Tired of spending time, energy, and money to develop a strategy, only to have it ignored by those who need to execute it? To successfully achieve your team’s goals, you need to motivate people to execute.
Do you want to think about all the resources you’ve wasted explaining the importance of your goals and getting individuals to come onboard, only to have them resist?
Ready to clear out the team and start again with a group who will work toward your carefully crafted vision, rather than against it?
Lots of organizations filled with highly-capable, diligent personnel, helmed by very frustrated executives watched their strategy dissolve. The problem isn’t usually that employees aren’t working hard or striving to meet goals, it’s that their goals are out of sync with the organization’s goals. So, this lack of alignment becomes a barrier to success, and it causes frustration, resentment, and contempt.
So, how do you get everyone motivated to align?
Before asking your team to understand and align with your goals, seek to understand them. Develop a relationship that allows open and honest dialogue. Find out what motivates them, then strive to understand how they feel about your goals. Help them create goals that are motivating to them and are in alignment with yours. Discuss the barriers to alignment and develop plans to overcome them together.
Consider these Questions
- Do you understand the motivators of those on your team?
- What are the dreams, vision, and personal strategies of the individuals on your team?
- Do you understand how they feel about your goals?
- Do they understand how achieving your goal benefits them?
- Do you understand how achieving your goal benefits them?
- Are those benefits connected to their unique motivators?
- What might be their objections?
- Have you worked together to overcome the barriers?
When things aren’t going your way, your natural tendency may be to “talk at” those on the team. This can push them and their goals further out of alignment. Seek to understand and influence, rather than tell and force.
Cultivate relationships and an environment that fosters open and honest dialogue before developing your goals. Gather information about objections and alignment to use in crafting your goals. Create a goal that people won’t find objectionable and will feel motivated to align with. This will prevent problems, and free up time and energy to focus on achieving your goals together.
Take the time required to motivate people to execute.