10 Tips for Motivating Teams

Leaders come in all forms. You could be a business leader, the leader of a volunteer group or the leader of your household. Regardless of your industry and responsibilities, the role is essentially the same: lead the “team” to be the best they can be.

To reach greatness, your team has to be motivated. As a good leader, it’s your job to energize and encourage your teams. Here are some tips to keep your team on track toward attaining their goals:

 

Give your team members ownership

Let someone else take on some responsibility. Have them lead some projects or meetings. Assign a task and keep them accountable. Ask them to share their ideas and interests to help find places they can provide value.

Set a communication plan

Miscommunication breeds failure. Make sure you’re communicating with your team members and asking them for input in return. Set up recurring meetings to make sure you’re staying in touch.

Know your team members’ strengths and weaknesses

We all have hidden talents, and we all have opportunity areas. Encourage discussion with your team to understand what they can bring to the team. Ask if they have areas where they are less confident and offer coaching to help them learn and grow.

Team building exercise

A great way to break the ice with new team members is to do team building exercises. This is where you should thrive – you are already experts at establishing trust quickly, use some of your relationship-building tools to engage your team.

Positive work environment

Always be positive! Celebrate wins and don’t fixate on setbacks. Repeat positive, and realistic affirmations to drown out the negative thoughts that can hold you back.

Incentives

Who doesn’t love to be rewarded? Set goals for the team with rewards at the end. Rewards could be physical products, special offers, or unique experiences. Get creative with it – incentives don’t have to be gifts or money.

Don’t be a roadblock

Does a team member have an idea they want to try? Are they exceling quickly, and performing at a high level? Be supportive. Their success equals your success. Listen, offer coaching and encouragement.

Praise your team

Words of affirmation is one of the love languages for a reason. Give your team members positive and specific feedback. Again, celebrate wins big or small!

Give feedback

Feedback is an essential part of learning. If you don’t give feedback to your teams, they won’t learn essential skills. Be sure to balance positive feedback with negative so that you are not being overly discouraging.

Be humble!

Your character helps you perform your role as leader. Good character builds trust. Trust is needed for success. Share your knowledge and expertise without being overbearing.

There are, of course, more than ten ways to be effective in leadership, but these are the principles which have helped me the most as a CEO and leader. Anyone can be an effective leader with some effort. Just remember to stay self-aware and be a role-model for the people on your team.