Team Motivation: The Key to Achievement

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” – Jim Ryun

 

Motivation is the experience of desire or aversion. It is a reason for acting or behaving in a particular way. Motivation is energy. One of the major roles of a good project manager is to keep his team motivated to achieve the desired results. If the team is motivated, then it will be very easy to complete your commitments. Without motivation, it is difficult to deliver even a small task. Motivation is a morale upliftment that encourages an individual to be complacent. Let’s shed light on different ways to motivate your team:

 

Make them feel their Importance

You must convey to your team how significant they are in the project, how they are important for the team and organization, and how they provide for several lives by doing the important work. Move from informing to involve. Involve them in all the important decisions so they feel empowered and valued. Take the buy-in for the planned tasks. Once the team feels they are involved they will deliver because they become committed. Involvement is directly proportionate to commitment.

 

Appreciate frequently 

Appreciation is the key to motivation. The employee who receives regular appreciation and acknowledgement tends to work hard to maintain it. They will work beyond office hours. If an effort is appreciated it gets repeated. There are various ways to appreciate employees - writing appreciation mail regularly, celebrating a small success or a milestone, on the spot incentive or hampers. Give appreciation award like the Employee of the Month or Quarter. Some organizations provide employee stock option for gratification.

 

Be Transparent 

Be transparent in all the transactions, whether it’s an annual appraisal, promotion or important decision related to project. Follow all the organizational process and rules. Make a glass door policy and be transparent in communication. Take a decision, based on available data not by the emotion. Create a scoreboard for every employee, if they have delivered, appreciate them and if not then do hand-holding. Do competency mapping of each employee and assign work according to them.

 

Organize Team building activities 

Team building activities are an efficient way to motivate the team. The entire team feels connected and a get together creates bonding among them. There are various ways to organize team-building activities. Organize group lunch, pizza party, movie, picnic or indoor games. Go to any event or watch sports together. Participate in a hackathon or any contest to help develop the team motivation level.      

 

Hygiene Factors

This point is derived from psychologist Frederick Herzberg's Two-factor theory of Motivation. Hygiene factors are extrinsic elements of the work environment. Hygiene factors may not give positive satisfaction or lead to higher motivation, but their absence can lead to dissatisfaction or uncomfortable work environment for employees. Some of the examples are status, job security, salary, fringe benefits, work conditions, relationship with co-workers and boss, good pay, paid insurance, vacations and cab facility.

 

Flexibility

Employees want to work in a flexible environment. They are looking for conveniences like work from home, flexible working hours and support from the office etc. Micromanagement adversely impacts employee morale and should be avoided. Give breathing space to your team members. Managers who use this approach trust their people to take ownership of their work and do it effectively on their own.

 

Growth Path

Every an employee feels motivated when they see the opportunity to learn and grow in the organization. Develop a clear process of role change. Create a clearly defined career path to show them the bigger picture. Encourage the internal promotion over helicopter landing. There are various ways to encourage them to move in growth path- sponsored higher education, reimburse certification and training cost and organize brown bag sessions.

 

 

Recommended Books on Motivation

Drive

 

 

Motivation is a continuous positive force that enables the team to keep working in the direction of desired results. A good Project Manager follows some or all of the above-mentioned strategies to keep his team members content with the work situation and attain positive results.