Back when I was in the market-research phase of building my coaching business, I interviewed dozens of successful entrepreneurs to learn about their biggest causes of stress and anxiety. Across the board, every single person mentioned that finding employees that were loyal, passionate and productive was a constant struggle that weighed heavily on their minds.
Building a reliable team is one of the most crucial components to unlocking your ability to grow and scale.
Surrounding yourself with the right people means nothing, however, if they are not operating at their full potential on a consistent basis. Whether you are in the process of building your rockstar team, or you want to maximize your current roster, it’s crucial to proactively implement the following strategies. They will keep your squad loyal, passionate and productive.
Obligation vs Opportunity
When I work with clients who feel like their team culture is struggling, I find that there is one major thing that holds their employees back from performing to their full potential. Initially, when you hire new people, there is a honeymoon phase where their desire to make an awesome first impression causes them to view everything as an opportunity.
Whether it’s a chance to grow, learn, connect, or to simply prove their worth, new team members view many of their tasks as potential opportunities to be seized. Once that initial phase ends, however, a transition can occur and that employee begins to see their work as more of an obligation.
When this transition happens, productivity and involvement begin to decline. And as much as we’d love our employees to self-generate a sense of passion every day, the reality is that it’s up to us as leaders to proactively inject the fire back into our team.
Reconnect to the Why
As human beings, we have an underlying desire to be impactful. When we feel a sense of significance and contribution, we light up with energy and passion and become more committed to the cause that we believe in.
Studies show that purpose-driven people are not only happier and more energetic, but they are four times more likely to be engaged at work. So it’s crucial that you incorporate a sense of purpose into your team in order to maximize their effectiveness and well-being.
A simple yet powerful strategy I use with my clients is to have them and their team first get crystal-clear their ‘why’ and then have them create visual reminders to keep around the workplace.
Your ‘why’ is simply the purpose that is most important to you, and it’s the main reason that you do the work that you do. For example, your ‘why’ as a leader could be to build a thriving business that brings you fulfillment while having an impact.
Or it could be to create abundance for you and your family.
Of course, it could be to learn as much as you can to reach your full potential to get the most out of life.
Have your team get clear on their ‘why’ and have them write it down somewhere they will see it every day. When they do this and have something to remind them of it every day, they re-spark the connection they have to their work. This helps shift tasks back into the light of opportunity, not of obligation.
Align Them with the Overall Why
If you really want to get your team operating at 100%, then you need to go one step further to inject even more purpose and passion into your employees.
When you can align their ‘why’ with the overall ‘why’ of your organization, you create a powerful connection that keeps your employees physically and emotionally invested in giving you their all. When you take the time to learn each employee’s big-picture purpose and then interweave it in some way, shape or form into the overall goals, values, or direction of your business, your team will become engaged in a whole new way.
As the leader, strategically help each member of your team connect their growth to the overall success of the company so that they become equally as involved as you are.
Humans Want Connection
As you grow your team, it’s crucial to remember that people work best when they are emotionally invested in something. If you want to maximize your team’s potential it’s up to you to find ways to consistently connect them to the overall purpose and vision of your business.
Get clear on your team’s ‘why’ and help them integrate their purpose into the growth of your organization. As a business owner or entrepreneur, it’s easy to lose this perspective when you are constantly focused on growth and expansion, so take time to intentionally cultivate these connections with your employees.
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