How To Keep Your Team Engaged
When leading a team of people it is easy to get caught up in everything that they are doing 'wrong’ and forget to keep them engaged with positive feedback as well as constructive ways they can improve.
When leading a team of people it is easy to get caught up in everything that they are doing 'wrong’ and forget to keep them engaged with positive feedback as well as constructive ways they can improve. Because the truth is that a lot of people you hire are swimming around in a sea of uncertainty and self-doubt. They need to be rewarded and mentored to keep them feeling good on the job. They are looking at you ól faithful leader to keep them engaged.
The more coaching I do the more I realize that hardly anyone comes out of childhood emotionally unscarred from the environment they grew up in. This means people are anxious, overwhelmed and quite often not engaged YET! This is a beautiful opportunity for you to be the crux in their life that changes all of that. This means rewarding good behaviour more than having to criticise the bad (even if it’s super hard to turn a blind eye) and using coaching conversations to help them see how to do it otherwise. That is your mission as a leader. You wouldn’t criticise a child for drawing outside the lines so why do people do that to their team members? They just haven’t learnt your way of doing things yet.
Here are 3 key ways to engage them:
1) Reward good behavior
One day I was paddle boarding out in the harbor of Nelson and it was calm and glassy day. I could see a boat coming towards us and when it got closer I realised it was the harbour master comming up to us. I immediately thought ‘What have I done wrong?” but when he started to speak I could hardly believe it. He said, “I just wanted to come out and say thank you so much for wearing your life jackets, Here is a $5 coffee voucher to show my appreciation!” What a legend!! I have never forgotten that. But the most important part about this is how many people in the Nelson community I told about it and now this safety behavior will be more common. So how can you go above and beyond to reward your team members who are performing well?
2) Active Listening
We create a bad habit in social situations of wanting to share what we have to say and when it comes to creating connections with your team members this habit is not helping! We have 2 ears and one mouth. When we have something else going on in our mind the other person can scene and feel it. Even if you think they can’t, they can. This habit of ‘waiting for them to stop talking so I can speak’ is making the situation about us. Leadership is making the situation about the other person. So, Are you really creating space for your team members by being present to them when they need you?
3) Giving specific and constructive feedback
The word feedback is broken down into two parts: Feed= Nourishment and Back= Reciprocation. When you think about it that way it’s all about reciprocal nourishment. Everything in life needs to grow. The plants and trees and animals. If we are not green and growing we are ripe and rotting. Your team members (even if they do not act like it) want your loving care. They want you to take the time to help them. As long as your intention is pure and you make it about HELPING them instead of ‘needing them to change for you’ then they will take it onboard. And if they dont….well that’s on them.