Last year I was invited to write an article for Outreach Magazine about how to motivate your team. I’ve reworked the article to make it a little edgier and shorter for my Junkyard Wisdom audience.
Oh, and the photo of our new puppy Holly above? No connection at all to this article. I just liked the photo and thought you’d enjoy seeing her!
Anyway, here goes:
1. Don’t Make Lists of six or ten or any number. Seriously. Who wants to feel like they are being managed by a list? Nobody. The thing about lists is that they’re always linear, and people are decidedly nonlinear.
2. Don’t Freak Out When People Act Like People. Sometimes your colleagues will come to work in a bad mood. Some days they will be unmotivated, unfocused, even unintelligible. Don’t affirm those behaviors, but do recognize that you can’t expect people to be robots.
3. Listen. You’ll be shocked how happy and productive your team will be if you simply listen more. At first they may not even know how to respond. If you’ve not been an active listener, you can expect crickets the first time you simply stop talking and allow others to speak.
4. Reward People Publicly and Privately. Private compliments and discreet gifts are powerful motivators. Leave a gift card on someone’s desk. Deliver a handwritten note. You might not even be recognizing a job well done; simply remembering a spouse’s name can be a powerful motivator in some situations.
5. Make Work Fun Whenever You Can. I use to lead monthly all-team conference calls that were potentially very boring. I liked to start the call by saying, “Today’s award is a $20 Starbucks card.” “Award for what?” I’d be asked. Nobody knew but me, which is what made it fun. The criterion changed each month. An employee might win for making the most people laugh out loud, or perhaps for the best use of alliteration. When people have fun they are more motivated to engage and contribute.
6. Be Vulnerable. I’m big on the three A’s: acknowledge your mistakes, admit when a problem is hard and ask for help. Expressing vulnerability is the most authentic way to motivate a team.
These six ideas are probably too many. Truth is, what we need is to get out there and actually care for our people. That means demonstrating genuine interest in their lives. It means being clear about our objectives, forgiving mistakes and teaching constantly. It means encouraging whenever we can. If we do those things, our teams are going to do just fine.