Use Clear Purpose to Motivate Your Team
When building a team, you must have a clear purpose. Without well-understood goals, people tend to waste time on non-essential activities that serve makeshift pursuits, such as vying for their manager’s attention or competing over salary levels with others.
Celebrate small wins as often as you can, but only when they align with company values or team goals.
Ultimately, it’s about helping people kindle the fire within themselves—helping them write the story about why they love what they do. These stories must be personal, authentic, and true.
Being personal is key. The purpose and connection must be felt, not talked about. How many times have you been touched, motivated, and felt appreciated by a motivational speech from managers many levels above? What if that person’s life has been made better by what you do? Invite a customer who has been deeply affected by your team’s work to share their personal experience. It will be more impactful, engaging, and encouraging than any company mission statement.
The purpose needs to be authentic. If you advocate a purpose that doesn’t align with your own leadership behaviours, people will view your attempts as manipulative.
Purpose doesn’t stick to people easily, especially when newly discovered. To make it present in people’s day-to-day work, it must become routine. If you only inspire your employees once and never discuss it again, don’t expect the effect to last long.
References
Cable, D. (2019) ‘Helping Your Team Feel the Purpose in Their Work’, Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2019/10/helping-your-team-feel-the-purpose-in-their-work [Accessed 5 July 2022].