When introducing a new initiative in your organization, you understand the need to get your team motivated behind the cause. After all, the success of the initiative is going to be largely dependent on their level of support.
All too often, when we introduce an initiative, we only focus on why it is important for the company that the initiative to be successful. While I am certain that your team wants the company to be successful, the Company is only one of five primary areas of motivation for the individuals on your team. The other four are Society, Customer, Team, and, of course, Me. Chances are that if you divided your team up by their primary motivating force, you would have a pretty even number of people in each category.
So, if you want your team to be fully motivated behind your new cause, be sure that you communicate the potential impact the new initiative will have in each area of motivation. Let’s look at an example to see what this may look like.
Let’s say that you were going to invest in sales training. : )
You would very likely point out the fact that the training is necessary due to poor growth over the past 24 months. The Company has to get back to a period of growth and this training will help to do so.
However, it could also be explained that, because of no growth, profitability has suffered, and you are no longer able to contribute to the philanthropic causes you believe in so strongly. Society.
You could also talk about how the training will bring a much more Customer focused approach ensuring your ability to make a greater impact on the success of their business.
The Team will also benefit from the synergies that will result from the training’s focus on fully leveraging individual talents and creating more effective team structures.
Finally, you could appeal to their Me-centric concerns by explaining how the expected results from the training will lead to better financial and growth opportunities for everyone involved.
If you aren’t taking the time to tap into the various motivational forces that exist in your company, you are missing opportunities to gain full support. And for any initiative to be successful, you have to ensure the broadest level of support possible.
Content provided by Q4intelligence
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