(ThyBlackMan.com) Without funding your business will get nowhere. Without good branding, no-one will be aware of your business or care in the first place. Without the ability to handle your books well, you can overcomplicate your finances and misjudge your asset worth, while accruing debts. All of this is basic knowledge and business common-sense is known to any owner of a business, although of course it may be that this process is not acted upon carefully by certain faulty managers.
That being said, while all of this can prevent your business from succeeding or lead to an eventual downfall, failing to kindle staff energy and motivation within your firm can be an even bigger problem. Like an engine with no fuel to power it, your team will splutter and struggle to even gain the momentum they need.
But who kindles this fire? You should, as a business leader. You are the one who needs to be there, day after day, to motivate the troops, keep them on the straight and narrow, and develop a sense of visionary leadership, even if you’re not one hundred percent sure of your ability.
With the following advice, you’ll see why this is the case:
A Confident Speech
When we think of giving a large, confident speech, we can often feel a little out of our depth. We may dramatize this in our minds, perhaps standing at the front of a long row of horsemen and soldiers, shouting about how this will be your final stand and you will never let them take what they want from you. While this can be a worthwhile motivator, we’d recommend keeping the orchestral music at home for now.
That being said, there’s no reason why you need to be aggressive during this speech. In fact, this can somewhat ruin the impact you are trying to have. A confident speech that outlines your goals and targets, introduces yourself fully to the new recruits, unveils your belief in the project you’re about to take part in, it’s these measures that can make the most impact. A confident speech can ensure that everyone not only gets the impression that you have the best forward progress in mind, but that you’re willing to secure that no matter how difficult it can be.
This can help motivate your staff to no end. Of course, motivation is temporary, and so for each month you may wish to update with another speech, perhaps shorter in legnth, or schedule regular project briefings to ensure everyone stays in the loop.
What is most important is showing your face to those within your ranks. If you can achieve that, then you’re going enjoy a much stronger impact when bonding with your team, when applying your authority, and when ensuring that you are listened to. It all makes a difference.
Project Management
Complex planning is always pointless without a strong leader to back it up, but you could say the same if failing to establish your resource project management as well as you can. Project management is important to consider, not only how to schedule it, but within which software suite you will manage it, how you will structure the staff heirarchy, which elements will be developed before others, how to ensure disparate progress continues at a satisfactory rate, and also how you may keep communication secure and reliable.
If you have little experience in dedicated project management, hiring someone who can is important. Ensure that your ego does not get in the way of crafting this as a well-oiled and sensitive machine, because that’s what it is to some degree. Additionally, be sure you utilize practical goals
Staffing Your Departments
One of the many issues that can plague an otherwise-worthwhile project launch is remaining understaffed. Many businesses fail to understand just how profound of an issue this can be, until they find out through a rude awakening. This is why we would recommend ensuring a solid approach to screening and hiring candidates ahead of time, building your outsourced networks, perhaps even bringing a couple of consultants onto the project to help you check everything thoroughly to begin with.
Of course, the scope of a project can shift and change as things develop, and this can often require a flexible approach. This can sometimes mean shifting your recruitment capacities to potentially hire mid-project or to connect with immediate position-filling services could help you in a pinch. Allying with a temp agency, for example, could help you apply much-needed administrative tasks if under-staffed.
Additionally, being very slightly overstaffed may help due to the normal measure of work absences from time to time, or to ensure that a stretched team is never stretched to a breaking point. Additionally, instead of overseeing the project, you may also consider what small contributions you can make – ‘on the shop floor’ as it were. Sure you may not be able to apply yourself as careful as you would have hoped in this direction, but you can still make a stunning difference when it comes to offering your direct input.
Tangible Goals
SMART goals are the best grounding point for any project, personal or professional. Goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.
Specific, because you not only need to give your team the big picture of the project, but also a complex and detailed explanation as to how smaller implements of work will complement the whole. This can help your staff feel in-the-loop and trusted, and truly as if they are part of a larger team. While they may not communicate with other departments as much as your managers or specialists do, most staff will feel as though they are an essential cog in the machine of said project, and will feel appreciative for working in such an important capacity.
Measurable, because your team need to understand just what progress they are making, and how they are making it. You may discuss end-of-week reports with them, allow them to make improvements you have suggested and to congratulate the hard work focused on so far. It’s quite clear that this can have a motivational impact on your staff.
Achievable, because any department spinning their wheels or being inundated with impossible and overwhelming tasks will stop putting in their full effort, as they may see the task as ill-informed and pointless. As many departments rely on each other, this worry can set those attitudes around the business, and this can be debilitating. As they say, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This means ensuring that you’re using the right chain for the right job.
Realistic, because you need to be aware that despite no matter how much motivation or coffee you give your staff, they aren’t miracle workers. They have goals, ambitions and daily needs too, and a failure to confront this can only be a harmful process that causes undue stress on each and every one of your staff members.
Timely, because staff wish to know that this project will not last an overly long amount of time, or keep getting delayed, or require them to work overtime again and again with ‘crunch’ periods being the norm in some industries. If staff believe that this project will be exhausting, they will lose focus very quickly. For example, a climb up a mountain can seem very long and arduous. But when you consider this in increments of one-hundred-meter steps, things become much more preferable to visualize.
Errors To Avoid
It’s also important that you recognize the errors that could be experienced in your systems or in your planning. For example, if a past project failed due to having a limited budget, ensuring that you tell your team you recognize what the issues were and have taken steps to prevent them from happening again will allow them to understand you are simply not keen to repeat history in the worst sense.
Encouragement
Encouraging your team is more than a speech, it’s more than being perfect in your goal setting or charming in your communication. Real encouragement can help you show that you appreciate the work being focused on by those you are leading, and you are proud of how they are developing. It’s little injections of praise such as this that can provide a major pick-me-up after an achievement, and a soothing reassurance after a mistake is made. You needn’t be completely positive all the time, but outwardly being the emotional rock for your team can allow them to focus on being the best employees they can, rather than letting their stressors found in any project to get the best of them.
With this advice, you’re sure to kindle office motivation before any large and intense project. This will give you the fire your business needs to move forward and develop its own sense of cohesive confidence, something that many firms can fail to break into a workable stride. After all, if you cannot kindle your own motivation, who can?
Staff Writer; Carl Moore