Motivating Employees _ Bringing Out the Best in Your People - Barry Silverstein [12]
* * *
$$
The focused attention from you as manager is motivational, as is working toward—and achieving—the right kind of goals. The best-case scenario is that you turn a poorly performing employee into a star.
MOTIVATING TEAMS
In the classic Wisdom of Teams, Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith emphasize that it is a sense of common purpose directed at a clear compelling performance challenge that separates “extra-ordinary,” or high-performance, teams from committees, councils, task forces, and other small work groups.
The teams highlighted by Katzenbach and Smith are energized because of their commitment to a goal that has been jointly created—and, in pursuit of that goal, by their accountability to each other even more than to management. The individuals on high-performing teams really care about their colleagues and about achieving their goals. Each team member derives individual satisfaction from membership on the team and feels that his or her role is essential to the team’s success. Individuals’ self-esteem and pride become closely connected to the fulfillment of the team’s mission. The sense of common purpose as well as the satisfaction of successes along the way motivate team members to further invest their time and creativity.
* * *
“The combative or angry or critical, demeaning confronter does not solve problems but instead drives them more deeply into hiding.”
—Dr. Henry Cloud, author of Integrity
* * *
$$
* * *
Dos & Don’ts
* * *
TIPS ON MOTIVATING TEAMS
Fostering a spirit of collaboration and teamwork keeps team motivation high.
Do define the team’s mission and responsibilities.
Do communicate a common sense of purpose.
Do explain how the team’s work supports your organization.
Do model partnership and teamwork by being open and honest.
Do make team assignments to take advantage of individual strengths.
Don’t assign a team member to a role if you are unsure it will suit him or her.
Don’t withhold information that could help the team accomplish its mission.
Don’t pit one team member against another.
Do facilitate discussion and mediate conflict to keep discussions constructive.
* * *
$$
Moreover, the team’s enthusiasm is infectious: The productivity and positive results invigorates people outside the group as well as those on the team.
The single most important thing you can do to create this high level of energy and motivation is to outline clear performance requirements—for instance, to get a certain type of new product to market within a stated time period. Make the performance requirements specific to the team’s goal, yet loose enough to allow team members to internalize and personalize them, and for synergy to work its magic.
Foster Cooperation
You can contribute to a team’s success in several ways. First, as a manager, you must take care in choosing members with relevant and complementary abilities. Second, you must play a key role at the outset in motivating each and every individual to want to be part of the team. One way to accomplish this is by demonstrating that functioning as part of the team will yield a personal benefit, supplying the answer to the usually unspoken question, “What’s in it for me?”
Third, as an equal member of the team, you will bring your own unique skill set. That may include a deep knowledge of a certain process, or abilities that enable you to encourage conversation among group members, or an understanding of each team member’s individual strengths and how to draw them out. You can also model strong collaborative behavior yourself.
Stimulate Communication
* * *
CASE FILE
* * *
SHARING CHORES
Eze Castle Software CEO Sean McLaughlin wanted employees to work as a team to keep a neater workplace. He assigned tasks on a rotating basis.