On the road to career advancement, you’ve probably had to endure your boss’s discourse of lofty corporate goals. Optimising team meetings is the cornerstone of future success.
Team members should not be bored at such events. On the contrary, you should infect them with personal enthusiasm.
The annual meeting is behind us and what’s next? Team members listened to the boss, wrote something down in the notebook, and immediately forgot about the event, like if it was a bad dream. You have answered a couple of questions, everyone dispersed to their offices.
The bottom line is that something is on the timeline, and something is in the strategic documentation. But does the team think about “over-the-top” prospects? No, because all the project participants are absorbed in solving current problems.
What challenges does the manager face
Not everyone is genuinely enthusiastic about the goal set by the project manager. But if your colleague does not feel that he is a part of the corporation’s success, how will he strive for something better? The main barrier that a poorly motivated employee can’t overcome is communication. And without communication, there will be no effective promotion of the site.
Krishna Powell, one of the world’s leading leadership consultants, noted the distancing of marketing executives from the team. The boss measures everything by their standards. That’s why team members let their boss’s fiery speeches slip past their ears. Goals are perceived differently.
The supervisor sees the big picture, while the employees see the individual fragments of the composition. Goals seem abstract, and subordinates do not care about them. It takes a large-scale understanding of the context to trace connections to today’s tasks.
Top 7 recommendations to help inspire the team
First of all, you need to assess your abilities. Not every leader is a guru of motivation, and that’s okay. If this is not your strong suit, there is nothing wrong with consulting experts. Imagine that you are a student, and your goal is to get a maximum grade in a subject that you are not proficient in. In that case, you have several options.
You can either pay for homework help, or you can try to master everything on your own. Both options have their advantages. You’ll save money if you do it yourself, but you shouldn’t expect to be good at it right away. And as long as you’re going to hone your skills, your team’s motivation will be far from perfect.
In turn, if you pay professionals, you can be sure that you will get quality results in the shortest possible time.
But if you think you can do it on your own, let’s move on to practical recommendations. You’ve already figured out that the main motivational problems are related to a lack of communication. This barrier can be overcome easily if you act as described below. The approaches are well-proven, they will help to inspire members of your team.
Align the actions of your managers
In any company, there are departments whose managers are competing with each other. Until you reconcile these factions, ordinary employees will not show signs of strategic thinking. If the bosses act in a coordinated fashion, the subordinates will get into the corporate spirit. Let us list the factors that confirm the correctness of this statement:
- Clarity will help eliminate misunderstandings, subordinates will be no longer distracted by minor conflicts;
- A personal example is the best tool for a manager. If you are not imbued with a great goal, how can you demand it from your subordinates?
- False enthusiasm is noticeable. Your employees are not stupid people at all; they will masterfully calculate any manifestation of hypocrisy.
The “right” boss shouldn’t doubt the future of his company. Alison Henderson, an expert on nonverbal communication, assures us that body language always reveals a liar. If you start doubting your purpose, your subordinates will do the same.
Set goals together with your employees
To help your colleagues see the future from your point of view, include them in goal setting. It is common to call only the “top team” to strategic meetings, but nothing prevents you from reducing the distance between you and your subordinates the rest of the time.
When objectives and key results and common goals have been approved, bring the list to your colleagues and ask their opinion on it.
Ask what the team can do to achieve the goals. Let’s say your team specialises in human resources and wants to become a visionary leader. Let everyone make a suggestion.
This is how daily routine gets connected with distant perspectives in the minds of subordinates. A comprehensive perception of the picture comes in; motivation grows. The Gallup Institute carried out a study in which they were able to find out an amazing thing.
The level of motivation increases threefold, if not fourfold when company employees are involved in goal setting.
The clearer, the better
Each of us communicates in a language that he or she understands without thinking about the other person. This approach prevents us from inspiring teams. Step into the shoes of ordinary employees of the firm if you want to achieve mutual understanding with them. The true leader should not be involved in self-convincing. Your job is to make your colleagues hear you.
Be on the same page with the participants of the project. Tie a distant goal to today’s task. Show people that every employee is important, their activity matters. Show the connection between the work process and the outlined prospects.
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Achieve unity of personal and corporate goals
Professional success is a resource that people are always willing to invest in. There is always a gap between the personal aspirations of employees and the key goal of the company. Your task is to close this gap. Each employee’s level of performance should be directly linked to your strategic vision.
First, formulate strategic goals, then all the others. Discuss employees’ contributions to the common cause and ask them to formulate their own goals. It is important to make sure that the objective is aligned with the corporate strategy as well as with the objectives of the entire department.
If you do it right, the subordinate will begin to feel personally responsible for the common cause and clearly understand what the manager wants.
“Why” is the most important question
It is impossible to fully motivate employees without providing strategic context. Subordinates do not put much effort into achieving a corporate goal because they do not have an understanding of the importance of the idea. “Why should I?” – is the question the competent manager needs to answer.
It is not enough to simply state an arrival point; you need reasoning behind it. What is the importance of the objective, what factors led management to formulate the strategy? How will achieving the goal affect the company and individual teams? Make sure there are no gaps in the context, get widespread support for the team.
Imagine a puzzle of 500 pieces. Each piece is an employee and his activity. The subordinate cannot assemble the overall picture until you show them a sample.
Paint the picture in the imagination of your colleagues, so that they are captivated by the grandeur of the idea and admire it. If the subordinate understands the reason for setting such a goal, his enthusiasm will be boundless.
Show your enthusiasm
Ask yourself: are you excited about what you are trying to accomplish? If you’re not, the team will be skeptical of the corporate strategy. Subordinates should see the sincere enthusiasm of the leader – the success of the organisation depends on it tremendously. Leaders often talk about long-term plans without enthusiasm, as if they are working “for a tick”. This is wrong.
Working for the company should be a pleasure. A strategic goal should not become a routine, merging with a string of current tasks. Let the subordinates see the shining prize on the horizon, which is worth fighting for.
Demonstrate enthusiasm not only for the goal itself but also for the consequences of achieving that dream. The enthusiasm must be sincere – believe in what you are saying.
Remind colleagues of the importance of shared goals
The goal-setting process involves several steps. The most common scenario is this: you set a goal for the team for a certain period (year, quarter), explain the meaning of the actions, and then forget about it. At the end of a given period, you check the planned figures with the actual ones.
This approach is considered counterproductive. The process of moving toward a goal should become visual, tangible. You should periodically remind yourself of corporate plans and talk about them with your subordinates. Do you consider the organisation’s plans to be vital?
Then you should track progress, make interim reconciliations, and inform the team about the success of the corporate actions. The completion of important milestones should be celebrated – it increases motivation tremendously.
In Summary
Your actions should lead to the fact that each team member will feel their value in the project, involvement in a great cause. Learn the mood of your employees, draw them into the process of goal setting, infect them with your enthusiasm. There should be no detachment of the plan from the current state of affairs.
If employees see the connection between daily tasks and the overall strategy, feel the depth of perspective, their attitude towards work will change. You will have a motivated team. Personal goals of employees will coincide with the corporate goals, labor efficiency will increase many times over.
Believe in yourself, believe in your subordinates, make interim reports. Do not forget about internal holidays. And everything will work out for you.
About the Author
Taylor Brouwer is a writer with a qualification in the field of HR. Also interested in tech, IR, and personal development. Currently works as a content writer at WriteMyPaperBro.
