How to inspire people from other cultures, and all your people and teams, to the next level so you shine as a leader in your organization.
First of all, inspiring and motivating people to work harder, safer and more productively has very little to do with culture or where someone comes from. If your prejudice gets in the way it will hinder you so follow what I talked about last week to communicate cross culture then move on to today's five steps which inspire and motivate 99 % of people. The first part of inspiring across cultures is to do the 3 things I talked about last week.
When we do these things we can go to the next step of motivating and inspiring. I’ll give you five steps.
I’ve traveled to over 20 countries and worked with people from all walks and places in life. I’ve found the same basic principles apply to inspiring and motivating all people, just like in many other things.
Professional athletes follow the same workout and preparation guidelines no matter their culture. The human interaction process and rules of effective engagement is the same for all people. To inspire and motivate people we follow the same guidelines no matter what their culture is.
Step 1. Know the industry standard for achievement and productivity. Set a higher bar.
Step 2. Be realistic and transparent. Be honest with yourself and your team. Get in touch with your senses of commitment and determination.
Step 3. Give tons of positive accolades to all team members.
Step 4. Correct mistakes with compassion, effective constructive criticism and follow up with positive accolades. Share consequences for not improving.
Step 5. Create an atmosphere of good 2 way communication. Ask about and analyze process and progress; challenges and wins with a mastermind team who champions the objective and leads the rest of the team.
A client and I were talking about raising the bar for one of his guys to get him to the next level. The comment he made was, “Mike, the bars already very high for all and he has to get to it. How do we help him?”
We tell him what he’s doing well, give him constructive honest feedback on where he can improve and a consequence if he does not. We monitor and give positive feedback to him at every opportunity. Giving positive feedback motivates people to do better. It works. If he doesn’t improve we invoke the consequence and maybe replace him with a person who can reach the bar.
Teams are constantly changing and that’s okay. Good teams are built, they don’t happen on their own. You build, inspire and motivate an effective team by following 5 steps.
To motivate and inspire people we first have to understand standards, and we have to be committed, methodical, flexible and determined to push beyond those standards.
Step 1. Know the industry standard for achievement and productivity. Research it. Set the bar for you and your teams higher. Live by example and maintain the standard yourself. When you lead by example, it enables you to be transparent when requesting high standards.
Step 2. Be realistic and transparent. Tell your people and team what the standard is after your research. Back it up. Then tell them your expectation of where you want it to be. Be honest with yourself and them and then get in touch with your senses of commitment and determination to drive it and not give up. Good leaders are realistic and transparent and their people trust them. Good leaders lead by example and maintain the bar where they set it and constantly push themselves. It gives them the right to push their people.
Share with your people, that without setting higher goals than the average, we will have difficulty getting to the top of industry. When people are part of a team that excels they feel good. Talk to the good feelings that come from achieving top place and giving the best service. Ask them to imagine being part of the top team. What would it feel like?
Set your bar high and make sure all your people are aware of it. When an athlete sets a goal to win, they set a goal to raise the bar. It works. That’s why new world records are set every year in many sports. The same applies to business and work places. By setting high standards, we find ways to achieve them. By imagining the feelings we will feel upon achievement we anchor the determination and other positive feelings needed to get there.
Step 3. Give tons of positive accolades to all team members. Get in touch with your sense of commitment and determination here too. Commit to positive reinforcement. Be determined to share it.
When someone tells you you’ve done a good job, how do you feel? I feel proud when someone tells, and thanks me for doing a good job. Do you? Probably. Do it yourself. Tell the people who work next to you, that they've done a good job, when you notice something accomplished. Appreciate them. They will work harder for you.
Step 4. Correct mistakes with compassion, effective constructive criticism and follow up with positive accolades. Have consequences if they don’t correct themselves.
When giving the constructive feedback, sandwich the criticism with positives. Here’s an example. “You’re a really good worker. You could be much better at punctuality. If you don’t get here on time, we’ll have to replace you. We don’t want to do that. You’re a great customer service person and clients respond to you. We want you to do well. How can we help you, or what can you do to get here on time?
Step 5. Create an atmosphere of good 2 way communication. Ask and analyze progress, challenges and wins with a mastermind team who champions the objectives and leads the rest of the team.
Ask people on your entire team for feedback. Implement a feedback system through the leadership team. What’s working? What isn’t? What could we do to be better? Ask for real time examples of why they are making the comments and suggestions they are.
Discuss the feedback with the leadership mastermind team. Decide as a team how to approach the different situations that come up for the team members, and establish effective procedures for dealing with those circumstances. Implement new procedures if you have to. Change means being dynamic. If you want to be dynamic, you have to embrace change.
Find ways to measure the success. Meet regularly to discuss team progress and process. Make adjustments as needed and agree as a team. Let the lead team drive the initiatives to the rest of the team members.
As a lead team. Support each other in giving positive accolades to all staff members. Make sure all the leaders are watching for positive actions by team all members and patting them on the back when they notice, even if they are from another department.
We follow this method on construction sites. We use the whole leadership team to watch for positive actions and give positive accolades. The superintendent sitting in the job trailer can’t do all the positive feedback. He has to rely on his leadership team to notice and support all team members. This method and formula can work in any work place.
To recap, if you want to inspire and motivate your team to achieve and lead at the top of your industry, follow these 5 steps as a leader.
Step 1. Know the industry standard for achievement and productivity. Set a higher bar.
Step 2. Be realistic and transparent. Be honest with yourself and your team. Lead by example. Get in touch with your senses of commitment and determination.
Step 3. Give tons of positive accolades to all team members.
Step 4. Correct mistakes with compassion, effective constructive criticism and followed up with positive accolades. Share consequences for not improving.
Step 5. Create an atmosphere of good 2 way communication. Ask about and analyze process and progress; challenges and wins with a mastermind team who champions the objective and leads the rest of the team.
Do these things and take your team to the top. You’re guaranteed to get back all those positive accolades.
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