How to keep your team motivated

Staying motivated in difficult times

Staying motivated about the work you do. Keep the team motivation high together with your teammates. And just staying motivated in general.

You might sometimes think: Why does it even matter? Why go through the trouble with all the crazy things that are happening around me that I have no control over?

And yet, staying motivated when you work on a team is super super important.

The work you do helps your customers, to save time, help them make more money, put a smile on their face, or improve their lives in any other way.

The work you do matters. And if doesn't it's maybe time to look for another job.

So I hope this video will give you and your team that extra motivation you might need right now so you can do more work that is important.

Because the good news is that you don't have to do any extra work to find your motivation or to stay motivated.

One of the best ways to stay motivated, is to focus, on the things you can control.

So I will explain that concept first before I show you a workshop format that will help you and your team to apply it on your daily work. If you just want to start with the workshop you can find the download link in the description below this video.

Circle of Influence

Focussing on the things you can control comes from the book The Seven habits of highly effective people from Stephen Covey.

You have three circles

The main idea is that how much work you put into something is something that you have control over, and is key to staying motivated.

If you solve problems in your own life, and then take time and appreciate the fact that it was your actions that solved this problem, that will motivate you to solve more problems.

For example, let's say you want to get in better shape. You buy running shoes, create a plan to run 5k per week, start running and see that you are able to run faster every week.

That progress will make you feel better about yourself and motivate you to keep running every week.

The same counts for the problems you face in your work.

If you focus on solving the problems you can control or influence, one at a time, you will grow your circle which will allow you to help yourself better and because of that more people around you.

Things that are of your concern but that you cannot influence or control, are things that you should accept and adapt to, how difficult that sometimes may feel.

Focus on growing your circles of control and influence, because that will increase your motivation, make you feel better, and allows to achieve more.

If this message resonates with you then hit the like button below this video, because that will help to spread the word to more people who may be needing this right now.

Team

Now let's connect this to your team.

A great way to keep your team motivated is with short, frequent meetings called agile retrospectives.

If you're not familiar with retrospectives, they are basically team meetings that give the team an opportunity to talk about and solve problems together, around your technologies, way of working, and maybe those difficult "people issues".

I have created a quick workshop format which you can copy with the download link below this video, to allow you and your team to focus on what you can control .

If you're not doing so already, plan your short, frequent retrospectives with your team, because the longer the distance is between team meetings, the more a team starts to drift off track.