Effective Leadership Techniques: How to Inspire a Team

When you think of leadership, what comes to mind? Is it the manager at the local fast food restaurant or at a retail store? While both do have staff that they need to manage, train and lead. Chances are that when you hear the word leadership you’re thinking more along the lines of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Oracle founder Larry Ellison. These people are not just managers, they are great leaders. So what differentiates the average leader from a great leader? For one thing, leaders manage people and teams, great leaders inspire people and teams.  In this article we are going to explore how to inspire a team using the techniques of great leaders.

How to Inspire a Team: Inspiration VS. Motivation 

The terms inspiration and motivation are often used interchangeably, that’s because there is a lot of overlap in their meanings. If you are inspired to do something it means that you are also motivated to do it. But it doesn’t always work the other way around. In other words, inspiration almost always provides motivation, but motivation doesn’t necessarily provide inspiration. Let’s examine this concept a little more.

Motivation comes in two general forms, intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external). And both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations can be either positive or negative. Positive motivations provide a reward for the behavior, while negative motivations provide a negative consequence for a behavior. It’s very important that you, as a team leader have a clear understanding of the different types of motivation.

How to Inspire a Team:

Extrinsic Motivational Techniques

As the name implies, these are motivational techniques that originate externally, usually through a boss or person of authority. These techniques are designed to elicit a specific behavior or outcome in order to avoid a negative consequence. Some negative extrinsic motivational techniques include:

Negative Extrinsic Motivational Techniques:

• Setting deadlines – By setting a deadline you are clarifying the time frame in which a task must be completed. If it’s not completed within that time frame, then the employee or team has failed and presumably, there will be some kind of consequence for that failure, (demotion, loss of status, financial consequences Etc…)
• Sales quotas – Similar to deadlines, sales quotas imply that there will be negative consequences if performance goals are not met within a given time frame.
• Reprimands, demotions and termination –  These are all external, negative consequences associated with unmet expectations or poor performance. In order to avoid these negative outcomes, an employee or team must produce an outcome that meets a defined set of standards.

 

Pros of Negative Extrinsic Motivation Techniques:

• Highly Effective Short-Term – Negative motivation techniques can work extremely well in the short term.
• Good for Underperforming Employees – These are employees that have the skills and abilities, but need that little extra motivation.
• Good for Setting Minimal Standards – You can think of sales sales quotas here. By setting a sales threshold (quota) you are communicating the minimum acceptable level of sales for your team. Those who do not make their quota are subject to termination (negative outcome).

Cons of Negative Extrinsic Motivation: 

• Can Lose Effectiveness – Negative intrinsic motivational techniques tend to be less effective as a long-term motivational tool.
• Can Cause Stress and Lead to Burnout – Employees and teams that are under the constant threat of losing their job will become stresses causing poor performance and burnout.
• Can Lead to Increased Costs – Both stress and burnout can lead to higher costs through lost productivity, increased sick leave as well as high turnover rates causing increased hiring and training costs.

 

Positive Extrinsic Motivational Techniques:

Positive external motivational techniques are designed to produce the desired result through the use of external (outside of oneself) positive consequences (rewards) that one will receive upon the successful completion of a task. Examples include:

• Monetary rewards – Bonuses for meeting metrics such as sales goals, deadlines or customer satisfaction.
• Public recognition – Either through acknowledgements in meetings or through an employee recognition program (employee of the month).
• Career advancement – Promoting high performing employees is a good way to demonstrate to everyone that you value performance.
• PTO – Rewarding your top performers with an extra Friday afternoon off can go a long way.

Pros of Positive Extrinsic Motivation:

• Less stressful – Positive motivational techniques create a calmer, less stressful working environment for employees.
• Long term effectiveness – When implemented correctly positive motivational techniques can be used long term.
• Promotes loyalty – Positive motivational techniques contribute to employee satisfaction, low turnover and company loyalty.

Cons of Positive Extrinsic Motivation:

• Can get expensive – Monetary rewards are almost universally desirable, unfortunately not all businesses can afford this.
• Other rewards are hit and miss – Non-monetary rewards like public recognition can have little to no value to some individuals.
• Setting the right performance standards is critical – The minimum standards for getting a reward must be high enough that extra effort is required. But not so high as to be unattainable.
• Need to have a perception of fairness – Notice we said a perception of fairness. If other employees see the same people getting rewarded all the time they can perceive the criteria used as being unfair.

 

How to Inspire a Team:

Intrinsic Motivation:

All intrinsic motivation originates from within oneself. These are internal factors that are (mostly) independent of external forces. Intrinsic motivation produces behavior that designed to either get a psychological reward (positive intrinsic motivation) or to avoid a negative psychological outcome (negative intrinsic motivation).

Negative Intrinsic Motivational Techniques:

• FOMO – Fear of missing out. You hear this word associated with millennials, but don’t be fooled. Everyone has FOMO, it’s just a matter of “what” you’re afraid of missing out on. It could be that party or concert you were invited to even though you’re feeling ill. Or it could be that “sure thing” investment your neighbor told you about but you’d have to sell some your microsoft stock that you bought at $5. In both cases you are giving something up in order to have the possibility of something better.
• Catastrophizing –  Parents can relate to this one. We imagine that if we let our children play unsupervised, someone will come along and kidnap them. So we watch them like a hawk and do everything in our power to completely eliminate the (very tiny) risk.
• Phobias –  By definition, phobias are an irrational fear of something, flying, spiders, crowds. But people use that irrational fear as motivation to avoid situations where we could encounter the phobia. So if someone is afraid of flying, they may change their behavior by taking the train or driving.

Pros of Negative Intrinsic Motivation: 

• Keeps us safe – We evolved negative intrinsic motivation in order to keep us safe. Back in the caveman days, if you observed Grog going out to hunt a tiger and Grog never returned but you saw a tiger chewing on a human arm. That provided the intrinsic motivation to not hunt tigers by yourself. Similarly, when an employee gets reprimanded or terminated for a behavior. Other see that and will actively take steps to avoid the same fate.
• Can have a positive outcome – Let’s say that you decide to sell that microsoft stock that you bought for $5 so you can buy your neighbors “hot tip”. If your neighbor turns out to be right that fear of missing out paid off.
• Lightening does occasionally strike – Although the odd of you being in a plane crash or having your child kidnaped are extremely low. Plane crash and kidnappings do happen. Seth MacFarlane, creator of the show “Family Guy” woke up too late to catch his American Airlines flight on September 11, 2001. It turned out to be one of the planes that crashed into the world trade center.

Cons of Negative Intrinsic Motivation:

• Can Limit Growth – Nothing in this world is without cost. Sure, you may never die in a plane crash if you never fly, and your kid will never be kidnapped at the park if you never go. But there is a cost involved with those decisions too. By not flying you are limiting the number of places you can visit, cultures you can explore, and people you can meet.
• Can Inhibit Creativity – Being motivated by the fear of negative consequences can be very stressful. This is especially true for a work environment. If employees are always fearful of being disciplined they are unlikely to come up with creative solutions. The end result being that innovation is stifled.
• Contributes to Low Job Satisfaction and High Turnover – When employees feel constantly stressed they report lower job satisfaction and have higher turnover rates. This is costly not only in hiring and training costs, but also in productivity.

 

Positive Intrinsic Motivational Techniques:

Positive intrinsic motivation is based in our brain’s pleasure centers. We’re not doing things out of fear, we do them for the pleasure they bring us.

• Enjoyment – This is the reason that amateurs play sports. You probably know that you’ll never make the NBA, but you can still play basketball “for the fun of it”. The same thing applies to playing a musical instrument. The reward is the self satisfaction you get from the activity.
• Self-esteem – Everyone likes to think of themselves as a “good person”, but how do we know if we really are? Through activities like volunteering at a shelter, feeding the homeless, donating money and other charitable activities. All of these things motivate us by reinforcing the “good person” image we have of ourselves.
• Satisfaction – Are you one of those people who likes DYI projects? How about knitting, working on cars or even building model airplanes? Have you ever stopped to wonder why you like these things? I’ll bet that a lot of it has to do with the satisfaction you feel when the project is completed. Being able to look at something that you created yourself gives a lot of satisfaction.

Pros of Positive Intrinsic Motivation:

• Reduces or Eliminates the Need for Extrinsic Motivational Factors – As we talked about earlier, money is the best external motivator for most people. Having a team that is internally motivated to achieve a goal can eliminate the need for that extra expense.
• Requires Very Little Oversight – When intrinsic motivation is at it’s best, teams work together for the common goal with little need for micromanagement.
• Increases Job Satisfaction and Lowers Turnover – It is virtually impossible for someone who is positively internally motivated to be dissatisfied with their work.

Cons of Intrinsic Motivation :

• It’s Situational – Not everyone will be intrinsically motivated by the same task. For people on a marketing team, some may be internally motivated to increase market share, others will be motivated by finding ways to break into new or different markets. It’s rare that an entire team will be intrinsically motivated for the same task.
• It Can Be Lost – Even when your team is intrinsically motivated, external factors like regulations, red tape and bureaucracy can frustrate employees into losing that internal motivation.
• It’s Dependent on Management’s Cooperation – Using positive intrinsic motivation works well as long as management understands and agrees to the approach. Problems can arise when management doesn’t understand intrinsic motivational factors or implements a different corporate culture. This can happen with a change of ownership or even a change in management.

 

How to Inspire a Team: Inspiration

So we’ve talked a little bit about how to inspire a team with various motivational techniques. But what we haven’t touched on yet is inspiration. What is it? How is it different from motivation? And what are some techniques you can use to inspire a team to greatness?

Unlike motivation which can originate either internally or externally, inspiration is always an internal force. Inspiration pulls a person towards a goal in order to get some type of internal satisfaction. Another difference between motivation and inspiration is it’s longevity. Motivation is by nature temporary, while inspiration can last a lifetime.

What becoming a pilot taught me about how to inspire a team.

When I was a kid, I was inspired to become a pilot. My grandfather was a pilot, my father was a pilot and I spent many hours flying with both of them. So at the age of 14 I went to the airport and took my first flying lesson. When I turned 16 I got my solo (16 was the minimum age for solo). When I was 17, I became a full fledged pilot. So for the next 30 years I enjoyed flying all types of aircraft. And while I still have that inspiration to fly, health issues have grounded me these last 10 years.

So what exactly did I learn about inspiration by becoming a pilot? First of all, I learned that inspirational rewards are all internal. I wasn’t being paid to fly, in fact just the opposite. I was spending thousands of dollars on lessons, airplane rentals and study materials. But I wanted to reach my goal so badly that it didn’t matter, I was willing to do whatever it took in order to get that pilots license.

The second thing I learned was that while inspiration does come from within oneself, having the right external conditions are just as important. You see, while I absolutely love flying airplanes, I never would have discovered my passion had I not grown up in a family of pilots. If I hadn’t spent countless hours in airplanes from the age of 2 on, I likely never would have developed the inspiration to fly.

The third thing I learned was that, under the right conditions, authority figures and leaders can serve as role models for our inspiration. Both my grandfather and father were meticulous about safety. Always checking and rechecking the weather, the mechanical fitness of the airplane and constantly monitoring the instruments in flight. I observed this behavior and internalized it. After all, they had mastered a skill that I was eager to learn, and I took my ques from their behavior.

 

How to Inspire a Team: Leadership Examples, Tips and Techniques

Leaders who know how to inspire a team implement and have a clear understanding of these three fundamental principles of inspiration.

1 – Make the reward internal

Things like raises, bonuses and promotions as well as punitive measures such as demotions, reprimands and terminations are all temporary. They don’t work over the long-term and they lose effectiveness if overused. If you can get people to internalize a goal, your job as a leader just got 90% easier. So what can you do to get your team members to internalize your goals? Try these techniques:

• Communicate your goals clearly – Don’t just assume that your team knows and understands what your goals are. You need to be very precise and articulate them in a way that makes them relevant to the group. If it’s not relevant, it won’t be internalized. For example, making your goals relevant to your sales team will be a different conversation than making them relevant to your IT team. As a good leader you need to be able to translate the same vision into different messages.
• Give individual team members their own task, then step away – Once the team understands the overall or global goal, you can then assign tasks for the individual team members. Again, it important to be very precise here. The individual needs to understand the scope of the project, what the end result needs to be and the timeframe they have to complete it. Then step away and give them wide authority to complete the task as they see fit. Letting employees take ownership of a project is a great way to get them to internalize.
• Demonstrate your commitment to the team – Go to bat for them with management, show them that your are as committed to them as you want them to be to you. Remember that this is a bidirectional relationship, so the more commitment you show to your team members, the more commitment they will show you.

 

 

2 – Provide the right environment for inspiration to flourish

This is just as important as getting them to internalize their goals. Without the right environment that nurtures inspiration, it will quickly wither away and die. You can use these tips to promote an inspirational environment:

• Make sure goals, tasks and timelines are reasonable – While shooting for the stars can not only be acceptable but actually good when setting goals for yourself. It’s not very helpful as a team leader. It’s seen as setting your team up for failure, and no one is enthusiastic about going on a suicide mission.
• Give your team the tools they need to get the job done – You can dig a ditch with a shovel or a backhoe, give your team a backhoe.
• Be the “go to” person – Problems, conflicts and obstacles will always arise. As a leader make it your job to be a “fixer”. Address problems and conflicts within the team promptly, fairly and decisively. Help the team and its members to reach their goals by removing obstacles in their path. Things like bureaucratic red tape, paperwork and regulation hurdles should all fall into the leaders purview.

 

 

3 – Make yourself a role model

If you want to be a leader, give them something to follow. The old adage “do as I say, not as I do” does NOT apply here. A more appropriate one is “be the change you want to see”. Successful network marketers employ this strategy all the time. They know how to inspire a team, otherwise they couldn’t be successful at network marketing. They understand that their downline aspires to become just like them some day. So what do they do? They share their successes story, encourage their team members, act as cheerleaders and are available for training, coaching and mentoring. The good news is you don’t have to be a network marketer to do these things! Use the following techniques to enhance your status as a role model:

• Express and share your enthusiasm – If the leader isn’t excited about the goal no one else will be either. On the other hand, enthusiasm and excitement are contagious. When a team sees that their leader is truly enthusiastic, they will take on that enthusiasm reinforcing the internalization of the task.
• Dress and act the part – Sorry, but appearances do matter. An unkempt appearance is sending a message that you’re not even organized enough to get yourself together, much less manage a team. You also need to act the part. Lead by example, conduct yourself as if someone is always watching you, even when no one’s watching you. Always be reliable and trustworthy, show the team and its members that you have their backs.
• Be aware of your language and change it if necessary – Avoid using negative phrases like “I have to”, “we never should have” or “why can’t we”. These are not only framed in the negative, but they don’t encourage problem solving. Instead try using phrases like, “I get to”, “I want to”, “if that hadn’t happened” or “how can we”.  This way it’s no longer negative and invites creative problem solving.

 

 

Effective Leadership Techniques: How to Inspire a Team

“If it was easy, then everyone would do it”. Becoming great (or even very good) at anything takes time, hard work and dedication. Leadership is no different, but just like any other skill, it can be learned. In this article, we’ve talked about how to effectively lead a team using two different techniques, motivation and inspiration. What I don’t want to do is leave you with the impression that one technique is better that the other. Being a great leader is like being a mechanic, in order to fix the problem you first need to assess and diagnose. It’s only after you’ve identified the problem that you can determine the right tool for the job. Both motivational and inspirational techniques are useful tools in your leadership toolbox.

I’d like to close with a quote by Dr. Wayne Dyer about the differences between motivation and inspiration, I think it sums it up nicely.

“Motivation is when you get hold of an idea and carry it through to its conclusion, and inspiration is when an idea gets hold of you and carries you where you are intended to go.” Dr Wayne Dyer

If you would like more information on how to become an effective leader, check out this post.

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