Your team is underperforming. How can you motivate them to reach their full potential?

In my experience underperforming teams are most often overloaded, everything being priority 1, and/or, don't know or believe in the goals, just going through their paces. The solution is to define and clarify the important goals and how they fit into the big picture, and protect the team from unimportant-not urgent demands. The second step is to work with the team to break the goals down to achievable incremental steps and start celebrating wins. Above all, don't assume the team understands what you're asking for or why. Sounds simplistic, but in these situations these simple steps often have great results.

When the team is under performing, primarily it is important to understand the reasons and enable the team to identify the root causes and take appropriate corrective and preventive actions. Motivation comes when people start seeing the results of their contribution. If the reason for under performance is lack of resources, the only action the leader can do is immediately equip the team with necessary resources to get the results. Providing appropriate resources is the best motivation. If for some reason the leader is not in a position to provide the resources, the prime job of the leader is to accept the reality and find ways to address the same. If the reason, for example, is skill or competency gap, motivate by addressing the same.

A team is under-performing for three likely reasons. First, as others have written, the objectives have to be clear. Clear in what the exact goals are... and what the goals aren't so there is no scope creep. Team building is next, to breakdown barriers and get everyone aligned and invested in the goals. If the team is cross-functional, it must be assured each team member needs is supported by their functional leader. Utilize any of the many team building activities that fit the culture of the organization. Thirdly is leadership. Have a sound, clear, and well communicated plan that is reviewed and updated frequently. Utilize a process improvement or project management methodology to best fit and guide team activities.

I have found in my experience that you need to meet with the employees one on one. Understand what is important to them. Managers always want to find one thing that meet everyone's needs, this is not possible. An increase doesn't cure anything, or an extra vacation day when people can't use them is insulting. It's the small things that make a big difference in an employees life.

There is no blanket solution to underperforming teams. Situational leadership is needed in identifying what competency gaps are causing poor performance, determining each team member’s proficiency level in those competencies, and in using the right leadership style in choosing solutions for each team member.

Communication must go above and beyond simply sharing to a broad audience and hoping everyone will ??get it??. One also needs a series of tailored communications that are geared towards the individuals that form the management sub teams so that real change can happen.

- explain to or involve team in deriving the goals and benefits realisation - explain their roles and how their contributions impact the outcome - Outline and communicate WIIFM upfront - Celebrate successes for milestones achieved to keep the momentum going.

Starting with what the team’s purpose is can go a long way. Co-design the team’s vision and purpose together to gain different perspectives and buy-in. Include the team in discussing how we are tracking against the vision and purpose, and what steps can be taken to improve. The team usually has a better grasp on what support is needed and how to improve.

To enhance underperforming teams performance, continuous support is crucial. This involves regular coaching and guidance, offering actionable insights, and promoting open communication. Additionally, focus on solutions rather than just identifying issues, and provide clear & implementable solutions. This approach creates a supportive environment that ensures success in an evolving work environment.

One of the most important things that a team needs to have is good communication between members. Team members who are comfortable communicating will be able to work together with the most efficiency. This can be hard for people who are not used to engaging in effective communication. Some may find it uncomfortable to offer advice or ask for help from team members. This is why team leaders should constantly encourage clear communication between members. Leaders can use team building activities to introduce employees to an environment of open communication.

Stay transparent, share the facts, team needs to know they are underperformed. Don't sugar-coated the situation. From there, build a plan, together, continue to be transparent. Story tell the vision and goals. Guide the 1st steps, make your hand dirty. No point to plan if leader not willing to go down the drain and gets their hands dirty. And take more steps together from there.

Discuss the team challenges they are facing and make a clear understanding to require improvement. Sometimes some external reasons make a significant impact on team performance which can be eliminated by helping hand. Internal can work out with clear strategies, proper delegation and by mentoring.

Explicitly and repeatedly share the vision and desired outcomes. Till those outcomes start shaping macro and micro decision making. Transparently recognize and reward the desired performance attributes - such as curiosity, creativity, courage, collaboration, critical thinking. Value execution - and not just ideation and planning.

Transparency -empathy and clarity are required in this type of situation. Being evasive won’t work and being too aggressive will make the matter worsen.

It took me several years to identify that each member of the team is very different from me, which is its richness. Everyone is unique: analytical, synthetic... The best advice for me is to understand how each one works and to adapt with complete peace of mind. Yes, with an analytical person, you have to take the time to listen to the specifics and details...whereas I am a synthetic person who only likes overviews!

Catch team members doing right things. Ken Blanchard, in his book 'Whale Done! . Power of Positive Relationships', very explicitly explains how a group of whales was trained to perform by focussing and appreciating them doing the right things and ignoring them doing the wrong things. Appreciate the good performance and behaviour of team members. Recognise their effrots and results by rewarding them appropriately.

As a leader you need to allow your team to fail fast to achieve optimum results. Recognition when optimum results are achieved is vital to ensuring the team continues to strive for excellence. When recognising and rewarding it is really important to understand individuals preferences as we are all different and recognition and reward need to be tailored to each individual on occasion.

To me, value and purpose are commonly forms of overlooked recognition. Mind, ‘recognition’ is not limited to ‘Tangibles’. Understanding and seeking to effectively engage in the space of collective efforts that promote individualized value and purpose within the work space is a critical to any formal program. When members of a team have a customized relationship that helps realize their value and purpose within an organization, recognition becomes far more than a program in the HR space- shareholder value is created. People love recognition, but what they tend to love more is a genuine sense of belonging to something with an interpersonal field to learn, grown, and celebrate. Leveraging Value and Purpose is key to recognition.

Appreciate, be grateful, listen, be fair, leverage on common built values, be there when needed, defend the progress and stimulate the journey.

Se uma pessoa esta desmotivada, muito provavelmente ela é uma pessoa a qual já se esfor?ou muito e n?o recebeu um reconhecimento pelas suas entregas Busque com os próprios colaboradores, entender o que gera motiva??o para eles, através de pesquisas e escuta em entrevistas (recomendo buscar suporte com a BP da área) Uma vez identificado, construa seu plano de a??o, que pode conter a??es como: - Rotinas de celebra??o de avan?os e conquistas - Bonifica??o financeira para atingimento de metas - Bonifica??o de "day-off" para atingimento de metas - A??es de engajamento para o time todo em ambientes fora do trabalho, em horário de trabalho (team building) - Reuni?es de boas práticas que fomentem a troca de conhecimento e desenvolvimento do time

Successful teams thrive on trust and collaboration. The Five Dysfunctions of a team is a good framework to refer to and identify the chunks in the armour and help the team to achieve the goal.

Understand why they even turn up to work is a good start. Then build on what’s important to them and then align that to what you need to achieve together.

Be upfront Tactfully and professionally on the current state of performance. Discuss and unearth the underlying issue causing poor performance. Jointly Explore ways to improve performance Track monitor against KPI

Revitalizing team performance hinges on building trust, fostering open communication, and encouraging collaboration. At The Human Resource, we encourage regular check-ins and clear goals ensure alignment, while real-time, constructive feedback promotes continuous improvement. Embrace 'People Power' by leveraging individual strengths and providing targeted support to address underperformance. Empower through peer mentoring and cross-skilling to enhance collective capabilities, driving the team towards achieving their full potential.

Building trust is extremely essential for having a supportive team. Micro-managing gives the team members an impression that the manager doesn't trust the team members. Managers should be always available to address issues that the team faces and always be on track of the progress towards the goal. Regular interaction with the team, giving them comfort that you are available, assuring them it is ok to fail so far as you put in your best and actively encouraging them to raise any issues promptly will build the trust within the team members.

Small wins are important. And celebrating small wins is important. The team builds confidence through these. Its hard to make an underperforming team take big leaps in performance. But shooting for a 1% improvement is possible. Stack multiple 1% wins continously and soon the team is performing far better. The fly wheel effect and momentum created by continuous and many small improvements is greater than what we imagine.

Remind them how great they are and how important their work is to the overall success of the company. Be a coach not a critic

In my experience, having inherited underperforming teams a couple of times, it's a combination of knowledge/skill, enjoyment, and motivations. Finding out what people are good at, what they enjoy doing, and what motivates them has always worked for me because it allows me to give each team member a more balanced set of responsibilities that they enjoy and that will challenge them. I also tend to set KPIs as a team so that everyone knows what everyone is doing and we can discuss and agree how we can all support each other. This has the added benefit of creating a more cohesive team dynamic. I'm proud to say that I've "lost" each person I've supported in this way to either an internal promotion or an external move up the corporate ladder.

When a team falls short, what its members truly require is a leader capable of guiding them toward success, rather than a motivator whose words lack substance. I'm not suggesting motivation isn't important, but emphasizing the pivotal role of mentorship. Nothing fosters motivation and commitment among team members like tangible results.

In my experience the most common issue in under performance or disfunction is one or more members dominating or not playing their position. Solutions include redefining and/or clarifying roles and rebuilding team cohesion. It’s important to remember cohesion trumps talent almost always.