Motivational Moves

Beth Spriggs' professional career began in information technology in 1999. As a certified PMP with over a decade of project management experience, she has combined her love for tech and project management by focusing her career on managing technology projects and portfolios. She is author of The Project Manager's Little Book of Cheats.

  Career Development   Leadership   New Practitioners   Talent Management   Teams   ProjectsAtWork  

A disciplined team is going to get the job done and produce satisfactory results most of the time, but a motivated team offers the possibility of delivering outstanding outcomes that go above and beyond expectations. Here are some strategies and tactics for motivating your team members.

Motivation — that often elusive drive to accomplish something. In contrast with discipline, in which we force ourselves toward achievement, motivation is not compulsory. Motivation is working from an internal desire for achievement, not feeling forced to work, and it usually brings about better outcomes. Our teams are more productive and achieve greater results when positively motivated.

In order to manage a team toward delivering desired outcomes we have to become excellent motivators. We have to inspire. We have to cheerlead, support and coach our teams so they feel driven to deliver the right outcomes, at the right times, for the right people. Team motivation is a nebulous strategy in that the answers on how to motivate seem to lead to more strategies — the what and why — and raise even more questions around tactics — the how. Let’s see if we can get from strategy to tactics and uncover some how’s.

The first strategy for team motivation is to build strong relationships.  When someone knows that you care about them as a person, they connect that …

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