Motivating the Team

As practicing leaders, many of us try to jump straight into team motivation, not recognizing the importance of laying the proper groundwork.  So first, a quick summary of previous Leadership Tips: Becoming a Leader, Defining Your Vision and Communicating the Vision. All organizations are led by someone.  It is not always the person "in charge" who is leading.  The leader is anyone who influences the direction of the individuals that make up the team.  Some actually lead the organization in an unproductive direction.

Many books and articles have been written about motivating a team.  Classes are taught about this subject and you can even earn a degree in aligning a team with a common goal.  The next several columns in this newsletter will focus on a variety of methods to use to accomplish group motivation.

Topics will include:

Listening to Individual Team Members

This is a skill that is more difficult than most think.  It is also more powerful than most can imagine.  Listening with empathy is listening with the intention to see things from that person's point of view.  It is typically not possible to change someone's motivation until you know where they are coming from.

Identifying Leaders (and Non-Leaders)

Who are the leaders in your organization?  How do you know?  It is often difficult to tell who has natural leadership skills, who has skills that can be developed and who needs to stay away from leadership positions.  There are some great tools to help sort through it all.

Momentum (Building It and Maintaining It)

Recognizing positive momentum in your organization is an opportunity that is easily missed.  Momentum in the wrong direction can cause tremendous harm if you don't catch it early.

Building Leadership Skills

Being a leader takes practice.  I have been guilty of thinking I am a good leader and therefore don't need to improve.  I have also been guilty of thinking that my team has had adequate leadership education because they've had more than most.  How do you continue to improve these important skills?

Delegating, Follow-up and Tracking Progress

The ability to effectively delegate is harder than it sounds.  That is why so many of us continue to do it ourselves.  We will cover laying the groundwork for proper delegation, scheduling a follow-up method (not micro-management), and proven methods to keep up with it all.

Capitalizing on the Talents, Skills and Goals of Many (Synergize)

Vanilla Ice said, "Stop, Collaborate and Listen." It is this wisdom that encourages us to find ways to collect input, knowledge and motivation from all team members.  When this is done well, unbelievable goals can be accomplished.

Developing your Proactive Mentality

Before Leadership Insights had a name, our first article was titled "First - Become a Leader." That's easy to do for a short time but it is hard to do over a long period of time.  How can you maintain that proactive mentality and how can you get it back when it gets "soft?"

Your task is to evaluate your own knowledge and recent performance in each of the above areas.  As the lessons come, you will see how they begin to build on one another.  If you have an expertise or elevated interest in any of these areas - Please Share.

Sharing Your Vision

Last month, we discussed Defining Your Vision and prior to that, we talked about Becoming a Leader.  It is really important to follow those steps before moving on to the next level in your Leadership Development. Staff communications and building staff morale are the most common issues that I am asked to help with. In a team setting - a vision, a mission and a set of goals are wasted unless the entire team is intimately familiar with them all.

To have a unified and motivated team there must be a deliberate system of communication.  The system needs to include opportunities for everyone to listen AND to share.

Follow these steps to develop a strong communication system within your organization:

1) Commit - In order to have excellent staff communications, you first have to commit to success.  There will be challenges and roadblocks to your goals, but once you have committed, you will continue to adapt until you have a strong system.

2) Decide what to Communicate - Meetings without agendas soon turn into "complaint sessions".  Decide the purpose of the communications overall then break it into little bites that can be spread out over time.  (See the next article for an idea to get started.)

3) Develop a Communication Plan - Every organization is different and needs a different blueprint of communications.  Some practices are run by family members, others have multiple locations and some are staffed by primarily part time people.  Look at several options of methods to communicate and pick the best.  Some tools you can use are meetings (before, during or after office hours), e-mails, message boards, conference calls, video conferencing, etc.  Beware - There is not a perfect plan and that is ok. (Click here to see the plan for my practice.)

4) Implement the Plan - You have taken the time to carefully develop a communication plan.  Now start.  I recommend a little at a time.

5) Adjust the Plan - Your first try will not be perfect and even if it is, it will not stay perfect.  It is important that you schedule a time to make adjustments to your plan.

This may sound complicated and that's because it IS complicated.  It is a critical component of becoming an effective leader and is worth the effort.  The rewards are a motivated, dedicated and aligned staff and will come with time.  Stick with it.

Defining Your Vision

Imagining what you want as if it already exists opens the door to letting it happen. - SHAKTI GAWAIN In the last issue, I presented several questions to help you determine the things that matter most to you. If you took the time to write your answers to these questions, you have a new awareness of what you are meant to accomplish.

Now with this new outlook, you can paint the picture of the life you will build. You have the input you need to imagine the best for yourself, your professional team and your family. Once that develops, you can start making it a reality.

I define a "Vision" as a clear, well-defined description of what you want your life to become. It is a target. To be effective, it must be well thought out with deep consideration of your personal values and principles. You should have at least two "Visions." One for your personal life and one for your professional life.

To develop your own Visions, try following these steps:

1. Answer the 5 questions from our last Newsletter in this column.

2. Study the answers to align yourself with the values that matter most in your life.

3. Imagine your home, your family when everything is perfect.

4. Imagine the practice of your dreams, and your role in it.

5. Write it as if it has already occurred.

This exercise is very important as you continue your development as leader. It sets your target, your direction. I like to think of it as a lighthouse. A lighthouse stays where it is built, lighting the way continuously. When we lose our way, whether due to a storm or lack of attention, the lighthouse's position is consistent. It gives us steadfast guidance that we can trust.

First, Become a Leader

No matter our position in a practice, we have the opportunity to lead.  We have chances to influence team members, patients or vendors to help us accomplish our vision for the practice.  To lead effectively, it's best to look at what matters most and find a way to dedicate time to the tasks that actually matter. Take a moment to answer these questions:

1. What interests you most?

2. What to you feel passionate about?

3. What do you want to accomplish?

4. What do you believe in?

5. What is your potential?

After you've taken the time to honestly answer these questions with good consideration, you can begin to see where to start developing yourself.