Motivating my team to perform
With lockdown measures easing across the U.K and Europe, more and more people are returning to work after several months of working from home, largely unobserved and potentially - depending on their job role - with a reduced workload.
Coming back into the office after a long period of working in isolation and in a more relaxed environment, may mean that some team members are ‘slow off the mark’. They may be unmotivated, non-energetic, and perhaps reluctant to complete tasks.
Therefore, it’s of great importance that as a leader, you effectively motivate your team so they can return to their optimal performance level as quickly as possible.
Why is this important?
If your team includes one or more individuals who aren't performing well, it is likely to have a negative impact on the business. Lack of motivation is the biggest single obstacle to productivity.
Employees who lack motivation produce work that is substandard, but that's not the only issue. Unhappy, de-motivated individuals will leave the business quicker, resulting in time and money being spent on recruitment and training. It's also noticeable that employees who lack motivation take more time off sick, creating pressure points for their colleagues and affect business performance.
Discontent can spread through a team like a virus, especially if some people begin to resent the fact that they are doing more work than their less motivated colleagues.
How to motivate your team to perform?
We have put together a few suggestions on ways that you can effectively motivate your team returning from lockdown:
Driving Forces Report - Identify your teams individual motivators to know what incentives to provide them e.g. nice working environment, commission, social responsibilities, training, recognition etc. Don’t just rely on monetary rewards or ‘time in lieu’. Everyone has their own driving forces and if you’re aware of your team’s motivators, you can incentivise them towards better performance.
Marginal Gains - Create achievable milestones that add up to the overall goal so that your team feel that they are constantly striving and succeeding. A team that believes they are a winning team, will strive to remain a winning team.
Avoid Micromanagement - Imagine if someone was leaning over your shoulder the entire time whilst trying to complete a task. Using this same approach with your team will demotivate them. We would suggest using the Situational Leadership II model to identify how much support to give to individuals as some team members may need to be micromanaged at first - during training for example - but once competent in completing their tasks, can be left alone with minimal support.
Opportunities - On average, Millennials will leave a role after 3 years to look elsewhere to continue developing their skills or experience. Offer them the opportunity to do that within your team or business - this may even be an incentive for some team members.
Give and Encourage Respect - People work for leaders, not companies. Get to know and build trust within your team so that when challenges present themselves, your team knows they have your full support and vice versa.
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“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”
For more information on Driving Forces, please view TTI Success Insights “12 Driving Forces: What you need to know.”
