Leadership: Motivate your team

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Leadership: Motivate your team

If you’re like most leaders, you may struggle to keep your team motivated from time to time. This is normal. Everyone struggles to stay motivated. However, many leaders become frustrated when it feels as though they’re not motivating their teams enough. It knocks their confidence and makes them feel insecure as leaders.  But, it didn’t have to be that way. What’s the secret to keeping your team motivated? Learn how to motivate them. The most successful leaders understand several key tips for keeping their teams motivated. Today, we’re going to give you the tips you need to keep your team motivated.

“Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

— Vince Lombardi

You don’t need to motivate everyone.

Many leaders make the mistake of trying to motivate everyone on their teams. Then they get frustrated when not everyone on the team responds to their attempts to boost motivation. The most effective leaders understand that they don’t need to motivate everyone. That’s right – you don’t need to motivate everyone on your team. You just need to motivate the ones who want to be motivated. 

Some people on your team may be self-motivated. Others may need to be motivated by other things, whether it’s you, a quote, a song, etc. Still, others may not realize they need your help. How do you know who needs your help and who doesn’t? Ask yourself: Who is ready for my help right now? Make a list of the people on your team that you think are ready for your help right now.

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”

— Zig Ziglar

Help them find their Why

Motivate your team with their Why. One of the biggest motivators for most people is their Why, that is, their reason for wanting to succeed. Having a why is critical to success in business and in life. It drives you to keep going when you’re frustrated or overwhelmed. When you’re facing a challenge in your business, your Why will keep you focused on finding solutions to the issue. 

Once you’ve identified who to help, meet with them and ask if they have a Why. Many network marketers who are new to business may not have one. Even those who have more experience may not have a Why. Your intention is to help them find it if they haven’t yet. If they don’t, help them find it. Ask them:

•           Why did you become a distributor?

•           What do you hope to achieve? Why?

•           Why is that important to you? What would achieving that mean to you and your family?

•           How would you feel if you achieved that?  Why?

•           And if you need to, go through the questions again until you get to the heart of the matter!

Having a Why can help them get and stay motivated, especially when it’s challenging. If they’re having trouble finding theirs, share yours with them and share your process in finding it, if you feel comfortable doing so. They may wish to see an example to ensure they’re on the right track. They may also not feel comfortable sharing until you’ve shared. Think of this as a way to bond with the team members and show your empathy as a leader. 

When they know their Why

Once they have a Why, help them use it as a motivating factor. Remind them of the reasons they have their Why. Encourage them to not only save their Why to their Teamzy account, but also review it regularly so they can keep it top of mind. Additionally, you can write it under their notes in your account so you can remind them of it as well. Be sure to check in with them about it, regardless of their level of motivation.

Appeal to their biggest motivators

What motivates people:: recognition or status and relationships. In other words, the recognition or status they receive from achieving their goals motivates them to succeed. They’re also motivated by the accolades they get from their leaders or peers when they do. Find what appeals to them and use it to motivate them to achieve their goals and build the foundation for a strong business. 

When they’re feeling their motivation starting to wane, bring it back to their preferred method of motivation. This will help them reconnect to their Why and will ignite their motivation to succeed. 

Recognition or status

Want to motivate people better? People who are motivated by recognition or status thrive on attention. They appreciate being celebrated for everything from achieving goals to celebrating small wins. They thrive on the rush of victory and the recognition it brings. Appeal to their motivation by shouting them out whenever you get a chance. Here are some ideas to help you appeal to them and boost their motivation

  • Team Leaderboards: leaderboards encourage competition and your team and allow those to thrive on recognition to feed into this motivation. 
  • Celebration posts on social media: people love recognition on social media. Who does it love to see their name tagged? Doing a celebration post to recognize someone on your team will provide motivation to help them continue to thrive.
  • Great intros of new people: welcome people to your team with a great introduction. This will help them feel more comfortable and will allow them to build rapport with other team members.
  • Celebrations on team Zoom calls: when you get together with your team on Zoom be sure to celebrate any important milestones and victories.
  • Small thoughtful gifts: small thoughtful gifts are little tokens of recognition that anyone can appreciate.
  • Handwritten personal notes: written personal notes help you show people on your team that you appreciate them. They make everyone feel special.

Relationship/Connection

Many people are motivated by relationships and their connections with others. They thrive on recognition as well, but instead of public recognition, they prefer a more personal touch. Here’s how to motivate them:

  •  Consistent check-ins: consistency builds trust and getting facetime helps to motivate your team members who are motivated by connection. Schedule chickens with them on a consistent basis to help them feel appreciated and recognized.
  • Team Zooms: team Zooms are a great way for people to connect with one another, build relationships, and boost motivation.
  •  Connecting in person with you and the team: meeting online is easy and convenient, however, meeting in person is even better. This is especially true for those people who thrive on face-to-face contact. Schedule a time to meet in person.
  • Small thoughtful gifts: small thoughtful gifts are little tokens of recognition that anyone can appreciate.
  • Handwritten personal notes: written personal notes help you show people on your team that you appreciate them. They make everyone feel special.

But, it’s not just recognition from you and their relationship with you, it’s also the recognition they receive from the team and the connection they feel to the team that makes a huge difference! They are motivated by their connections to others so make sure they feel recognized by you and the team.

Teamzy can help you motivate your team

We developed Teamzy to make it easier to build your network marketing business and lead your team by example. Set and track your goals and activities and show your team how to do the same. Consistently connect with your team and entire network quickly and easily. Our online training programs help you sharpen your skills and your team’s. Keep yourself and your team motivated with Teamzy. Click here to learn more.

Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson

Hi. I’m Eric Johnson. I help busy Network Marketers be more successful. I've spent the last 20 years teaching and training relationship marketing and coaching business owners.