5 Ways to get your team to go the extra mile

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When someone chooses to do something beyond their scope of work, they do so because they want to, not because they have to. Getting your team members to do something more than what’s expected requires a shift in thinking. The key shift in thinking that leaders need to make, is to focus on the person who needs to do the task and what is in it for them instead of focusing on their own needs as a leader and the tasks at hand. Some leaders try to mask their own needs by trying to convince the other party as to why doing something is “good for them”. This does not work as it pushes people away, most people can sense when someone is authentic or manipulative.

Reason Why: Give people a reason to go the extra mile

Simon Sinek in his book” start with why” talks about how great leaders inspire others to take action. He says “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it “. He also says it correlates to the emotional part of our brain where decisions are made. Emotions which stem from “why” can provide the fuel for action. When people know what they are in for, they are more willing to weather the challenges that come along the way. Maya Angelou said “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Research shows that if you want to get someone to invest their time on what you want them to do, you need to invest time in building that relationship and understanding their “why’s”

High impact behaviours: Focus on core behaviours that lead to the outcome

In an attempt to get the team to do a good job, leaders sometimes drown their team with tasks and activity goals. Whilst, this has its purpose in helping the team members focus, it can also be overwhelming. Out of everything that needs to get done on a daily basis, there are probably 1 or 2 core behaviours that need to take place consistently and if they do, you get the results you want. Why not focus on the high impact behaviours and track these because if it is a high impact behaviour, many of the other essential behaviours will cascade underneath it . It opens the door to have meaningful conversations about performance. It also gives those you manage a sense of control and focus over their role. For e.g. If a leader wants to increase their client base through business development, several behaviours such as targeting clients, sending out invitations to connect and having meetings with clients sit beneath that main goal. Out of these three behaviours, ?having meetings with targeted clients is the high impact behaviour, and when someone does this , they would have had to do all the other behaviours that result in achieving this goal.

Rethink Rewards : Take a comprehensive view of rewards and incentives

Although rewards and incentives can be powerful, ?we need to know that when it comes to rewards, especially those that have a monetary value, can sometimes attract negative repercussions. This usually happens when we come up with quick fix ideas to motivate behaviour through rewards. When we do this, we could unintentionally encourage other bad behaviour to occur. Quite early in my career, I came up with an incentive scheme to reward the top performer every month. The same person kept winning the reward and after sometime I realised that even though this person achieved the numbers, she was creating replacement work for everyone else in her team, the team around her were doing the damage control ?and their work was being disrupted while she earned the reward every month. Think about the longer term effects and see if the reward /incentive can really achieve the result you are after.

Support and Shape: Coach and build on small incremental steps

I believe that most people come to work to do a good job. Our job as leaders is to help them succeed quickly in what they do. If we can do this, that early success can build momentum for more of the right behaviours. ?Don’t just look at results or KPI’s, also look at KBI’s, key Behaviour Indicators occur in real time and good leaders know that taking time to help their team members make small, incremental adjustments is more sustainable in the long term. It also connects them to the overall goal of the team or company.

Sometimes, a level of discomfort can create movement, and this can be easily achieved through clear and well-timed performance feedback mechanisms. Most people care ?about what about what their bosses think about them, and if this is done in an objective and constructive way, giving them feedback on what’s working that they need to continue doing, what they can start doing to be become even better at what they do and if there is something they need to stop doing because it gets in the way of their performance. When someone is given this type of feedback, it makes them feel that thought has been put into providing that feedback and its balanced. It builds trust and a feeling that his/ her boss cares for them.

We often hear leaders use words like “drive” performance or “push’ for results. You cannot get people do go the extra mile if they feel that they have no choice in the matter. ?

There are also leaders who put pressure on their team and use fear to drive themselves and others. There is a belief amongst some leaders that fear is a good motivator. This is not a sustainable practice as such leaders place undue stress on their people. Fear can move the needle on someone’s behaviour but only temporarily and it has a ceiling because the change in behaviour is a result of someone wanting to avoid a negative consequence. The performers involved only do enough to “get out of trouble” and because they “have to”, not because they want to.

When the fear subsides so will the new behaviour. This is why some leaders can be heard saying things like” if I am not there, nothing gets done.” And this is what happens. Such teams try to hide their mistakes and learning from mistakes can only happen if people feel safe enough to own up to their mistakes. This is where the real learning occurs as it empowers the team to design solutions for the problems they encounter.

Personalise: Know the needs of your performers

One size fits all celebrations no longer work and sometimes leaders make the mistake of creating a celebration based on what they think the team might like. For e.g., Putting the performer in the spotlight during the company townhall meeting, not everyone wants appreciation in that way.

Whilst a leader might think taking a successful performer out to dinner is a good idea, to the performer it could be punishing as he / she might prefer some quiet time with the family or some time off. Celebrate success in an inclusive and respectful manner by making sure that the performers get the kind of positive reinforcement they want. ?

For teams to go the extra mile, leaders need to go the extra mile to model how to do it. I was in a meeting with a leader who said that she wanted her team members to go the extra mile and I asked her how she goes the extra mile for her team members, and she looked surprised. Do you contact a team member to see how they are doing if they are ill, do you make time to sit with them to show them how to do a task, if they seem to be struggling with it? Do you make an effort to know the names of their spouse, children, pets or whoever they value in their lives? Do you know what they love to do outside work or their favourite foods and do you find ways to make your gestures of appreciation meaningful for them? People are usually willing to go beyond their scope of work when their leaders are willing to do the same. It’s a two-way street. ?

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