Best Practices_ Managing People_ Secrets to Leading for New Managers - Barry Silverstein [17]
Each and every team member wants to feel important. Each individual’s self-esteem needs to be affirmed. Each needs an appealing answer to the question “What’s in it for me?”
You can provide the answer by making sure individuals understand that their collective effort will bring benefits they would not enjoy if they were working alone—not so much salary increases and promotions as other distinct rewards and benefits.
Working as One
Demonstrate by your attitude, actions, and words that your staff’s work as a unified team is important to you and to the organization you all work for. Make a point of reinforcing this message at every team meeting, in all team communications, and whenever you set goals and review progress.
Make it fun to work as one. Create a team logo or saying with your team members. Put it on team memos and paraphernalia.
Show team members that you expect them to work as a team and promise to reward them for doing so. Motivate them even more by telling them that the team’s rewards will increase as the team’s performance increases.
Outside the Box
LEARN BY ROLE-PLAYING
One novel way to encourage team members to respect each others’ roles is to conduct a role-playing exercise.
In it, encourage team members to switch roles and act out how they might handle specific situations or problems. Have two team members who switch roles “perform” in front of the other team members. The other team members should comment on what they observe.
Role-playing can be a valuable learning experience for the entire team. Be sure to be impartial when conducting this exercise.
Motivational Exercises and Events
Consider using icebreakers and motivational exercises at the beginning of team meetings and at other team events. Such exercises promote camaraderie and help team members get to know one another better. Exercises might include presentations, skits, drawing, writing, or some other form of interaction. Develop exercises that are appropriate to your company and your team.
Motivational events can also help make the team more cohesive. Parties, excursions, tours, and other group events are other options worth considering. Some companies endorse the use of ropes courses and Outward Bound–style programs to heighten team motivation.
POWER POINTS
TIME FOR REWARDS
Individual motivators vary—monetary rewards work for some and non-monetary rewards work for others. Make the point that working as a team can be rewarding by offering various creative incentives:
Bonuses
Profit-sharing
Stock options
Team excursions
Hats, mugs, team items
Parties
Prizes such as lessons, health-club memberships, and tickets to events
Seminars and conventions
Vacations and weekend trips
Certificates, plaques, ribbons, and medals, publicly displayed
Public acknowledgment of team accomplishments in a newsletter or memo or at a meeting
Material Rewards
Incentives such as prizes, vacations, bonuses, profit-sharing, or stock options can dramatize the point that working as a team can be rewarding. However, be sure to distinguish team rewards from individual rewards. Having team members share a bonus pool that increases as the team meets specific objectives is different from rewarding an individual salesperson who exceeds her sales quota. Any team reward should be distributed equitably, so as not to favor one employee over another.
“If you want star players, reward the stars. If you want star teams, reward team players.”
—James B. Miller,
corporate coach
A department, division, or company profit-sharing program is a good example of a team-oriented monetary reward. Typically, a profit-sharing program distributes payments to employees based on the successful achievement of one of its financial objectives. Since all employees contribute to that goal, each one will be eligible to receive some portion of the profit. Sometimes this portion is based on time with the company or seniority in