The kind of team you work with can make a huge difference to your performance and the company’s bottom line. Motivated and energized teams will always outperform teams that are dull and burned-out. It is crucial that all functional managers ensure that their team(s) is well-supported and guided to enable them to excel.
Your company is in business because you have a product/service to offer your customers, and also because you’ve succeeded in achieving a high conversion ratio. You’ve probably got teams that handle your product portfolio, look after your marketing efforts, as well as deal with customer feedback.
Have you ever considered what would happen if your team stopped performing optimally? Your customers will probably defect over to other brands that have invigorated teams, which offer quick and hassle-free services.
Trouble in Paradise? Reinvigoration Is the Answer
Of course, every team has its issues with something cropping up every now and then. But if you find yourself addressing the same concerns over and over again, you know trouble is brewing.
Teams that become resistant to change for the better, get intimidated by new challenges and give up easily, keep lamenting their job, and generally seem uninspired and directionless need immediate intervention.
You don’t want zombies on your team. They are the demotivated employees, who may turn into energy-suckers for other employees too.
You want superheroes – those who aren’t afraid of a challenge, ready to work hard, and always get back on the horse whenever they fall off it, instead of staying down and pulling others with them.
1. Ban Complacency
There should be no scope for complacency in the team as it results in a laid-back attitude and satisfaction with the mediocre.
Typically, when a new team is formed, members tend to be excited and energized about the task at hand. But, once the initial enthusiasm wanes, energy levels drop because the tasks become routine.
Keep your team interested and engaged by breathing new life into them.
Occasionally, involve a few power-packed members from other teams to contribute their ideas and talent to revive the group.
If your team members have been behaving in a sluggish manner, let them see themselves in that avatar, become self-aware, and improvise.
Instead of lecturing them like a schoolmarm (which never works), videotape them working on a normal day and let them see for themselves how indolent they’ve become.
Break the monotony by shaking up the routine, if you think that’s the problem. There are easy and inexpensive ways of doing so. Take your team out to lunch, have a pizza party in the office, hold your meeting at the nearby park or at the client’s office. Think of different ways of doing things.
Let them lighten up. Every once in a while, organize weekend outings for your team members, like a family picnic, or a weekend retreat.
2. Give Second Chances
To err is human. Everyone makes mistakes. And trust me, they’re already feeling bad about it. And yes, they do expect to be taken to task by you, but surprise them by being empathetic instead.
Try not to fixate on the mistake, but focus on getting past it and being progressive when talking about it.
There’s a catch here, though. You need to look out for, and make a distinction between one-time mistakes and those which follow an identifiable pattern.
While one-time errors can be overlooked and pardoned, repeated occurrence of the same mistake could indicate inefficiency in a certain process, or a lack of technical know-how on the employee’s part.
Whatever the reason, make sure you get to the bottom of it and rectify it without wasting time.
3. Give Them Breathing Space
Your team was created to work and that’s what they will do. They will meet clients, talk to them, attend phone calls, and generally deal with things as they deem correct.
They are there to help you run the show by looking after the operations, so that you can concentrate on the strategic aspects. But, you have to let them do all of that, without looking over their shoulder all day.
I understand that you love your work and it means a lot to you, but you need to trust your team completely with their jobs to be able to focus on other important things. Remember, you put them on your team because you trusted them, to begin with.
4. Think About Your Training Methodologies
Training your team(s) at regular intervals is the best way of keeping them sharp, and letting them know exactly what you expect of them in terms of performance.
Look into the training methodologies to ensure that your team is undergoing appropriate and adequate number of training hours with the right trainer(s).
Do take feedback from your teams as that may throw light on those aspects of it that you may have missed. Additionally, it will also make them feel accountable.
5. Bid Adieu to Outdated Policies
One of the reasons some teams perform better than others is because they ditch outdated policies and rules, and adopt forward-looking ones.
Of course, all teams have rules and guidelines that apply equally to all the members, but do watch out and amend/eliminate those which serve no purpose or have transformed into something that hinders your progress. Your team probably hates them too!
6. Recognize and Reward
Who wouldn’t love to be recognized for their hard work and sincere efforts? Acknowledging and rewarding correct and desirable actions from your team members is one of the best ways of reinvigorating them.
If you don’t already have a reward and recognition system in place, consider developing one. Give your team a goal and egg them on to work towards it by announcing meaningful rewards for phenomenal effort.
Conclusion
You already have the people with you; you just have to work towards making them resourceful and responsible. The above tips should help you achieve that and also become a better leader. Do give them a try.
