Build team spirit

This post came out from The Straits Times (1 July 2014)
Title - Build team spirit - Use these secrets of motivation to deter "skiving" and make your office a better place

Some pointers that I've got are:
1. Spend quality time with your people
2. Give feedback and coach
3. Be a believer

On Spend quality time with your people

• You need to get to know your team members better and they need to get to know you. It will help you build a relationship with each person. You will gain a much better understanding of your staff and how they are handling the job.
• It will also give the impression that you care about each individual and show you are there to help with problems of both a business and personal nature. 
• Spending quality time will encourage opinions and ideas to flow from your people, and allows you to explain the company's mission. It gives the ma feeling of being in on things, which is a big motivator. It will also help you build an "early warning system" that goes off at the first sign of any problems your staff may have.

On Give feedback and coach

• You need to regularly tell each member of your team when they are doing well and not so well. 
• Successful managers realise that almost everyone reacts positively to confirming feedback, that is, telling a team member you support whatever you have seen him do or heard him say. It is a compliment or a thank you. Your team member will feel good and be motivated to repeat the behaviour. 
• But it is also important to tell people when they are not performing. There are too many managers who either ignore poor behaviour or come down on the person like a ton of bricks. Changing unacceptable behaviour through productive feedback involves certain steps.
• Do it as soon as possible.
• Do it in private. Tell the person how you feel about his unacceptable behaviour, not how the organisation or anyone else feels.
• Focus on one thing at a time and don't confuse the other person with a whole list of behaviours. Be specific and get input from him. Most importantly, don't leave him feeling low.
• Agree on a way forward through coaching. Find out the cause of the poor performance or behaviour and discuss with the team member how to put it right. 

On Be a believer

• Empowerment is about using the knowledge, skills, experience and motivational power that are already within your people. Most people in teams and organisations throughout the world are under-used. Your team members probably have a lot more to offer in terms of skills, knowledge and experience.
• If you can engage them to use these talents, you will motivate them and achieve your business goals. 

Yours,
Something Small Thinking Big