According to our recent survey the number one challenge facing leaders and managers, right now, is keeping the team motivated.
It was clear from reports, such as Gallup’s 2017 exploration into the state of the global workplace, that motivation and employee engagement levels were already dismally low long before the crisis hit.
In fact, Gallup showed that worldwide, only 13% of the workforce were engaged and that the costs of active disengagement were astronomical in terms of productivity, performance and profitability. In the UK alone, the cost of disengagement in the workplace has been estimated at somewhere in the region of £52 billion and £70 billion per year.
Ask yourself, how motivated are your team and what could that be costing you?
Covid-19 has had a profound impact on the way we work, where we work and how we feel about work, and like you, your teams are having to navigate these unprecedented levels of change against a backdrop of fear and uncertainty, with no real end date in sight.
Working from home, getting to grips with new technology, caring for loved ones, travelling safely to work, the intensity of social distancing regimes, job uncertainty, stress and overwhelm are all factors that hamper motivation levels.
With the costs of having a disengaged workforce being so high, can you really afford to wait until the crisis is over to get team motivation back on track?
The current crisis will eventually dissipate but some aspects of the way we work will be changed forever and how you motivate and engage your team now could be the difference between surviving and thriving in the post-covid situation.
So, what are you going to do to keep your team motivated and engaged so that you emerge from this crisis with the capability to respond to whatever the ‘new normal’ looks like?
Though significant cultural change takes time, here are six things you can start doing now to improve motivation and engagement…
COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR TEAM OPENLY, HONESTLY AND POSITIVELY
Open and honest communication is essential during a crisis. Although you may think you’re protecting your team from the worst, by keeping your team in the dark you might actually be causing them more anxiety.
Take time to communicate with your team regularly so that they feel comfortable enough to raise issues with you; remember that communication is a two-way street so be prepared to listen and respond honestly.
Do present a clear picture of what’s happening but make sure you adopt a positive and optimistic outlook in order to buoy motivation.
If you really want to motivate your team, don’t make the mistake of treating everyone the same. Treat your team as individuals and never forget that they have real lives outside of work which you must respect.
Different things motivate different people so developing the capability to listen effectively on an individual level will help you to get a better understanding of what each team member needs.
You’ll be able to pick up on all sorts of cues such as confidence, body language, stress levels and receptiveness to change. This knowledge will enable you to make better decisions about what level of support people need, what roles will suit them and where they can add the most value.
INVOLVING AND ENGAGING YOUR TEAM IN THE CHANGE
Another way to improve motivation is to involve and engage your team in the change process. If you don’t, you may increase the feelings of helplessness that so many people feel in crisis situations.
The more you include your team, the more ownership they’ll have for the outcomes and the more motivated and engaged they’ll be.
When you create an environment where your team can contribute ideas, initiate change and make things happen you’ll be in a better position to overcome obstacles and accomplish your goals.
Asking powerful questions rather than telling your team what to do will have a big motivational impact.
Powerful questions are provocative queries that put a halt to evasion and confusion and create a greater possibility for expanded learning and fresh perspectives.
Facilitate awareness, resourcefulness and responsibility for taking action by asking questions that enable your team to step up and drive outcomes that they can own and be proud of.
Giving your team regular and appreciative feedback is an essential skill that will help you generate much higher levels of motivation and engagement.
More than ever, in a crisis situation, it’s important to avoid using feedback to advise or blame, instead notice when your team members are doing well and focus on the positive behaviours you’re seeing, keeping your feedback simple, neutral and supportive so that you can make positive progress.
Getting this wrong will further demotivate your team but when you master the ability to give (and receive) constructive feedback you’ll soon see an increase in motivation and engagement.
Celebrating your team’s achievements more regularly will have a positive impact on the motivation of your team so create lots of opportunities to celebrate successes along the way by setting smaller, achievable, goals that move your team one step further in the direction you want to go.
THE TAKEAWAY…
These are the things you can start doing right now to keep your team motivated and engaged. They’re skills that take some people a career to cultivate and sometimes never achieve.
If you don’t already have these skills in spades then our award-winning online management development programme, STAR® Manager, can help you develop these skills in just a few short months, starting right now.
During this fun and engaging programme, you’ll learn how to:
- Improve motivation and morale and increase employee engagement through simple behaviour changes
- Increase the contribution and productivity of your team without sending them into overwhelm and keeping motivation levels high
- Communicate and collaborate more effectively with your team in a way that buoys motivation
- Trigger stronger innovation and creativity in a more motivated and accountable team
- Build resilient, happier and more motivated teams capable of thriving through crisis
But, what about your motivation? What can STAR® Manager do for you?
Not only will you gain essential new skills to get you through Covid, but you’ll also stand out and gain a reputation as a leader who can motivate your team in the harshest of circumstances. With a more motivated and engaged team, you’ll have the confidence to relinquish some control and get time back for yourself to focus on more value-added activities that could make the difference between success and failure.
You can even gain a serious management qualification in as little as three months, without any downtime, which will enhance your leadership credibility and improve your future career prospects.
Although Covid-19 has complicated other traditional training delivery methods, you can easily join our STAR® Manager programme today and be confident that the programme will run on rails throughout covid and beyond.
The STAR® Manager programme will deliver benefits for you faster than even the very best live programmes. You’ll complete the programme in bite-sized chunks of one hour or less, whenever and wherever you are, and because you start applying what you learn from day one, you’ll start seeing the results in the motivation of your team straight away.
Did you know that within just a few weeks of starting the STAR® Manager programme, delegates undertaking the programme during Covid reported a 33 x ROI?
They achieved these results through improvements they made using a new ‘Operational Coaching®’ approach to management, despite the Covid situation.
Here are a few insights from some of our STAR® learners…
Curious to find out more about how they did it?