It would be so nice if people would work independently.
I am quite sure that any leader had to learn the hard way that a team does slow down and tends to disperse unless it is being lead and motivated by skilled leaders. There is however one factor in motivating a team that, if known to leaders and applied, will make the job of motivation quite simple.
There is a lot to loose if a team does not get into the spirit of enjoying productive work and its results. Your future success is at stake. The bigger the company is the more there is to loose if the driving force of motivation is missing.
When a team is lacking motivation you can expect the following to occur:
– little or no progress toward reaching production targets,
– the hard-to-face kind of job will not get done,
– the team will not coordinate, they will stop communicating to each other, to customers or business partners,
– more and more mistakes and excuses,
– low discipline, people being late, forgetting things, etc.
– employees opposing leaders,
– upset leaders trying to do the work themselves,
– solvency problems.
These are just a few examples. I am sure some of them are familiar.
A leader is not being born as a leader. It takes time and experience to really face the fact that a team must be motivated to function, and it takes even more time and experience to learn how to motivate and get them moving in the same direction.
By definition „Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals.” It also means „the act of making someone feel determined to do something.” Lets look into this subject a little bit deeper. As I wrote there is one key factor that is common in motivating anyone, any group or any project. Thus no motivation will be successful unless this one factor is present.
People are being motivated by a purpose. Any other tool of motivation will fade away if it is not used in alignment with the motivating purpose of that person or group.
Let me demonstrate how it works through examples:
When applying for a job people usually include „the ability to work independently” in their CVs. But when it comes to working the initial enthusiasm of having a good job does very often die out in about 3 weeks and they start to work less, make more mistakes, etc. What went wrong? Well, the guy had the purpose of getting a good job. Now he has it and he feels safe about keeping it. His purpose has been reached.
The company’s sales team in China had the purpose of becoming the best sales team amongst all their countries. There was an agreement amongst them and they were going for it with great results. Then a new boss came who started to push sales by increasing individual commissions but he was indifferent about this purpose. The team spirit faded away.
Another great example is the historical example of General Motors. Cadillac (GM) created the slogan of „Standard of the World.” This idea was easily adopted by everyone working with or for Cadillac and acted as a main driving force. As they made better and better cars they were more and more serious about setting the „Standard of the World”. They got into this spirit to the point where Cadillac started to make gorgeous luxury cars and came out with one of the most powerful and quietest engines in the United States. At this point it wasn’t anymore the pride of the company, a whole country was proud of building those cars. They built better and better cars decade after decade motivated by this idea, actually setting the „Standard of the World.”
Having a purpose is not only important in motivating a team, it is the primary tool in building a team.
When the purpose is real and the team can believe in it it will pull the team toward reaching it. As they see how the company is progressing toward that purpose the team spirit gets stronger and stronger. And of course as the team does see that the company does not make progress the purpose will go gradually out of sight and its pulling force will fade away.
It is needless to say that it is the responsibility of the management to make sure that the company is progressing toward that purpose. People will stay focused and enthusiastic only as long as the management strategy does align with that purpose and they can see how what they are doing will lead to that purpose.
Conclusion:
People are motivated by a purpose. If they are not directed toward a main company purpose they will work for their own individual purposes. It could be buying a home or saving money for starting their own company, etc. In this case their individual actions will not align too well and the company will be dispersed. On the other hand if they are directed toward a main company or group purpose that is real and they can believe in it, and they are actually making steps toward reaching it, their actions will align with that one purpose and they will coordinate in view of that purpose and leadership becomes easy.
