s idea of a good time. With a highly competitive or reluctant team, they could do more harm than good. If you want to raise motivation and enthusiasm in your team, without having to blow your entire budget on the latest craze in pointless activities or irritating “motivational speakers”, then try these Top 10 Tips.

 Top 10 Tips for Motivating your team

1. Ensure that the task is suited to the person - if they get stressed just thinking about it, chances are they’ll do a lousy job.
2. Reward achievement, those key milestones as well as the completed task. This doesn’t necessarily mean speeches, chocolates and champagne; a personalised letter, bacon butties for the next team meeting, or just a “Thank you” would make all the difference.
3. Allow your team to experiment and make mistakes - no business succeeds without innovation, so encourage this, along with a constructive debrief on lessons learned.
4. Run structured team events that encourage creative problem-solving and fresh ideas
5. Encourage the team to produce an agreement on their own code of conduct, including dress, language and behaviour. You’ll be surprised how high they set the bar, and they are more likely to stick to their own rules.
6. Create a job-share scheme, to cover holiday absence, improve collaboration and mutual understanding, and to allow opportunities for professional development.
7. Share your vision and goals for the next 6-12 months. If people can see where they are in the bigger picture, they are more likely to commit to the task.
8. Identify and destroy any elements of a “blame culture”, it stifles creativity, creates conflict and tension and will undermine any attempts to grow the team.
9. Don’t assume that we are all motivated by the same thing/s. If you’re not sure what motivates a member of your team, ask them, their response my surprise you.
10. Ask the team to define what sets them apart from the competition, as well as other parts of the business.

Reflection Consulting has the tools, insight and expertise to discover what motivates your team, and how to get the best out of them, even when times are tough.

Encouraging motivation and enthusiasm in your team isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to get it wrong, with potentially catastrophic results.

If you’d rather get it right first time and enjoy the results, then call us today on 01509 416 936 for more information.