All for one and one for all!
That was the motto of The Three Musketeers as they prepared for battle. Teamwork was the name of their game, and they came out on top every time. To be successful, you need good team management tactics, much like The Three Musketeers.
On average, poorly managed work groups are half as productive as they should be, resulting in approximately a 44 percent drop in profitability.
Here are five ways you can efficiently motivate your team for maximum success.
Like everything in life, there is always more than one way to do something. If you witness an employee working differently but you’re seeing the same results, who are you to stop them?
A survey conducted by Trinity Solutions showed that 69 percent of employees had considered moving jobs because of micromanagement. For maximum motivation, recognise unique skillsets and nurture them, letting employees take their own path to the watering hole.
Have you landed a new account recently? Or is it just the last Friday in the month?
Either way, celebrate with your team, and do so often. People feel good about what they do when they’re happier and well valued. Workplace happiness leads to a 12 percent spike in productivity, while unhappy workers are 10 percent less productive.
Sure, rewarding people regularly can devalue its purpose, but chances are you’re not doing it enough anyway. Adopt the ‘little but often’ approach to truly motivate your team, and you’ll have yourself a happy team in no time.
Some bosses lead by example, inspiring their employees to follow suit, while others take a ‘do as I say, not as I do approach’, breeding an environment of intimidation.
Sure, a top down approach to HR management has its benefits, but when all is said and done, people want to feel related to. As a boss, mentor, manager and/or business leader, it’s up to you to demonstrate that you too have weaknesses, and that you need your employees to shine where you can’t. After all, you hired them to do the work you can’t or don’t have time to do.
Work, much like life, is about process, not outcome. If, as a manager, you spend your time praising results, you give employees the opportunity to take the easy route, implying that as long as they deliver on time it doesn’t matter what the work looks like.
By praising effort, you’re encouraging employees to not only deliver, but to deliver quality, well curated-work. Praising effort encourages employees to dig a little deeper in their research, to get to the core of a challenge, rather than skim off the surface for the sake of hitting those numbers.
When it comes to performance reviews, it’s okay to benchmark your employees against one another for the purposes of identifying progress and developing skillsets.
Out in the everyday workplace, however, true team motivation requires an atmosphere of collaboration, not competition.
More than a third of employees quit their job because of internal politics. Competition in healthy doses is fine, but when employees are pitted against each other on a regular basis it breeds bad practices and a hostile work environment. Focus on bringing your employees together rather than setting them apart.
‘In leadership, the way up is down. Serve before you get served.’
- Bangambiki Habyarimana, author of The Great Pearl of Wisdom
Good leadership comes from understanding. Jim Senegal, CEO at Costco, is a good example. He’s often seen on the shop floor helping employees and answering phones, and he spends time understanding his employees’ needs and wants.
The result is a happy and loyal team. Jim’s employees are so loyal, in fact, that Costco has an employee turnover rate that is five times lower than rivals Wal-Mart.
For maximum motivation, take a bottom up approach. ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ will get you nowhere.