Wondering how to effectively communication your vision with your team…
…and motivate your organization towards a goal?
Get out a pen and sheet of paper. You’re going to want to take notes.
Let’s break this down into YOU, the leader, and THEM, your organization.
Focus for YOU:
It’s ok to focus on yourself, especially when it’s helping those around you, too.
- It’s about the leader first. If you can’t lead a team, you will always have a small business. As a business professional, you must always be learning and willing to grow your leadership skills if you want growth. Your team does not want to be managed. You must inspire your team to take action, not to simply meet a quota. Motivate them by showing them the actions they should be taking themselves. Pay attention to the nonverbal words you communicating. This will require some self-reflection, but it’s time well-spent.
- Create a clear vision. BE BOLD. Stand up as a leader! Know where you are going and share it!! You’re sharing this vision to inspire a team of others who can also create their own success. Share your vision with enthusiasm and energy so they feel your passion.
- What is the gap? Identify gaps in your own skill set. Take the time to recognize and reflect on areas where you and your team need improvement. You cannot make anyone do anything, but you can help create action plans.
Never get comfortable. As a leader, you are never near your capacity of learning. Continuously seek to understand, learn, and grow as a leader. - Create an action plan. Base your plan around your goals. But remember that goals are a direct reflection of what your team wants to achieve. All must have success, not just the leader. When I set goals for myself, they are based around what my team wants to achieve. Initially, when I didn’t have a team to mentor, I had to actively set out to find like-minded individuals who were looking for a way create success for themselves, physically and financially. If your current team is ok with the race they are running, yet it’s too slow for you, remember that it is ok to set out to find others who want to match your pace. Just don’t forget about the rest of your pack.
- Put in the work. Here’s a hard truth: your business is either getting better or worse. Nothing ever stays the same. It is up to you to continue to move forward or choose to take steps backwards. No one is born a leader. Leaders are created as they develop leadership skills.
Focus for Your TEAM Starts With You:
- Set the tone. Do not let mediocrity slide. Building a strong team starts with you. Make an effort to choose to mentor smart team members, as quality is key. You want people who see the vision. People like YOU! It is ok to be bold about your feelings when you are talking to potential team members. You don’t want to waste their time if the goals do not align.
- You can’t just slide. Give your team challenges and things to learn daily! So you might be asking, how do I challenge them to grow? Do you take the time to express to them that you believe in them? Do you give constructive criticism? Challenge them by encouraging them to continue to be better! Do NOT accept BS excuses for failure or lack of effort on their part. You know they can be great!! Share with them that you’ve got their back!
- Spend time with your team. When I treat my team like family (because they are!), they know I care. Whether it’s a virtual team workout or a lunch date, I am trying very hard to continue to let my team know that they truly are a part of my family, and I value our time together.
- Execute the right things. Push people to their maximums and stop speaking to minimums. Why settle for only helping five people a month when you could shoot for fifteen?! Inspire your team to push themselves – to raise the bar.
- Celebrate the wins. Acknowledge what is going well and make a plan of action to continue the success. Delegate by asking leaders to share what’s working for them! Inspiring your team to take action gives them confidence in their abilities as a leader. Not only will this help them develop these key leadership skills, but something they say may speak to their fellow team members, allowing them to further reach their goals!
Show your team that you believe in them.
Tell your team just how thankful you are for them. A simple gesture of sharing this can go a long way.
- Lead from the front. You team is dying to follow you to a destination! Share your failures along the way. This will help lead others to take action. Remember that people tend to see the highlight reel, not all of the hard work that went into making the success possible. Share your struggles to show your team that is possible for them to achieve, too.
You’ve collected all of this information, but how do you put it into place?
It’s quite simple, really!
Think about your goals. What you want and why you want it.
Share your goals with your team. Inspire them by showing them the way.
Remember that US helping more people makes US an unstoppable team!
It’s not a ME thing… it’s a WE thing.
Catch the full Business Tip Tuesday video here, and be sure to head over to Melanie Mitro every Tuesday at 10am EST for a new weekly topic!