Your team is the most vital cog in the machine that is your operation. You, therefore, need to keep it well-oiled and in pristine condition so that the whole machine can run smoothly. Let’s take a look at how to motivate a team to achieve the best results.
You have at your disposal a bunch of talented individuals working in your organisation. This more than often achieves satisfactory results. However, if you’re shooting for more than satisfactory, you should group individuals into teams so that they pull in the same direction.
When it comes to teams, motivation is a huge factor. Different individuals within the group always have varying capabilities and personalities. In such a melting pot of qualities, it’s only natural that the team’s ability to pull in one direction is off.
It is thus very important to the survival of your operation that your team is motivated to work towards attaining a set goal. Here’s how you can get the team to approach each task with great fervour.
Lay out your vision and set clear targets and goals
In sport, a coach gives the team a pre-match talk that highlights what he expects of them. He assigns different subtasks to the specialised members of the team but the entire squad is working towards the same end; winning the game.
Taking this into mind, you should let your team know the ultimate goal you intend to achieve. You should then lay out the various targets that they need to hit on the road to achieving the ultimate goal.
Without goals, your team is grasping at air in the dark – wasting valuable time and energy that they could otherwise utilise to achieve the vision you set out.
Better still; ensure that you set out measurable goals so that you can track the performance of the team. With a concrete way to visualise their performance, the team will work even harder to put in a better performance.
Give adequate remuneration for services rendered
It’s important that you pay your people what they’re worth. Take a look at similarly sized companies in the same business to gauge what the industry is paying for similar services.
You should keep in mind that the members of your team have friends in different companies, meaning that they also know what’s going on across the industry. If they feel that they aren’t valued, they will start putting out feelers to see if they go where they will be valued.
So, in order to keep your talent put, pay them what they deserve. They will put in more effort when they’re getting what they deem is a fair amount.
Give plenty of positive feedback for work well done
When your team successfully accomplishes a task that you set out for them, praise them for the achievement. Blanket statements of gratitude just won’t do if you’re wondering how to motivate a team.
Be specific in your praise, telling the team what exactly about the work they did on the project was outstanding. Explain why you think their work was excellent and how it has or will help the business going forward.
By relating their efforts directly to the state of the business, this kind of positive feedback sparks a fire in their bellies the next time they have to tackle a project.
Open avenues for further development
Despite being well paid, the members of your team won’t want to remain in the same position for an extended period of time. If they feel that there’s no room for personal and professional development, they might lose commitment to your organisation.
You should, therefore, input opportunities for continuous learning and development so that your team can have prospects for an upward trajectory of their careers.
Tailor programs basing on individual team members and their skills or lack thereof. By adding these skills to their repertoire, team members have extra motivation to give their all for an organisation that also takes their development into consideration.
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Set up a conducive work environment
Morale is going to be low if your team dreads coming in to work in the morning. That means there’s something wrong with the office environment that they have to work in for close to or more than eight hours a day.
Design and craft a workplace that your employees look forward to coming to. Take into consideration the openness of the floor plan, the noise levels, air quality and the amount of natural light that comes in.
The workplace should also have a welcoming and relaxing ambience that fosters creativity. You can also push for a healthy lifestyle for your team by introducing healthy meals and offering areas for team exercises or gym memberships.
With such a stimulating environment, your team members will be motivated to come in to work. The environment itself will work wonders for their productivity.
Organise activities that foster teamwork
Even if the individual members of your team are each talented in their own right, you will have a hard time hitting your goals if they can’t work together. You, therefore, need to find ways to make sure that the team members work together as a team.
Organise retreats where everyone can partake in team bonding exercises and get to know each other better. Members will get to know each other’s strength and weaknesses, enabling them to work as one in a team.
Also, when you’re hiring new talent, you should consider more of these team bonding exercises so that the new people can settle seamlessly into the team and the organisation at large.
In Summary
In order for you to get the very best from your employees, you need to group them in a team that is pulling in the same direction. However, because of the different personalities within the team, motivation might not always be in sync. You, therefore, need to find ways how to motivate a team so that you can get the best out of it.
