One of the greatest
challenges facing many businesses today is finding ways to motivate and inspire
their team members every day. This task is growing even more difficult, due to
the turbulent economic conditions; we are facing and the ever increasing pace
of change all around us. I hear many of my clients asking the question, “When are things going to return to normal”?
Well I am afraid to say this is the new normal, change and al the uncertainty,
which is associated with it, is here to stay. The rapid pace of change is not
showing any signs of slowing down at all In fact all indicators are pointing towards
the pace of change accelerating even further in the foreseeable future.
If we as business leaders,
want to stay in the game and flourish, going forward, we need to find ways, to
not only work within the changing and shifting environment we face, but also to
be open to search for and discover ways of using change, as a tool for
discovering new opportunities for our businesses. Despite the constant change
all around us, it has never been more important to create a crystal clear
picture of exactly what you want for your business, organisation or team.
Remember, vision is your compass or the tool, which offers you guidance and direction.
So when faced with constantly changing conditions, circumstances and new
innovations, you will very quickly become overwhelmed, if you do not have a
clear picture of where you want to take your business, organisation or team.
This clarity of vision and
purpose, will equip you to explore any changed circumstances, changed market conditions
or even new innovations and give you the benefit of foresight. You will be able
to see how these new conditions, can assist you and your team to accelerate
your progress, improve your performance, whilst still inexorably moving towards
achieving your vision and goals. Without a clear vision and a set of dynamic
strategic plans, any leader, no matter how experienced and capable, will
quickly become overwhelmed and be unable to continue to positively influence
their team members to perform at their optimal levels. The leader will be
unable to be the example, they need to be to motivate and inspire their team
members, to perform at their best.
Communicate
Your Vision
It astounds me how many
organisations, have a great vision for the future, but it is one of the best
kept secrets. The only way to ensure that you are moving in the direction of
your vision and will be equipped to achieve your organisational goals, is to
ensure that everyone in your team or teams, knows, what the overall vision of
the organisation is, their individual teams vision and goals and their
individual role in delivering on this vision. When your team members are clear
on what is expected of them and there is no ambiguity around expectations, they
will automatically become more inspired and driven to support their fellow team
members, to achieve the team or organisational vision and goals.
Creating
Your Vision
Commit these to paper, and
ensure that they are clearly and regularly communicated to all stakeholders.
They must be easy to understand and very easy to communicate to all team
members. Remove any ambiguity and keep them as simple as possible. American
Express, for example, who are in the business of providing credit card services
to people all around the world, have a very simple, yet extremely descriptive,
vision statement “Become the worlds most
respected service brand”
This simple and short, yet
very clear vision statement gives their team members, a very simple, yet
profound message about what they want to create in the future. McGraw-Hill Companies,
who publish text books for students have a really inspiring vision statement “Support economic growth and job creation,
by creating a smarter, better world” I know a vision statement like that, would
get me up and inspired in the morning, eager to contribute to the overall
vision of the organisation.
Communicate
your vision
Once you have invested the
time to create a vision statement, which resonates with you and the picture you
have for your business, organisation or team is clear for all to see. Ensure
that this is regularly communicated to all stakeholders. The best way to get
all stakeholders to take ownership of the vision and internalise it, is to
ensure that they are involved in the creation of the vision. When people feel
included in the process and they have a stake in the creation of the vision for
the future, they will be far more inspired to support you and the overall
vision of the team or organisation.
It is also crucial to
regularly communicate your vision, mission and goals to your team members, as
often as feasible. This can be achieved by communicating the message at the
start or end of every meeting, sending our weekly vision messages to your team
via email, text messages or even small promotional business cards. The more
creative you are and the more often each team member thinks about, understands
and commits to carry out their part in delivering on the vision, the greater
will be the success and the overall motivation within the team.
Shift
the Way you Look at Things and the Things you Look at will Change
When your team members are
equipped with a clear understanding of the overall vision for their team or organisation
and they completely understand their individual role on delivering on this, they
are able to make a crucial shift to the way they see everything around them. As
they are clear about where they are going, things that used to be “IN” their way and as such, they were
constantly looking for ways to get through them, almost as if by magic shift
and are now “ON” their way. When
anything is on your way, overwhelming circumstances, become manageable and the
same experience that was in your way before, now becomes part of the success journey
and your team members are able to discover what they can learn form or get from
any experience.
This subtle, but crucial
shift will see the motivation and inspiration levels within your organisation
go through the roof. Inspiring and motivating your team, is not an event, it is
a process, which when carried out daily, will result in far more satisfied, fulfilled
team members, who are driven to help their organisation achieve the results
they want.
No comments:
Post a Comment