To Motivate with Fear or Desire? 7 Steps to the Best Method of Team Motivation

Motivating your team with desire is the best way to grow your company. The alternative is punishment. This can lead to negative consequences, such as resentment, and a decrease in overall morale within the business. This ultimately has a detrimental influence on team performance, which directly impacts overall business performance.  

Understanding the rippled effect of motivation is important as it can directly impact the bottom line of the business. It is also not always about money, as it can also impact the overall morale and public vision of the business.

Instead of punishing your team, it’s important to understand how to tap into their desires. Then use those desires to motivate them toward success. In this way, you’ll increase the overall efficiency and productivity of your team and therefore your business. 

1. Set Clear Goals and Objectives

The first step in motivating a team is to set clear goals and objectives. It’s important to encourage your team members to connect to a bigger vision of their own. As well as contribute to the vision of the company. 

Having staff connected with a bigger vision helps them to gain a better understanding of their involvement in company success, as well as align their own visions with that success. 

Once a vision has been established, providing clear goals and objectives will have more value to the team.  

These goals can provide a sense of direction and purpose, which is essential for team members to feel motivated. 

When setting goals, it’s important to make sure they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). 

At the same time, it’s important to understand that measurable goals have a serve and a limit. It’s crucial to only set goals that lead to success rather than feeling like we failed. 

The serve of creating measurable goals is that we have clear expectations and know what the desired results are. We also know if they were accomplished and if they met the deadline.

The limit is that when we don’t achieve our goals when or how we thought we wanted to, it creates a feeling of failure. This can create low morale and underperformance in our team. 

Goals with flow and flexibility and alignment are so much more powerful! 

Through better communication, a clear vision of the future, and measurable goals that lead to a sense of accomplishment, success is inevitable. 

2. Encourage Autonomy and Ingenuity

Autonomy refers to the ability to make decisions and act independently. 

It’s essential for team members to feel empowered and trusted to make their own decisions, which can lead to increased motivation and job satisfaction. 

Encourage your team members to take ownership of their work and give them the space to make their own decisions, while adding a bit of ingenuity to the mix!  

This will not only increase motivation through a sense of appreciation and value but will also lead to more innovative and creative solutions.

It’s important to be able to make decisions and act independently in different capacities. As well as bring creativity into what you do. 

How are we also encouraging people to feel seen, heard, and valued by the team? 

On the other side of the coin, as a leader, you can’t be run over by strong personalities on your team. It’s important to know the balance of maintaining leadership without going too far over into authority. 

3. Provide Opportunities for Growth and Development  

Team members are often motivated by the opportunity to grow and develop their skills. 

Providing opportunities for learning and development can be a powerful motivator. 

This can include training, mentorship, or even job rotations. 

When team members feel like they are continuously improving, they are more likely to stay engaged and motivated. This is a win-win for the team and the business as a whole! 

This makes them feel seen and heard. 

At the same time, it’s important to understand that employee reviews give the team external validation. While this is a good standard to create, it’s also necessary to help them create internal validation by having them evaluate themselves. 

Creating more independence for the team members to do their own self-assessment and identify where they want to improve is essential. 

This loop of external and internal feedback pushes the company into a consistent state of growth. 

4. Celebrate Successes

Celebrating successes is a powerful way to boost team morale and motivation. 

When team members are recognized for their hard work and achievements, they feel valued and appreciated. 

This can be done in various ways, such as public recognition, bonuses, or team outings. 

Celebrating successes is not only motivating your team with desire, but also creating a positive and supportive team culture.

We also want to keep in mind that we need to celebrate successes in a way that doesn’t create resentment or leave someone out. 

Consistently celebrating wins creates positive team morale – even the small wins are vital to the business as a whole!  

5. Foster a Positive Team Culture

Creating a positive team culture is essential for motivating team members. 

When team members feel supported and valued, they are more likely to feel motivated and engaged. 

This can be achieved through regular communication, team-building activities, and fostering a sense of community within the team. 

When team members feel like they are part of a supportive and positive team culture, they are more likely to be motivated and committed to achieving team goals.

On the same token, we need to ensure that what appears to be a positive team culture is not just toxic positivity. 

Rose-colored glasses don’t allow a team to function properly.  

This can create underlying feelings of resentment. The members won’t feel comfortable sharing which is unhealthy for the team and, therefore, the company. 

Having open communication and less toxic positivity is important and will ultimately lead to a positive team culture. 

As the leader, you must be the model and lead the team so they are able to vulnerably express themselves while helping them stay out of ‘victim mode.’   

6. Being Seen, Heard, and Valued

Helping team members feel seen and heard allows them to feel valued. This is done both by their managers and through internal validation. 

By giving them growth strategies so they can see and hear themselves, you’re setting the entire business up for success and motivating your team with desire.   

Helping your employees shift to create internal validation creates a bigger ripple impact across the entire span of the business.  

While regular feedback helps team members understand how they are performing and where they can improve, creating a team where everyone needs external validation all the time is not ideal. 

It’s much more effective and long-lasting to teach them to do this for themselves and benefits everyone. 

7. Lead by Example

Leadership plays a crucial role in motivating a team. Leaders who lead by example, and demonstrate the behavior they expect from their team members, are more likely to motivate and inspire their team. 

This includes the concept of modeling as a form of leadership such as positive attitudes, behaviors, and work habits. 

When team members see their leaders working efficiently and leading with desire, they are more likely to follow suit and stay motivated.

By being a true leader vs. using authority as a crutch, you’ll be able to make your company thrive! 

Your team members are most likely used to being codependent. As a leader, you need to help them break this cycle. 

Teach them to understand their own desire points and to create aligned goals that lead achieve them. 

This creates a bigger ripple that everyone wants to be a part of. 

The team will want to work and show up because they feel good about what they’re doing and what they’re helping to create.  

Conclusion: Motivating Your Team With Desire 

As a leader, it is important to create a positive work environment that motivates your team to perform at their best. 

While punishment may seem like a straightforward way to get results, it can actually have a negative impact on employee morale and productivity. 

Instead, motivating your team through desire can be a more effective strategy for achieving overall business goals. 

By teaching employees how to see and hear themselves in order to create internal validation, they will no longer be codependent. 

Instead, they’ll feel empowered to create innovative solutions to exponentially expand the company.