Photo by Michael Cordus – https://www.flickr.com/photos/create-learning/9351356386 CC BY 2.0
Right now, your people are stressed. Perhaps like never before in their lifetime. This is not another post about surviving Coronavirus, most of you will. This is about keeping your teams performing so your business thrives.
There are things you can do right now that will motivate, inspire, and engage your team. Here are five ideas.
- Connect with them. What are their aspirations, goals, and dreams? What can you and your organization do to support them? If you say you don’t have time, I will call B.S…. (Belief System) on that. I can show you how little time it takes.
- Connect them to the larger purpose of the organization (beyond making money). Study after study shows people work harder when there is a larger purpose. Keep them connected to the purpose.
- Help them learn. People want mastery. How can you help them develop mastery? Consider training, special projects, mentoring, or coaching?
- Connect with them personally. Teams that know each other personally perform better and they support each other more. Start each meeting with a “personal connection”. Questions like:
- What are you working on that excites you?
- What did you do this weekend that was fun?
- What is your favorite movie or music genre? (I use this as an ice breaker occasionally and you would be shocked at the connections that are made.
- Provide autonomy, allow them to deliver the outcome you want with their input. Define the outcome, put in the bumpers if needed. But let them add their creative input.
Even more than before, your ability to connect with your people as people and not FTE will drive the success of your team. If you’d like to explore new ideas or the psychology, structure, and cadence of the leadership conversation lets schedule a call.
