In the book EDGE! A Leadership Story, we paint the picture of a modern day CEO, Mitchell James…a man who has excelled in the global trade industry but who is losing his edge with his team. The players on his team are losing their interest, and they are jumping ship right and left.Shortly following the publication of EDGE, I had a leader call me. The man had read the book, and he wanted to brainstorm with me on how to motivate his team. You see, he was a lot like Mitchell James…he had recruited some highly sought-after talent, and they were jumping ship right and left. I immediately asked him what the team said was the reason they were losing motivation, and the man could not answer the question. He seemed baffled at the question.

You see, I don’t really believe in motivational strategies. To me, motivation is a pushing mechanism, and I am just not a big believer in motivation or in cheerleading to try to get a team to work together. I am on the other hand a big fan of inspiration and of playing to people’s strengths and tapping into the dreams they have for their life, career and the world at large.

If you are a leader who is listening to this audio today, and if your team morale seems to be low, or your key team members are starting to jump ship, I would ask you to sit down with each team member and ask the following questions.

1) As the leaders of this company, what have we done to tick you off, and what do we need to do to change it?

2) When you think about your strengths, which ones are you not being asked to apply in your current position, and how can we use those strengths, starting today?

3) When you step out of bed each morning and get ready for the day, are you dreading coming to work or are you dancing out the door, because you are excited about this company? If you are dreading it, what are you dreading, and how can we fix it? If you are dancing out the door, what is it that gets you excited and how can we do more of that?

4) When you are alone, and you are thinking of your dream team, what does it look like? How much does our current team stack up against your dream team? How can you help us create that dream team?

5) If you could use all of your resources at this company to change the world, what would you do, and how would you do it?

You see, these questions have nothing to do with a pushing mechanism.  These questions are those based in inspiration.  They get at the root of people and what makes them tick.  These questions ignite a sense of desire and vision and “pull” people in the direction of building a cohesive team.

Once you have asked each player on your team these questions, it’s time to take a bold step in the direction of making some very important changes to the way you do things in your company. You have to be willing to play to your employees’ strengths, give them the tools they need to make radical changes in the world and begin to leverage your collective wisdom to build a dream team.

Pick up a copy of EDGE! A Leadership Story today.

Listen to the audio of this blog post below.

 

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