8 Surefire Ways to Inspire and Lead Your Team

Inspire. The mention of this word triggers a set of reactions especially for people who know of a teacher or mentor who brought out the best in them and showed the inner power they have. In business, change is accompanied by stress, uncertainty, and anxiety in those it’s directed to and those implementing change. Certainly, change has an impact on motivation and performance. When you motivate your team, success is achieved. So, motivation is a critical part of the team building process but a challenge for the team leader.

Unfortunately, most leads are out of touch and fail to connect with their employees, focusing solely on their interests. This is more common with leaders that still try to use a “one-decision-fits-all” approach to earn trust and stimulate team performance. But, this style works for a short time but eventually damages credibility.

Leaders need to understand that in the modern workplace, there does not exist a single-interest recipe to make employees perform better. Rather, it’s how to capitalize on their talent and motivate them for a long-term impact and results.

To get started, here are eight ways to inspire individuals and teams to perform better.

Share your vision with your team

Let each member of your team know the collective vision of the company. This will guide them to know what they are working to achieve. It’s one way to ensure the members are motivated and actively become part of all the activities.

But how do you communicate this vision to your team?

Well, you need to start by identifying your audience and communicate your vision to them. Leaders in a team are responsible for translating that vision into simpler language that team members can understand.

You can also use logical reasoning with an aim of inspiring your team members. In this case, you need to emotionally appeal to your team to get them to understand what they need to do to achieve good results.

Let them focus on what they are good at

Micromanagement is something most leader and managers struggle with. We understand that some leaders may see themselves as a perfectionist or see the need to keep a close eye on your team to ensure everything is flowing well. But in reality, it does more harm than good.

Employees want to feel that their bosses trust them to get the job done with minimal supervision. This calls for delegation of tasks depending on the teams’ ability. Task delegation is key to leveraging everyone’s skills and increase the team’s value. You need to give the team members the space to learn new skills and succeed. When you delegate, you free your time to focus on other sectors that can improve the team.

Assign tasks based on individual strengths. It’s about recognizing a great skill and potential and making the most out of it. In the end, you will start seeing results with a team that is motivated to do what they are good at.

Encourage Teamwork

The secret recipe to motivate your team is to know their strengths. People appreciate when they know their leaders understand their behaviors and aptitudes well-enough to work with them. How a team converses determines the success, you will achieve. If there is no open communication and respect, it will be hard to collaborate with them.

The results your company gets is a direct replica of how well you communicate and interact with your team. Collaboration drives a team. Also, make sure you pay attention to their needs. Great leaders take time to know each employee and in return, they will be motivated to achieve more if they know you have their best interests at heart.

When it comes to task delegation, give ownership of projects to specific people in your team. Ensure, you create projects that will foster collaboration to avoid those that may lock up your team members in a solo situation. Don’t forget to create a structured time to share ideas and thoughts about how the team is fairing. These techniques will help your team grow and produce great results.

Model personal growth and teach responsibility

For decades, leaders have concentrated on a responsibility to foster performance. While this technique is part of the recipe for success in a team, it’s when a leader help to promote personal growth and development of their team members that better results are achieved.

Be the kind of leader that mentor and guide their team. Great leaders understand that they need to develop trust and reputation of being true to their word. Encourage the need for networking and performance development groups and forums. For instance, you can enroll in training forums for your employees or get some inspirational books to help them advance their skills and grow in their profession. Whatever effort you make is worth to foster personal growth in your team. It shows them that they can count on you when they need guidance in their work.

Challenge your employees with realistic goals

According to Locke, a Professor at the University of Maryland people’s level of productivity increase when they have well-outlined goals with proper feedback. Locke’s theory is widely applied in different fields in business, making setting goals and motivation a key part of running a team.

Leaders need to drive their team towards achieving a specific set of goals that are challenging but realistic at the same time. This helps your team to set objectives they need to achieve in a certain project and develop a solution to these challenges. Such leaders know how to measure the performance of their team, and what to adjust to meet their goals.

Identify and deal with frustrating issues

Productive team members are happy and satisfied with their work. Great leaders understand that if they invest in their workers, they will be motivated to achieve their goals faster.

The first step is to identify unsatisfied members of your team and address their issues one on one. Identifying an unhappy employee is tough since the signs are often refined. But, if the leader is keen to understand each member, it’s possible to note some common indicators that can help you identify a problem and address it right away.

If you notice strange behaviors like underperformance or resistant to training, you might have to get to the root of the problem and address it immediately. Dissatisfied employees affect productively and morale of the entire team. Don’t assume that the employees are okay or assume you know the reason behind their unhappiness. Always do your research, talk to them and be open to the possibility of issues you may not know are affecting your team. Sometimes, it may be problems unrelated to work. Gather as many details as you can before deciding on how to approach them.

Show Appreciation

Who doesn’t like compliments? I do and so do employees. Leaders should invest time and energy to improve their team. They should show appreciation and gratitude for a task well done. With such recognition of good work, you can be certain that your team members will work hard to exceed your expectations.

They need to know that you value their commitment to what they do. Recognizing their efforts shows that you value their presence and what they do does matter a lot. Saying a simple “thank you” or having a reward system for your team will go a long in keeping the team motivated.

In this case, you can write a handwritten appreciation note or offer rewards to them. Also, spare time and spend with your team member both in and out of the office. Send an appreciation note to your team and see the benefits.

Respect your team

In addition to appreciation, show respect and admiration for the efforts put by your team to achieve results. People want to feel respected in their workplace. But as much as respect is important, you need to create the ground rules for how respect is earned.

In the current world of fierce competition, there are many people yearning for recognition; some do it for the right reasons while others have a different agenda. Leaders should be aware of people who want to outshine in a place where team collaboration is needed. As much as such individuals want recognition, such an attitude may put the team and the entire company at risk.

Train your employee about the benefit of working as a team and respect each other. When they recognize the benefits associated with respect, they will be inspired by your example.

Conclusion

Being a leader is often seen as a tough task, but it’s very rewarding if you apply the right strategies. The most important of them all is to inspire your team to improve their skills and reach the specific goals of your organization. Inspiration should be an integral part of your recipe for success. It should be a constant behavior, triggered by multiple ways to ensure your employees feel part of your vision and that you genuinely value their presence. These leadership techniques will see you transform your team to be the best they can be.