10 Tips to Engage Your Team (and Yourself)

BlessingWhite consultancy has some valuable tips on how managers can get themselves and their teams motivated.

1. Reflect and recharge. Where are you on the engagement spectrum? You can't help your team if you're spinning out of control. Consider what matters to you. Then consider where the organisation needs you to focus your talents. Can a few job tweaks improve things? How can you engage others?
2. Hire 'engageable' team members. Instead of training square pegs to fit round holes, hire round pegs.
3. Earn trust every day. Trust is essential for managerial effectiveness. To build it, you need to reveal who you are as a person. Your title and accomplishments aren't enough.
4. Stress employee ownership. Your employees need clear visions of personal success. Make sure they know you're available to provide guidance, remove barriers and help them find fulfilling work. Ultimately, though, they must be responsible for their own success.
5. Find out where you are going -- and remind people of the destination. If you're not clear on your organisation's strategy, find someone who can give you answers. Demand clarity. Then help your team understand their role in that strategy and how to prioritise their work to achieve meaningful results.
6. Provide feedback. Let employees know what they are doing well so they keep doing those things with confidence. Suggest corrections to help them use their time and effort most efficiently.
7. Talk and listen more.
8. Match projects, passion and proficiency. Every person comes to work with a different combination of values. If you can help people connect with what's important to them and to the organisation, you can make a positive impact on their commitment and contribution.
9. Get to know your team members. You don't need to be their friend. You do need to know what makes them tick. (Check out BNET's guide to reading their facial expressions, too.)
10. Tailor your coaching strategies to the personalities on your team. You may need to coach some out of the organisation for their own good... and yours. Spell out expectations with the rest, take stock of their interests and talents and try to provide opportunities for meaningful work.