Four Ways to Lead and Motivate Your Team

Finally, let’s explore the final question in the Motivation Survey. Before we dig into today’s post, you might want to scan the survey again (click the link in the previous sentence) to refresh yourself on the brief survey.

As I said in the previous blog post, it wasn’t included as part of the survey, but in a sense, it may be the most important question of all.

Here’s the question: “How do you suppose the people who work for you would answer these questions?” 

When I bring up this question in workshops, there’s usually a moment of absolute silence.  Eventually someone quietly ventures out by whispering “The same?”  Of course!

Real people, real feelings

Think about it!  Are the people who work for you human?  Do they have feelings?  Do you suppose they, too, want to feel good about themselves?  Do they (or would they) like to be dealt with in ways that will help them maintain or enhance their feelings of self-worth?  You can bet on it!

Let’s go back to the question that I mentioned in a previous blog post: “What should I do to my people to make them have my sense of responsibility, dependability, and excitement about providing our customers with value-adding products and services?”

The answer, of course, is to not do anything to them, but start doing more things with them!

Four ways to motivate your team

Building on the above insights, a logical final question might be “How should we go about leading a highly-motivated peak-performance team?”

Every leader can successfully achieve TEAMWORK  through four key approaches:

• As you drive for results, you might try being equally committed to maintaining or enhancing your relationships.  In a principled way, be considerate regarding how your actions might impact others or be interpreted by them.

• Also, I’ve learned a simple truth about customer service: Your service to your external customers can only be as good as your internal service to each other.  Your internal suppliers and internal customers therefore need to be in continual conversations about what they need, what’s being provided, and any gaps between the two.

• As I led our business,  I discovered four magic words that can guide you to help your associates maintain or enhance their feelings of self-worth.  Ask – questions — and — listen! Try it.  Your associates will like it, and you’ll get the input needed so you can make better decisions!

• I developed another approach that I simply call “1-2-3”.  It states that before anybody decides anything (and even before thinking of preliminary decisions regarding your challenges and opportunities), three key questions should be asked.  They are:

1. Who can help me make a better decision?
2. Who will have to carry it out? and
3. Who will be impacted by it?

These people (or representatives of their groups) should then be brought together to discuss the situation and the most beneficial actions to pursue.

We’ll dig deeper into this 1-2-3 approach in coming blog posts.  This process and way of thinking has increased my level of effectiveness as a leader, and it can increase yours too!

Would you like to learn more about the 1-2-3?  Say yes!

 

P.S. – Here are links to the first three blog posts on motivation: Motivation Part 1, Motivation Part 2, & Motivation Part 3.