There will be times when you need above & beyond performance from your team or co-workers for your vision to be achieved. But the average person will not simply go above & beyond without being lead. If you want to achieve your vision, you will need to motivate and appropriately reward your team's exemplary efforts.
Any leader can tell you that leading is not easy. While the experience of heading a team and achieving an initiative can be incredibly rewarding, the process of getting there, at times, will be quite painful. That is because there will be bumps along the road toward your vision: a member of your team leaves their job, meaning extra responsibility to go around for everyone; quarterly numbers fall off, necessitating doubled production to improve next quarter's results; you are way over budget, requiring extreme cutbacks; or a major deadline passes, calling for accelerated efforts to complete the task.
However complicated the issue may be, the solution is relatively easy: sacrifices must be made. Implementing that solution, though, can prove quite challenging. Motivating a subordinate to action with the enticement of a year-end bonus is simple.
But how can you effectively and appropriately ask someone to make a sacrifice of a severe nature? If handled correctly, you can have a team willing to do whatever it takes to press on. If managed poorly, you may find yourself in an even more dire set of circumstances.
"Leadership means setting an example. When you find yourself in a position of leadership, people follow you," former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca explains. And as the leader, the first person to take one for the team should be you if you expect others to do the same. Rather than looking at a leadership position as one entitled to perks and privileges, an effective leader must view his or her own sacrifice as a consistent method for realizing their vision.
In driving the Chrysler Corporation from a near-death company to a profitable one, Iacocca made extreme sacrifices, including reducing his salary from that of a typical chief executive to only one dollar per year. Setting the pace on a constant basis encourages those following you to mirror your actions.
"Give people a convincing reason and they will lay down their very lives," business leader and activist Patrick Dixon says. Your team bought into your original vision. Keep it front and center in their minds when asking them to forfeit something, connecting the sacrifice to the finish line of realizing that vision.
Also, remind them that you are not asking for a permanent sacrifice, but a temporary one during this trying season. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as the old saying goes, such as longer hours or financial cutbacks. Once the worst has passed, you can turn the cruise control of normality back on.
"I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use. Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it," offers Iacocca. Explain exactly what you need from everyone, why it is necessary, and how you see the sacrifices working as a solution.
Giving your subordinates a detailed itinerary for navigating this road and reaching the destination will give them a clear view of your thinking. It will also show them that while this phase may be difficult, you are confident in overcoming it through a team effort.
You might not be able to financially compensate during a time of sacrifice, but you should still reward in other ways. If your team must work late, buy them dinner or offer additional flexibility in their schedule. If a cut in pay is required, offer extra vacation days or some other type of incentive.
Offering verbal praise might not have much tangible value, but publicly recognizing someone's sacrificial effort can be significant for that individual. Rewarding in this manner shows that you value and appreciate the sacrifices being made.
In addition to rewarding through alternative fashions, do not forget the efforts that allowed you to get through it once the challenge has passed. If the resources are now available, compensate individuals appropriately for the sacrifices they made. Also, broadcast both to your team and your industry what allowed you to accelerate ahead despite the bumpy road you had to travel. Not only will it make people individually and corporately feel that whatever they forfeited was worth it, it will create more motivation the next time a sacrifice is needed.
Meetings are rarely looked upon favorably by employees and managers alike, as most consider them to be an unproductive and useless part of their week. But when managed well, a meeting can become one of the most reliable and efficient tools you have to lead your team to achieve its goals.
A good leader concentrates on individual strengths and utilizing them to the fullest extent possible. But great leaders also focus on the weaknesses and find ways to support those shortcomings toward even more success.
Some leaders within your organization will have great pattern recognition, wisdom, trend anticipation, personnel insight and confidence, while others do not. Those who display these attributes will have the kind of intuition on which you should rely.
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