Motivate Your Employees to Commit to a Common Vision

Is each member of your team moving in the exact same direction, pursuing the same objectives?


As leaders, it is critical that we create a culture where everyone is working to achieve one common goal, pursuing one common vision. If there is NOT a common vision for the team to work towards, there is no way we can expect the individuals to put the team first, to go above and beyond for the good of the team, and to ultimately put in maximum effort to help ensure that the team goals and objectives are accomplished.

If you don't currently have a vision (one that is communicated throughout your entire team or company), create one! When getting started on your vision, keep in mind that effective visions have 5 main characteristics: Realistic, Easy to Understand, Commonly Understood, Inspiring, and Meaningful.

Creating a vision, and helping others to become motivated to work towards it is the only way to create an environment where employees are willing to put in the absolute highest level of commitment. An organizational vision is something larger than each person's job title or duties. It is something each employee can rally around, something they can be proud of, something that motivates them to be the best they can be day in and day out, even when nobody is looking!

Helping Employees With Change Management

First, ask yourself...
Do your employees ever seem to "lose steam" at some point of the process during a big change?

Going through change is difficult for many reasons. Change requires people to take a chance, step out of their comfort zone, and possibly do things they have never been asked to do before. We as leaders must do all that we can to ensure we get the best possible result from change.

To achieve the best possible outcomes, we will need the commitment, motivation, and effort from each and every one of our employees throughout the entire change process. To help make sure this happens, we should try to "create victories" for them as much as possible. It is important to show them how well they have been doing. They desire to know that their efforts are working, and that they are making progress or accomplishing something with all of their hard work. Creating victories can come in many different forms- anything from sharing a weekly progress report, to e-mailing an update, to giving periodic awards to people for accomplishing specific goals.

Showing our employees that they are doing a great job, the changes they are trying to make are working, and that they are on the right path, will help to keep them properly motivated and their minds focused on the end goal.

This post was made by Jeff Rosset, President of Compass Coaching & Development. Visit us at www.Compass-CD.com to learn more about our leadership development services.

Communication & Leadership Development

First, ask yourself...
Do I ever feel that I don't fully understand the true meaning behind what others tell me?

True communication only happens when message sent equals message received. If the listener does not fully understand the meaning, feeling and thoughts behind the speaker's words, then true communication did not really take place. Words might have been exchanged but the real message was not understood by the listener.

A common problem we ALL have is that in an attempt to interpret what someone tells us, we filter it through our OWN paradigm. We reference OUR past experiences, OUR feelings, and OUR perceptions, but the person sending the message usually doesn't share any of these things with us. It is this typical reaction on the part of the listener that most often causes miscommunication.

Make it a point to ask clarifying questions and draw out as much information from the other person as you can. Do everything you can to get to know how THEY feel, and what THEY really mean. Doing this will help you see things from their paradigm, thus allowing message sent to finally equal message received.

This post was made by Jeff Rosset, President of Compass Coaching & Development which is a firm that helps companies in Chicago, Naperville, Schaumburg, Oak Brook, Deerfield and the surrounding areas increase employee engagement by providing leadership, organizational and employee training and development services. We focus on skill sets such as change management, communication, attitude, coaching & mentoring, empowerment, time management, customer service, trust, and accountability. Learn more at http://www.Compass-CD.com