Establish Accountability - Motivate spirit
No one ever achieves anything great without believing in what they are doing. And no one can truly believe in what they are doing without investing a little bit of their heart and soul. Therefore, that is what you need to do within your team and with your customers; you need to motivate and inspire them. Sounds like a lofty goal? Well, let’s start with something simple. What is the one undeniable value that each of your teams have? What about your customers? Where does the buck stop for each of these individuals personally? What about professionally? Don’t know? Have you asked? What is stopping you from finding out? Before you can truly motivate someone, you need to know what matters to them. We talked earlier about knowing yourself; to build accountability you also have to know your team. Then talk to them in a language that makes sense to them. Make it easy for them to come to work every day; make sure they know what their purpose is; and make sure it is a purpose bigger than themselves. Make sure they know they are making a difference, and if they are not making a difference, ask why not. What could you do to help them make a difference? What could you do to motivate them to do great things, to live a life of consequence?
I had a dedicated colleague who, once a quarter, would try and self destruct. He was on quite a successful path for getting himself removed from the organization. So we had a frank and honest discussion, and I asked him what was going on. I asked him to consider if he still wanted to be part of the team, or if it was time for us to part ways, and then gave him some time to consider this. I explained that if he was on board, I would back him to the hilt; however, if he continued his destructive behavior, the negative repercussions would impact not only his position in the company, but also my own. After reflection, he came back and told me he believed in what we were doing, identified a correctable pattern of negative behavior; and committed to working with me to reach our goals. Would it have been easier to release this guy from the team? Absolutely! Would it have been the easy way out? Absolutely! I had to invest in my colleague, make him understand this investment came at a significant cost, and hope he would rise to meet the challenge, which, I am delighted to say, he did!
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