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By Michelle LaBrosse, PMP
Inspire. Just the word itself causes us to pause and think. We may remember
world-renowned heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. or Mother Teresa, or
personal heroes like a teacher or mentor who brought out the best in us and
showed us the power of one person.
It’s easy in business to get cynical when we’re surrounded by what I like to
call “faux inspiration.” I’m talking about the corporate posters with
motivational sayings that are easy to spoof when the actions of management
don’t reflect the glossy images and quotations.
In my experience, inspiration comes from example. As Albert Einstein said:
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”
That means we all have the power to inspire others by our actions. As
managers, you’re in a prime position to inspire your team. Here are 10 ways
to get you started.
1. Have a clear goal with a reasonable approach to achieve it. Shooting for
the stars may work for you when you’re developing your personal goals, but
when you’re inspiring a team, people need to clearly see how they’re going
to get from point A to point B — and they need to believe it’s possible.
2. Be enthusiastic about each person’s contributions. Remember how good it
felt when a teacher recognized your contribution? You glowed all day and
nearly flew home. It costs nothing to tell people how they’re doing.
Recognizing what they’re doing well, and also giving ideas on how they can
work even better, goes a long way.
3. Wear your blue hat and leave the black hat at home. You may have played
the game where you wear different hats to assume different roles. The black
hat starts with the negatives and tells you everything that’s going wrong.
This is the person who can kill idea generation in any meeting. When you’re
inspiring a team, wear the blue hat. See the possibility and opportunity in
every challenge. Begin with what’s working, and build on it.
4. Focus on the strengths of each person. One of the biggest mistakes in
business is to focus on weaknesses instead of building strengths. It’s a
backward way to approach problem solving, like fitting the proverbial square
peg into the round hole. It’s faster and more effective to focus on the
strengths of your team members and develop them. Not only will you see
results faster, but you’ll also have a happier team because people are doing
what they’re good at and contributing at their highest level.
5. Clear hurdles like a superhero. How do you get your team to feel like
rock stars? Think like Superman and clear any hurdles in their way. When you
remove obstacles, you show your team that you’ve got their back.
6. Get the slackers off the team. Nothing brings down a team like slackers.
When people aren’t pulling their weight, it lowers the standards of everyone
and makes it seem like quality doesn’t matter. When you remove people who
aren’t performing, it improves morale because it shows your team that you’re
serious about the best results.
7. Roll up your sleeves. When you work with the team in the areas where you
can contribute, you send a strong message; your actions show that you’re
part of the group.
8. Acknowledge people’s contributions every week.
Many managers make the
mistake of recognizing people once a year. Recognition isn’t a holiday. It
should be a regular part of your team dynamic. Take the time every week to
tell people how they’ve contributed to the team.
9. Be the model of accountability you want to drive through your team. If
you’re telling people to be accountable while not meeting your own
deadlines, it doesn’t take too long for the eyes to roll. Keep your team
inspired by keeping commitments to them and meeting every milestone.
10. Show and communicate your progress. Don’t make the mistake of doing
project updates only at milestones. Communicate the progress of the project
every week to make sure you’re on track. And inside every one of these
steps, add one key ingredient: fun. Whether it’s a quick team-building
exercise during a milestone meeting or an inside joke that has come to
define your team, give people every reason to laugh out loud, and let the
sound of laughter inspire your team to be the best they can be.
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Michelle LaBrosse is the founder and Chief Cheetah of Cheetah Learning. An
international expert on accelerated learning and project management, she has
grown Cheetah Learning into the market leader for project management
training and professional development. In 2006, The Project Management
Institute, www.pmi.org, selected Michelle as one of the 25 Most Influential
Women in Project Management in the world, and only one of two women selected
from the training and education industry. Michelle is a graduate of the
Harvard Business School’s Owner & President Management program for
entrepreneurs, and is the author of Cheetah Project Management and Cheetah
Negotiations.
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