Four Ways to Add Inspiration to Your Team Routine

When was the last time you were truly inspired by someone that you worked with?

It’s an important question that requires a bit of reflection. At Corporate Path Leadership, we find that people are frequently inspired by an article or book they have read, a movie or television show recently seen, or interactions with friends/acquaintances outside of the workplace. When it comes to the workplace, however, the few mentions of inspiration are associated with an event or conference away from the office, and with a new group of people.

So why isn’t there a bigger focus on inspiration on an on-going basis in the traditional office environment?

For many reasons, this topic of inspiration is something that falls on the shoulders of a leader. It’s their job to “make inspiration happen.” Yet for leaders, their time is often spent thinking about the challenges their teams/departments face and how their employees are often the cause of those challenges. It’s tough to find inspiration in that mindset.

Here are a few ways to add some inspiration into your team routine:

#1 – CREATE SOME FOCUS

Everyone faces urgency — too many projects to accomplish and not enough time. Sometimes a leader checking in and seeing how they can help alleviate some pressure can provide huge momentum in the employee’s week.

How to do this successfully:

• Help employees to prioritize projects.
• Give them a reminder to not work on all things, but instead, focus on the most important actions that matter.
• Give them tips for how to say no or postpone projects that might get in the way.

Imagine the productivity benefits for the team, and the inspiration that you can provide by taking this small step with each team member this week.

#2 – PERSONALLY RECOGNIZE GOOD WORK BY A TEAM MEMBER

Too often, we think of awards for team members. Something that can be celebrated in a crowd or part of a big event. Sometimes the bigger inspiration comes from a simple personal conversation from a leader who is recognizing that we are doing great work. Note: it is important to recognize the meaning and value of the work itself and not just that the person is working hard; (there is a difference).

How to do this successfully:

• Sit down with the employee and tell them about a specific good work recognition – including why it matters and what it is doing for the organization.
• Help them connect the dots that the work they are doing is noticed and matters for the success of the company/team etc.

#3 – SHARE STRATEGIC NEWS

Everyone wants to know what is happening in the levels above their pay grade. When employees don’t know what is happening at senior leadership levels, they often speculate about what they think might be happening. As a leader, you might not be able to share every detail from leadership with all employees. In some cases that information could prove distracting. However, taking the time each week to share something can be a motivation to your team.

How to do this successfully:

• Share a nugget of leadership that you are seeing within your own company with your commentary on why this information is important. This could be something that another team is doing, something directly from other leaders in the company.
• Highlight an article that you found inspirational with your team. Be sure to note why it inspired you and how it can relate back to the team.
• In either case, you can ask team members to catch you in the hall or email you back if they have any thoughts or ideas on how the inspiration could impact the team.

#4 – Regularly Ask Your Team for Examples of Inspiration

Setting an attitude of inspiration, and the importance of including that mindset in their routine, can help employees be more mindful of how they can be doing their best for the team. While your focus may be more high-level on a daily basis, often employees are inspiring others in smaller ways, that leaders may not be aware of.

Ask your team to think about how they’ve been inspired by others in the organization. This could be how a team member successfully handled an interaction with a customer, how they went out of the way to meet a deadline, the way they approach a challenge, or even just kind words and an offer of help in a stressful situation.

How to do this successfully:

• Use your one-on-one meetings with employees to ask for an example of someone in the company who inspires them or something that took place.
• You can then tie these highlights in with #2 above, by personally thanking that employee if it was a situation you were not aware of.
• Leave a few minutes available in a regular meeting for team members to highlight these inspiration examples for the group if they want to.

The key lesson here is to make sure you think about the importance of inspiring your team members. Corporate Path Leadership wouldn’t recommend doing all four of these things with all team members each week. But making sure you are practicing at least one form of inspiration each week will help make your team more engaged — and motivated — in the process.