MOTIVATING A TEAM

Before I was a writer, I owned and ran a small business for nigh on to fifteen years. Started at ten people. Grew it over 300% in that time.

How did I motivate my team? That's got to be the number one question from leaders the world over. The days of people being motivated to work hard for only their pay are gone. And that blows, because you're paying them. Doesn't matter. Their performance is your responsibility as the leader. So, how do you do it? How do you motivate people? Can it even be done?

Yes!

But start by doing your darndest to hire only highly motivated people. Instilling a person with the character trait of self-motivation is a parent's job. You have no control over that part of their lives, and my observation is that about half of families aren't getting it done. So, interview with this in mind. And if you mess up and hire an unmotivated person, scrub them out during the probationary period. That's harsh, but a motivated team won't like working with an unmotivated teammate. Dysfunction will set in. You're doing an overall kindness to everyone involved.

Okay. How do you increase motivation in your existing team? You're not their mom. You can't threaten to ground them. Here's how: Hunger, Honey, or Hope.

HUNGER

This is how the old industrialists did it (according to Hollywood, anyway), and it's prevalent in other cultures with strong caste systems or socialist politics. If you can make someone hungry, they'll work harder. Plain and simple. Also, cruel. And illegal. And wrong. As the leader, it's your job to raise up your team, not cut them down. You do want the best for them, don't you?

This can be done accidentally easier than you'd think. Every year, you run the math on how much you can afford in raises for cost of living and merit. You can make people hungry by limiting this. Be careful. Remember, people are free to leave if they're not getting paid enough (at least in America), and the difference between potential savings and the cost of turnover is not right side up.

HONEY

In the other direction, you can offer them more. After all, you get paid more when you work more, right? Right. You absolutely should get paid more for more work. Or get a better benefit. Or a bonus. Whatever.

I think honey is better than hunger. But my experience with this is not awesome. Did I pay more? Give bonuses? You bet I did. And happy to do it with great joy. But as far as I could tell, it didn't motivate anyone very much. It just raised the bar on how much people expected for a unit of work, and that bar kept getting more expensive year after year.

So, offer bonuses. Benefits. More pay. Some will work harder because of it, especially if you tie the amounts to their work results. But don't expect to see a major shift in your team because of it.

I tried to be at and slightly above what the market would bear, because the people on my team are worth it.

HOPE

Want to motivate people? Give them hope.

• Hope they're improving someone's life with the work the team is accomplishing,

• Hope for promotion and growth, both personal and professional,

• Hope those future advancements will set them and their family up for life,

• Hope that your organization is going somewhere,

• Hope that what they're doing for you matters, that it's important,

• Hope of a brighter future with you and the team.

Okay, sounds great. How do you do that?

Casting vision is the responsibility of the leader. Without vision, the people perish. Here's some efforts to employ with your team tomorrow that will get the flywheel turning towards hope.

• Learn to set goals, pursue them, and achieve them. Tell your team what goals you set, update them on progress, and celebrate when you win. Success breeds hope for more success, builds trust, and displays authenticity.

• Talk about it. Tell your team where they're going. Not once. Talk about it all the time. The team's future is so bright they've got to wear shades.

• When you give a raise, tell them what the increase will look like if they can achieve the next promotion. Make sure every person knows exactly what they need to do to achieve that promotion. Seriously, they should have a list.

• Tell people why what they're doing is important. And who it's important to: your customers, your community, and you personally.

• Paint a word picture of what life will look like if you're successful. Not a writer? Fine, but you're a leader. Talk to them person to person or small groups or the entire team. Tell them. And make it real. They can smell a pipe dream from a mile off, and you're crushing hope if you try to sell one.

• Don't know what life will look like if you're successful? Then sit down and figure it out. Because your team assumes you already have.

Note that little of this has a line item in your budget. This is about leaders casting vision and caring about their people. You do care, don't you? Then show them.

It turns out that teams are made of people, and they're big bulbous bags of emotional goop and so are you. They want more money, sure, but they want so much more than that. If you can promise hope and follow through, you'll build a team of highly motivated people. And if I can do it, anyone can.

If you want more details, check out Pipe Wrench to Payroll. I go into a lot more detail.