When there’s a job to be done, sustaining support and maintaining motivation within your team is crucial to the outcome of your project. It can be extremely difficult to keep up momentum, on top of managing a mission, so follow these six simple “C” steps and the enthusiasm–and final result – will remain high.
- Clean Up
The most successful projects begin with a clean slate; from the physical brainstorming space to a tidy inbox.
Set up an orderly working environment to reduce stress and allow the team to thrive. Tidy up and archive any emails and folders causing headaches and ensure the team have all the tools and equipment they need to get started.
If everyone is arriving to the project with a fresh mind-set, productivity will be vastly improved.
- Create a Buzz
One of the most effective ways to motivate your team is not only to set an end goal but also generate a real buzz around it.
Explain the benefits to achieving the project and show you are genuinely excited about it. By creating hype your positive air will spread through the team and results will be far better if they are eager too.
Laying out the benefits also increases commitment, giving them something solid to work towards.
- Clarify
As important as having a clear, final objective is ensuring each member is fully briefed and recognises the part they specifically play.
Before setting out, have one-on-one meetings with those involved. Make sure they’re clear on their tasks, confirm they have the tools they need to complete it and reiterate to them the importance of feedback.
By inviting the team to express opinion, you’re encouraging openness and aiding project management by allowing for potential boundaries that you might have missed to be highlighted.
- Communicate
Clear, concise and easily understood communication is critical to a team to function to their full potential.
If negative news arises that could impact the team, it needs to be processed. Be honest with your staff to keep them on track. Admit a challenge has arisen and assure them you are working hard to find out more before confirming you’ll provide updates as and when you can. This is far more respectful than keeping quiet until the issue has already hit them.
- Comment
Communication isn’t just about the negatives. Preserve energy within the team via regular feedback. Plan meetings when the project begins to coincide with benchmarks and inform the team about how they’re performing against targets.
If you’re behind, use this as an opportunity to reassess your timeline and get the group back on track.
If you’re ahead, make sure those who have contributed considerably to that outcome are congratulated. Use this as a chance to delegate further responsibility to those members; just be careful not to overload them. Then avoid temptation to micromanage. People need to know you trust them to own the task, not feel like you’re checking up on them.
- Congratulate
From smaller recognition to larger rewards, it’s easier to keep the team motivated if they know they’re appreciated. This doesn’t necessarily mean monetary rewards. Public recognition of a particular member’s achievements can be a great motivator.
Obviously, gifts work too though and unexpected treats can go a long way. If you’re working late one night, why not order Thai takeout or pizza in for the team? Or take the group out for dinner when the project is complete.
Motivation has a huge impact on the outcome of your project and there are ways to maintain it throughout the whole process. From setting clear goals and generating a buzz, to encouraging feedback and keeping communication open, keep these steps in mind and the enthusiasm will follow.
Denise Ohlfs
This is a great article and reinforces how to manage people you don’t supervise but must get good performance from. I have found that when I manage a project with a team that is not all that interested in the project management processes, I need to remember to wade through this and provide clear deliverable expectations. It gets people interested because there is a goal outlined that each of them are a part of. And you’r so correct in that thank yous and congratulations for good work go very far in improving performance. Even the smallest recognition goes a long way! Thank you!
Alison Redmond
I would like suggestions for rewarding people that do not cost money. When you work for a government entity there is no budget for lunch out.
Sebastian Bos
Hi Alison,
Good question, one thing that I often think about is if I had achieved something how would i like to be rewarded and as Denise touched upon, more often than not recognition from your peers can go a long way to making someone feel valued at a company and motivate them to keep pushing themselves.
Sure monetary rewards are great but if your hands are tied on that front being commended for your hard work in front of others is a great feeling as well.
Thanks,
Sebastian