Learn 4 practical strategies to inspire your people

I was asked to deliver a keynote at the Tech Talent North Conference in Vancouver last week.  

It was my first time “back on the stage” since the pandemic started.

It was great!

The topic was Motivating Your Team.

I chose this topic because almost every day, I speak to leaders who are struggling to motivate themselves and their fatigued people.

Yes, we can all agree that the last few years have been challenging for all of us.

We can all use a dose of motivation!

So, let’s look at what you can do to motivate yourself and inspire your people.  

Below I’ll share with you some highlights from this keynote.  

Here are four ways that you can motivate your people:

1. Build a high-trust culture: The ADP Research Institute’s 2022 National Employment Report indicates that the most resilient employees are those who completely trust their leader. So, it’s important that you create a high-trust culture on your team. This means that you keep your commitments. It is also really important to be transparent with your team. Share the highs and lows with them openly, and make sure that you don’t avoid those crucial conversations. They might be hard to deliver, but they do build trust!
2. Find out what motivates them: There is no one right way to motivate people. In fact, everyone is motivated by different aspects of the workplace. While one person might be motivated by supportive peers and a friendly environment, someone else might value a challenging goal-oriented environment. Ask each person on your team separately what motivates them at work. Then help to create the environment to support their needs.  
3. Leverage your passions: What kind of culture inspires and motivates you? Guess what? As a leader, you can help create this culture on your team. Write a list of all your priorities for the remainder of the year. Now, start working on the ones that inspire you the most. Put your hand up in your organization to sit on committees or work on projects that you care about. Doing interesting work is motivating for all of us.
4. Take baby steps: Rome was not built in a day. A motivating team culture won’t be either. Create a long-term vision for the team culture that you want to create. Then pick one thing that you can do this month to move your team toward that vision. Start there. It’s all about making incremental changes over time.  

The pandemic has taught us that the way we were working…is not working anymore. We were forced to make some critical changes that have made the workplace better for all of us.

Let’s keep the momentum going. 

Keep taking those baby steps to create a motivating culture on your team. 

The work you do as a leader matters.