To ensure that goals and visions are achieved and that team members attain maximum productivity, it is critical that you keep your team motivated.

Motivation is an important tool to have when working in a team environment; it is the emotional connection to goals that enables drive, and the key element that encourages team members to try harder.

However, although motivation is an important element in any working environment, organisations often find it hard to achieve and promote it.

With the benefit of our combined years of experience, the Full Circle Feedback team has narrowed down the 6 critical ingredients that make for a highly motivated team.

6 Ingredients

1. A powerful vision

Your team must understand the vision of what will drive your organisation’s future. This vision must be understood by all team members. A powerful vision gives employees an idea of what is expected of them and what they are working towards in the long term. A powerful vision allows focus, drive, and, of course, motivation.

2. Relationships of trust

One of the first things we are taught about relationships when growing up is that trust is important, this also applies to our working relationships. You need to trust people when working on projects. If you don’t trust your employees and you keep intervening then project completion often drags on. Having trusting relationships promotes harmony in the workplace – which, in turn, is a key to making your team comfortable and thereby motivated.

3. Contributing players

When working on a project, it is important that all team members contribute in working towards a specific goal. When team members contribute and work together, it gives a sense of unity – a feeling that motivates others to also add value and contribute meaningfully to the achievement of team and organisational goals.

4. Commitment to high standards of play (even when conditions are difficult)

Team members who don’t let difficult working conditions or circumstances effect their high working standards promotes motivation in the work place. The commitment that team members exhibit in delivering their best work in difficult conditions is often motivation in itself.

5. Recognising and rewarding team success

Recognition is one of the most powerful tools in the promotion of motivation in teams. When you recognise and reward someone’s work, you’re telling them that they did a good job and that they are, by default, model employees. When you recognise a team member’s hard work and reward them with positive feedback you endorse this motivation and are therefore encouraging high performance.

6. A sense of momentum and drive

When there is a sense of urgency and a buildup of momentum, it motivates team members to drive toward and achieve the completion of set goals.

In an organisation that lacks motivation the results are often less than perfect. If you aim to keep your team members motivated and focused you will soon see the results.