Motivation in teams

Reason

The inspiration for this article comes from something I’ve heard so many times: that after a certain experience, or years in the industry you need to be able to self-motivate and set yourself goals agreed with the company you work for. Well…I do not agree with this.
I can certainly set goals and seek my company’s support in achieving them, this process doesn’t necessarily influence my motivation or performance evaluations in the coming year.

Real fact

Professionals know how to self-motivate themselves and find interesting things to do, but eventually, other companies/recruiters will reach them and motivate them even more. When this “external motivation” arises, it can lead to (valuable) team members leaving. It’s crucial to stop focusing on self-motivation in performance evaluations and job appraisals!

Leader’s role

It’s the leader’s role to motivate it’s team. Strategies can be put in place, but in the end, it’s a top-bottom approach and a healthy company shouldn’t expect the motivation of the employees to be bottom-top.
The lead should always know when someone is searching for a new role if someone wants a new job, company, project or what’s happening in there. He should always think about how to foster a feeling of belonging for his team members and offer growth opportunities, and even if that person is searching for a completely new role which does not exist in the company, the lead should try at least to help that guy work on tasks of that kind, which belong to that role. He needs to help that person evolve because you never know what the future brings.

Usually, small things make the difference. Being straightforward as a lead, having clear communication and having constructive feedback is also a motivating factor for your team members to come in the next day to the office.. An open dialogue can help keep team members engaged and motivated.

Company’s role

This should be a company culture to motivate their people to remain there and to keep their team performing.

Everyone is replaceable, yes, I agree with that, but you as a manager need to think about the cost of replacing a guy (cost of finding people with the same skills, then finding the people who will be right for that team, then convincing him/her to come, then teaching him/her how things are done in your company, and if your team is pretty small you might get its performance/productivity go down due to getting back in a forming phase)

Investing in employee motivation and retention always saves companies time and resources in the long run. I know a lot of people who left the companies I worked for, but their loyalty still lies in there. The connections and support for those companies will remain forever, since in there, they found managers and leads that really helped them evolve.

Manager’s role

Managers need to explain to the leaders they guide, the importance of building trust and loyalty with employees, having meaningful connections and ongoing support.

They need to discuss and explain the benefits of having long-term relationships with team members, and how will this bring value to the company.

Another important aspect that only a handful of managers talk about, but never teach their leads is the relationship between motivation and burnout, and the importance of addressing signs of burnout within the teams. They should provide strategies for preventing burnout since in the end, without team-member you’ve got no workforce.

Employee’s role

Be open to what your lead is offering. If you don’t know how you feel about something, don’t say no by default, be open to trying it out, and ask for more information. It might turn out to be fine or even make you happy and motivate you to try out new things and come back tomorrow in the same office.

Conclusion

We can “explore concepts” like intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation or the impact of rewards, but this is not the goal of this article. The goal was to ask yourselves, who’s responsibility is actually to motivate you, or the members of your team.