Dont ask me how to inspire your team... Ask them!

I was asked recently by the leader of a recruitment sales team 'how do I motivate and inspire my sales team when the next sale is really challenging and clients say no, more often?' My answer was very simple, if a little short... 'you dont ask me, you ask your team...'


Seriously Demotivated individuals

It reminded me of when I was leading a team back in my corporate days. I had been placed as a project leader of a team of 6 HR Professionals. All of them had been either Senior HR Managers/Recruitment/Training Managers and they were all based in different parts of the country. None of them had 'elected' to be part of this project group and to make matters even harder, they had all been given redundancy notice but had been told they had to complete this project first. To say they were not motivated was the century's understatement. The company they were working for had just told them they were surplus to requirements, yet they had a really important project to complete first. To make matters much worse, I was the only member of the team that hadnt been served notice, in fact I had recieved a promotion. That didnt make me a popular line manager immediately either!

The first meeting we had was one that made me want to go home and hide!... The team spent 4 hours giving me first hand the brunt of their raw emotion and made it very clear that they did not choose to be in this position and did not see why they should do it.

I on the other hand had been given some particularly challenging goals to achieve in the 6 months by the HR Director. I knew I couldnt do it all myself especially as the most important and technical aspect of this project was one of my greatest weaknesses!

Where to begin?

So how was I ever going to motivate a team that had been told they were not viewed as employees the company wanted to keep...?

Well... Thats exactly what I asked each of them. I met up with each of them individually and asked them, what if anything could possible motivate them to complete this project and to complete it with pride and satisfaction.

One Manager said 'I would like that the company changes its mind about making me redundant and wants me back again'

Another said 'I want you to assist me to get a fantastic job for myself out of this role, with a great reference'

Another said 'I want to feel like part of a really high performing team and I'd like to learn some new skills as im considering setting up my own business'

Each of them had a very different reason for wanting to even contemplate completing the project well and a very different way they wanted to be motivated. Having the one to ones was extremely insightful, it allowed me to see what made each member of the team tick and what turned them right off!

Structuring the Team to play to strengths and preferences

I set up a team day and we all completed a psychometric to allow individuals to learn more about themselves, how they naturally perform best and about each other. Traditionally, in that company, individuals would have had set job profiles but knowing now what I knew about how to get each person into flow, I got them to structure their own accountabilities, choosing what they wanted to work on, either because it was a natural strength or because it was an opportunity to learn a new skill.

All of the project tasks were taken by someone in the team on the day as if by magic. In fact, some members of the team were starting to get quite exited about their projects.

Line Manage me the way I like it best...

Each member of the team as well as picking projects had told me how they liked to be line managed. One manager said 'just leave me to it, tell me what you need and ill get it to you but dont be in my face all day' another said, 'please call me every day in the morning and we can discuss my priorities, this builds my confidence'

Each day as I was line managing I had in my mind the ultimate goal of the individual and we would discuss their progress not just operationally but personally so they knew that their personal success was as important to me as the professional ones.

The result?

I couldnt have dreamt it. We smashed all the goals and well within the time and under budget! My review said that all the goals I had been set were far exceeded... This was totally down to the team being inspired to achieve. Without them, I would have got nowhere...

and by the way, the Manager that wanted to be offered a job back - was offered a promotion instead of the redundancy at the end of the 6 months - however, turned it down as the time had given them chance to assess what they really wanted out of life! Each Manager got exaclty what they had desired for themselves out of this 6 months and some of them confided to me it was the best experience they had to date in their careers...

So if you want to know how to inspire your team, here are my top 5 tips!

1. Find out what motivates them to achieve in the first place - what do they want out of this experience ultimately and how can you help them?
2. Complete some kind of psychometric tool, like the Talent Dynamics Profile test to create more awareness of strengths and preferences in teams
3. Allow the team members to divide up the accountabilities with you so they pick the projects they love doing and the ones they can do well
4. Keep track of both professional and personal goals.
5. Line Manage your team in the way they enjoy being line managed. You dont have to treat everyone the same you do however need to be fair. Everyone wants to be managed differently.