I was reminded just recently how important Inspiration is in creating engaged teams when I was chatting with some former colleagues about how at the moment they just going through the motions after the latest re-organization, which still needs to be fully explained and implemented.
Too often companies just expect employees to be engaged without having to do anything to achieve it, but this is not how it works. For sure people come to work and will put in an 8-hour shift in return for their paycheck, but to really get the best out of them we need to inspire them, ignite their passion and give them a sense of purpose.
When we do that not only will people go above and beyond, but they will also go home feeling that they have achieved, or are working towards, something valuable, which give us a win-win result. Our employees are happy, they enjoy their work, and the company benefits from achieving above average results. Happy people are productive people.
But when companies do nothing to inspire their teams and hope that they will do a great job just because they receive a salary the work can become mundane, boring even and the days seem to just drag along. Just as inspiration can be contagious so can boredom and disengagement, which then leads to demotivated and underperforming teams.
It’s amazing how often this happens and usually, the bosses blame their staff, but it’s the role of management and leadership to provide the inspiration.
In order to inspire our teams and increase engagement we need to be inspired ourselves, we need to be passionate about the work that we are doing, about the results we are looking achieve. In my experience it’s impossible to inspire teams when you yourself are not inspired, so, first of all, you need to find you’re own inspiration.
Once we are inspired ourselves we can look to show our passion, passion can be infectious.
Then we need to look to give our teams a purpose, a challenge, something to aim for, a goal which will give them a sense of achievement.
This can be something simple, it needs to be measurable so we know when its been achieved, it could be something as simple as increase productivity by 1%, increasing positive customer feedback, and we need to let them know how we will celebrate when this has been achieved. There has to be something in this for our teams, even if it’s only a cake to mark this small improvement.
Once we start this inspiration and get our teams engaged we have started a journey which can lead to amazing results.
When someone is inspired they hold the power to impact the world.
If you want to know more about increasing the engagement of your teams email me at gordon@leaderhip-principles.com to arrange free 60-minute strategy session.
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