How to Transform Your Team from Good to GREAT

How would you feel leading a motivated and high performing team?

Learning how to transform your team from good to great requires understanding the foundations of motivation, supporting bottom-up problem-solving, and building a culture of trust, vision, and belonging.

It sounds simple, right?

But if it was that simple you probably wouldn’t be reading this.

As a leader, it’s invaluable to invest in your own strategic professional development as well as that of your team.

What would your business or organisation look like if you were leading a motivated and high performing team? Would you and your team feel more sense of purpose, achievement, and solidarity? Would your bottom lines and KPIs be easier to meet because there are less obstacles and resistance in the way?

At People Powered HR we identified 3 key areas that are crucial to level up average or low performing teams to motivated and high performing teams – but it requires all three of these areas to be nurtured all year round.

1.  Prioritise intrinsic motivation

By prioritising intrinsic motivation and engaging with employees on a personal level, leaders can unlock their team's potential for creativity and innovation.

2.  Bottom up problem solving structures

Encouraging employees to take ownership of problem-solving and trusting their ideas can result in more effective solutions and a sense of empowerment.

3.  Cultivating safe cultures

Cultivating a culture of trust and belonging, where employees feel valued and supported, can lead to increased engagement and productivity.

Let’s dive deeper into these three areas and how you can harness them as a leader.

What are the foundations of employee motivation?

There are two types of motivation. Intrinsic and extrinsic.

While many believe extrinsic rewards are the key to motivation they leave the long term intrinsic motivation by the wayside and this is where employers and leaders trip themselves up when it comes to leading their team.

What exactly is intrinsic motivation?

Intrinsic motivation comes from within a person and is driven by personal satisfaction, enjoyment, and interest in the task or activity itself.

So, what’s extrinsic motivation?

Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is driven by external factors such as rewards, recognition, or punishment.

While extrinsic motivation can be effective in the short-term (think bonuses and rewards), it is important to focus on intrinsic motivation to sustain long-term motivation and engagement (things like a sense of belonging, community and purpose).

Without intrinsic motivation, extrinsic rewards are a waste of time. This underscores the importance of hiring well and knowing what drives them to achieve business success through your team.

As employers, it's our responsibility to engage and motivate our employees.

Engagement and motivation are often used interchangeably, but they're distinct concepts that are critical for building a motivated and high-performing team.

What is engagement?

Engagement refers to the emotional connection and sense of commitment an employee has to a company.

What is motivation?

Motivation, on the other hand, is the energy an employee has to act on that feeling. In other words, engagement is the feeling, and motivation is the doing.

To achieve engagement and motivation, it's essential to understand the needs and desires of your team members – the intrinsic motivations of your team. To understand how to transform your team from good to great you first need to know your team and what drives each of them.

By doing so, you'll be able to create a workplace that fosters engagement and motivation, leading to better business outcomes and a more fulfilling work experience for everyone involved.

What is bottom up problem solving and why is it important?

Bottom up problem solving is encouraging and empowering your team to create solutions to the challenges they experience.

This is another critical area within good teams where we see leadership come unstuck. So often, it can be tempting to bypass checking in with your team or doing what it takes to help them build problem solving skills. Unfortunately, this is a shortcut and you’ll never truly transform your team from good to great if the solutions always come from you.

If you simply provide the answers, you're training them to rely on you, and to believe that they shouldn't or don't need to think for themselves. This can lead to a lack of initiative and a lack of confidence in their own abilities.

Bottom-up problem-solving is an effective way to cultivate critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills in your team. 

By empowering your employees to come up with solutions to problems on their own, you're giving them the opportunity to learn and grow, and helping to create a more engaged and motivated workforce.

Encouraging your team to brainstorm and come up with their own ideas can lead to more innovative solutions, and a greater sense of ownership and engagement in the problem-solving process.

By embracing a bottom-up approach, you can create a more effective and collaborative team and this is a non-negotiable ingredient in learning how to transform your team from good to great.

Cultivating safe and healthy workplace cultures

Your team is only as great as there is authentic trust. Trust is the number one pillar of a workplace culture that supports great teams sustainably and it’s a lot harder to cultivate than you might think.

Why?  Because it requires authenticity – not just quoting the latest Brene Brown or Adam Grant (who we love) piece of wisdom trending on social media that sounds good.

Building a strong workplace culture is crucial to creating a team that is motivated, engaged, and driven to succeed. It also requires time, intention and great leadership to tune into the needs of your people.

Start with establishing clear values and behaviors that shape the culture you want to cultivate. As leaders, it's our responsibility to create an environment of trust where team members feel safe to be themselves, take risks, and contribute to the overall vision of your business or organisation.

When team members trust each other and their leaders, they are more likely to take ownership of their work, collaborate effectively, and feel a sense of belonging. This is why it's so important to model trustworthy behavior and create an environment where mistakes are viewed as opportunities for growth and learning, rather than punishment.

A strong sense of belonging is also key to building a successful team culture.

When team members feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves, they are more likely to be invested in the success of the company and motivated to work towards its goals.

Whether it's through team-building activities or creating a family-friendly work environment, finding ways to foster a sense of community and belonging is essential to building a strong team culture.

One thing to remember is that culture cannot be directed. Culture is what evolves dynamically because of the values, the behaviours that are encouraged and tolerated the trust and leadership that is fostered from within.