Previous Issue’s Dilemma:
How can I keep my team motivated in a poor work environment?

Motivating your Team

My team is a mess. We’ve worked together for a few years, and it went fine until this past year. Somehow, the environment has turned into a lousy one. I don’t look forward to going to the office. As the manager, I try to challenge and motivate the team, but it’s not working. How can I turn things around? Should I have a team meeting to get each employee’s ideas on improving our situation, or should I just “lay down the law” on what I want things to be?

— Ted

Some people struggle to keep their houseplants alive. They give the plants water and let the sunshine reach the plants, but the plants don’t respond. Others do a little extra by playing music or talking to the plants with love, and the plants thrive.

Revitalizing a team will take some extra work on your part. Rather than dread the work, think about the results and believe it will happen. Imagine how much energy and enthusiasm your team will gain and apply it to the job.

Readers and experts provide valuable advice and recommendations including some of the concepts covered in an article on performance reviews from B2B Social Media Digest, a sister publication. Apply those concepts with these activities, and you’ll have a green thumb in management.

• Do extra management.
• Involve the team.
• Check yourself and individual team members.
• Have fun. 

If you have more advice, feel free to keep the conversation going by posting a comment. Or maybe something else is bugging you? Please let us know so we can ask fellow readers for their advice. 

Do extra management

You’re already a manager doing tasks to keep the team going daily. But putting the team back on track calls for more action. Consider adding P.L.A.Y. as in Praise, Listen, Acknowledge and Yes to your toolbox. You need to praise staff so they know they’re important. Listen to find out what’s on their minds. Acknowledge the lousy situation to let them know you’re aware. Yes refers to agreeing to suggestions on how to fix the environment. Rich DiGirolamo says, “A little empowerment, flexibility and easing of the rules/policies goes a long way. This strengthens a team and engages employees back into their roles.”

Sounds like a good opportunity to have one-on-one sessions with the team. Alan Vengel, founder of the Vengel Consulting Group, says, “Set up meetings with each team member to focus on what you need from them and what and what each needs from you. Set up a second 20-minute meeting one week later asking, ‘What are three things that would engage us more in the work?’

“The next week, set up your 20-minute conversation and ask each team member what kind of mentoring and development each one wants for the future. These three 20-minute conversations will help send the message that you are still interested in their success and future development.”

Put “believe it and achieve it” to work. “Make your people feel they can become great — or at least very good,” says Barry Maher of Barry Maher & Associates, “and you might not be a great person, but you’ll certainly get great results. So build them up. Show them the vision you have for what they can become and what they can accomplish.”

Go watch M*A*S*H, the TV show, for ideas. Really. “Watch how Colonel Frank Potter relates to the staff. I tend to use the first episode of Colonel Potter’s arrival on base as a teaching aid,” says Laurence J. Stybel.

Involve the team 

Some people wonder about the cause of the poor environment, which brings up an important point: You must identify the cause. “Survey the team members (you can do this anonymously on the Internet) and ask for feedback on what is missing in the workplace and what would they like to change. After assessing the results, address the issues and put a plan in place to focus and motivate everyone,” says Janet Boulter, business advisor with Center Consulting Group.

Empower your team members by asking them for input and suggestions. This could spark something, knowing you care about their thoughts. “Involve your team in the conversation. This is their work environment, too, and they are at a choice point about whether they want to spend their day being miserable or not. With them, how can you recreate that? Improve on it?” says Carolann Jacobs, president of Vivid Epiphany.

Check yourself and individual team members 

You’ve probably heard the advice that when you’re not in the mood for a party, go anyway and then you find yourself having a good time. The environment is contagious. That could be the situation with the team. “Maybe you perceive the team as a ‘mess’ because you have lost interest in it. Maybe the team is waiting for you to blue-sky your way right out of that office and stop dragging them down,” says Laurie Mercer.

Does your management fit the needs of each employee? “If you have a Baby Boomer manager trying to manage Generation Y people like they were boomers, you have massive dissention. Plug into the ‘why’ of the employees, and you will gain their support in furthering your cause,” says Dave “The Shef” Sheffield.

David Couper provides an example of how one or two people can affect the whole team. “I worked with a team in an accounting firm where the toxic relationship between two co-workers — a man and a woman — affected the whole working environment. Everyone tread on tip-toe to avoid the woman blowing up or the man sulking. Once they had a heart-to-heart and really said what was going on, the whole atmosphere changed,” Couper says.

DISC assessment is another tool you can use, says Beverly D. Flaxington, author. “Use the DISC (behavioral) process on employees. Each employee runs a profile and receives his or her own personal results. Then get the team into a room to talk about their differences and the way they complement each other. Many times this process breaks down barriers, allows people to ‘see’ one another in a different light and actually gives the manager some tools for managing and communicating.”

Have fun 

Go on a cheap and relaxing retreat to a nearby bookstore. “We had an all day retreat out of the office at Barnes and Noble and Panera Bread. Dressed casually, we gathered around a table with laptops, tablets, good coffee and food. Industry experts were invited to join us (one at a time) for an informal discussion and question-and-answer session. Talk about a recharge! We parted with great new ideas,” says Vickie Oldham, FVSU marketing director.

Reejai Kimsey, Internet marketing strategist, came across a great idea that costs nothing unless you decide to buy a pet. “Have a pet month, and a weekly ‘bring your pet to work’ day. Let employees post photos of their pets on a designated bulletin board or run a cutest-pet contest with the winner receiving a gift certificate to the pet store. This is good not only on the surface, but also psychologically. Pets are healthy for our emotional state so this could help to soothe inter-office tensions and add many smiles,” Kimsey says. 

What do you think? Any gaps? Disagree? Join the discussion by leaving comments below or pose a question of your own. 

Meryl K. Evans is senior editor at InternetVIZ and the content maven behind the Connected Digest, B2B Social Media Digest and Professional Services Journal. Follow her on Twitter @merylkevans.