Energizing my Team

The first thing you realize as a manager is that you need to give up trying to control the efforts and results of your team.  When you were responsible for yourself, you had control of effort and results. I don’t like the concept that you can control someone.  After many years of experience as a manager I came to realize I controlled a lot less than I thought I did.  As a manager you can only influence them.   

Another word for influence is energize.  I like energizing rather than influencing for influence still sounds like control, but energize sounds like you are opening a box of energy that resides in each of your team members.  Each of us seems to have enough energy for the things we like but not as much energy for those things we like of deem as work. 

I don’t know why people are afraid of work.  Nothing in this world that is worthwhile is achieved easily or through luck.   When a success is achieved through hard work we seem to value it more and learn from it.  To get your team to work hard and achieve the result you and they need we need to help them find the necessary energy.

I am sure you would agree energy comes from within.  I am also sure you would agree that certain situations can trigger the release of that energy.  What I am talking about is you the manager through your behaviors trigger the internal motivating factors in your team.  Each team member is different, therefore each trigger maybe different, person by person.

Here are some triggers that energize.   I recommend you really get to know your team.   Anyone can have a superficial conversation talking about sports, the weather, politics, etc.   It takes special interest to find out what is really important to people.  What they value, love, like and hate.  In your interactions with your team members get them talking.  Make sure you do not judge or worse yet, criticize their values.  Once you find out what is important to them then look for ways to connect those important values to the job at hand.