8 Ways to Motivate Your Team for Success

If you’re in a leadership role at your company, you naturally want to set your team up for success. But how can you truly motivate your team to help to hit targets and be successful? Let’s look at 8 ways to motivate your team for success.

Set Clear and Attainable Goals

For a leader in any industry to be effective, you must be clear about goals for your team. Set up the expectations from day one and be sure that every goal is reasonably attainable.

Your team members need to fully understand what you expect of them and how they should be striving for growth. Be sure to strike a balance - don’t set totally unrealistic goals that they could never achieve, but don’t let them settle for the status quo, either.

Get in the Trenches with Them

As a team leader, your duties will likely vary somewhat from those of your team members. But you should take an active role in their work and do your part. Get in the trenches with your team so they know you’re not just sitting on a pedestal, barking orders.

Pay Them What They Are Worth

It’s great if everyone on your team is enthusiastic about your industry. But let’s get real: most people are in it for financial compensation. If you want to get real results and real success from your team, you’ve got to pay them fairly for their work.

Don’t just settle for fair - go above and beyond when possible so that your employees or team members know you see their hard work. Give them the kind of salary and benefits they deserve, and they’ll give you their best.

Offer Valuable Incentives

Whether your team is working together on long-term or short-term projects, a great leader will provide incentives other than basic salary to help motivate everybody. Most of us enjoy working for additional rewards.

Maybe each quarter that you meet a certain goal, the entire team gets an extra day off. Bring in takeout from a great local eatery one day. And don’t forget about the power of cold, hard cash as a bonus. Whatever you choose, be sure to find something that team members will want. If you’re not sure, ask them!

Don’t Punish Failure

Here’s a mark of a strong leader: you don’t chastise people for their failures. Instead, look at failures and screw-ups as opportunities for team members to grow. After all, everyone is striving to have a growth mindset these days.

A truly competent leader will be able to motivate a team member after they’ve lost an account or not met their sales goals. Leading well may require doing some brainstorming with the employee or team member to help them identify ways to improve, cultivating a growth mindset.

Create a Positive Working Environment

Any great team needs to have a positive environment to do their work. Don’t allow the workspace to feel like a prison. People will work harder if they enjoy coming to work.

One way to achieve this is by allowing adequate break times for team members. Every employee and team member is a human being. Make sure they know they have you’re okay to stand up and stretch their legs, go grab a cup of coffee as a pick-me-up, and take real lunch breaks.

Plus, lighten everyone’s mood by providing comfortable office chairs, appropriate lighting, even a cheery plant or two.

Provide Team Building Opportunities

For any team to experience great success, it’s imperative that they care about not only the organizational mission, but about each other. That’s why team building is so essential.

It’s not easy to build a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect among colleagues, but a good leader facilitates the growth of the team. Provide plenty of opportunities for team members to get to know each other. There should be moments when they can just hang out with no serious agenda, as well as more structured times when the team can strengthen their bond.

Support New Ideas and Creativity

In any team environment, you must be willing to explore new ideas. As a leader, the quickest way to squash motivation is to squash creativity in your team members.

In order to motivate your team to succeed, be sure to create a knowledge sharing environment. Doing so builds trust and increases social interaction amongst team members. This leads to employees feeling more welcome to share new ideas as well as enhances creativity – especially when it comes to problem-solving and innovation.

Final Thoughts

An effective leader can motivate a team to succeed. Try these strategies today!