Tips for Motivating a Team

When deadlines are due and stress is at its peak, the word "motivation" can be far from your vocabulary. Sometimes you may not only need to motivate yourself, but it may also be your responsibility to motivate a team. Whether you are planning a meeting or event, or simply managing a tedious project, encouragement is a key ingredient to success.

Imagine you are provided with a large assignment and asked to manage a team. How can you keep yourself and your team motivated over a long, stressful period of time? It may seem impossible; however, there are ways to accomplish this difficult task.

Set Realistic and Clear Expectations

If you are given ‘management' status during a particular project, first of all remember not everyone is as pumped as you are to start checking off the tasks on the to-do. Maybe you aren't the one needing motivation at all. Maybe you're content to stay in the office until 9 p.m. However, you must recognize people have lives outside of work. If you expect your team to stay as late as you wish them to, most will only resent you and will be counting down the hours to the finish line. Set goals early on and let employees know well in advance if there are going to be some late nights. Don't think your team can drop all outside activities the day you ask; otherwise you will be dealing with long faces, clock watchers and a group of people who are just not happy to be there with you.

Encourage Participation

You may also be keen to show your boss your ‘management' style and may have trouble seeing the points of view from your fellow employees. While you'd like to take the lead, don't forget there are others in the group ready and willing to lend support. If you take everything on yourself, you team will only wonder why they are there in the first place. Always allow creativity, questions and ideas from team members. Not only are fresh ideas important in the development of a successful project, but having everyone feel as though they are contributing is imperative to the end result.

Keep an open mind and don't criticize any ideas or questions coming your way. If you belittle those with a proposal, no one will want to add their two cents. The group will only breakdown if not allowed to work together. Everyone must be allowed to contribute no matter how silly an idea seems at one time. Many of the worlds' greatest ideas and inventions wouldn't be around today if ‘silly' ideas were dismissed.

Motivate Individuals

When attempting to motivate, remember the group consists of individuals. Each individual has his or her own motivational factor. Some people are motivated by money and therefore would appreciate compensation for all of their hard work. Other people are motivated by gifts and would appreciate free tickets to an event. And believe it or not, some people are motivated simply by the words, "thank you". Recognize everyone's individual drive and work as close as you can to support them.

Communicate Openly

Lastly, always provide feedback and keep communication open with all team members. If someone is doing well, tell them. If someone can honestly improve in an area, let that person know so he or she can improve. Also, keep an ‘open door' policy and be approachable. If you are unapproachable, nothing will get done. Communication is key to teamwork and effective motivation.