How to Motivate a Team An Executive Shares his Secrets - Your Career Intel

How to Motivate a Team An Executive Shares his Secrets - Your Career IntelMotivating your gruppe is one of those goals that can easily drop to the bottom of your list of priorities. Managers often have a hard time understanding exactly how to motivate a team, keeping them focused and fired up over time. After working with numerous executives in different industries, Ive observed the following tried and true team motivation techniques that you can put into practice right away.Establish Clear Goals. Constantly working to accomplish a set of vague, imprecise goals can be draining for anyone, even your most enthusiastic team member. Work to create clear goals and present them early on, so everyone knows what needs to be achieved. Its also helpful to provide goals that include measurable accomplishments. For example, rather than asking your team to improve customer service, ask them to increase the number of positive customer reviews by 10% within the next two months.Another secret of suc cessfully motivating a team is to set a group goal instead of (or in addition to) individual goals. Giving the team something to work toward together encourages members to collaborate and help each other as they reach for a common target. Once these goals are in place, that doesnt mean you can step away and wait for everyone to knock them out of the park. Communicate and check in when necessary especially if your team is tackling an unfamiliar task.Reward Achievements. Whenever your team hits one of their long-term goals, find a way to reward them. While individual rewards are great, aim for incentives that all members can enjoy together. By rewarding the group with a team outing or trip, you not only provide a common motivator, but the reward doubles as a bonding opportunity.Get feedback from the team about how theyd like to celebrate hitting their next goal. Drawing from their requests and announcing the reward early on will give the entire team a reason to get excited and work h arder to achieve success.Set a Great Example. Almost nothing kills team motivation faster than a leader whom team members perceive as dishonest, ungrateful or unmotivated. In other words, you should reflect what youd like to see from your group members. If your team lacks enthusiasm, find genuine reasons to get excited about reaching your goals. If you ask the group to bring ideas to the next meeting, bring your own ideas too.Finally, and perhaps most importantly, make sure you consistently go to bat for your team when youre dealing with your superiors. Employees are almost always willing to work harder for a manager who stands up for their best interests.What have you learned about how to motivate your team? Tell us what worked for you in the comments below.

How to Plan a Wedding Without Ditching Your Day Job

How to Plan a Wedding Without Ditching Your Day Job Remember when you were a girl and you fantasized about when all your wedding dreams came true? Remember when you imagined how you would spend every second planning every detail, from the moment you woke up to the moment you went on your exotic honeymoon?Remember when you got a full-time job? Right.You cant quit your job to plan one day, but youcan plan a wedding while working full-time. You have some long days ahead, but when theres a will, theres a way.Here are 6 tips on how to plan your wedding like a Fairygodboss1 Set a Realistic DateThe countdown clock begins the second you tischset a date. The Knot says the average engagement is 14.5 months. However, the time youll need depends on many factors, like where you are in your life, the type of wedding, venue availability, and cost.Its important to evaluate your personal agenda before you set a date. Do you or your partner have a prearranged work trip? Are you up for a promotion or w orking toward another goal? Do you have vacation time to go on a honeymoon? For that matter, do you have enough money to pay for a honeymoon? Consider how much time youll need to manage these dynamics.2 Make a Bullet JournalWedding planning requires a lot of note taking and inspiration. Bullet journaling is the organizational phenomenon that is your solution to both. If youre not familiar with this journaling craze, watch this video and then go on Pinterest to get ideas. Weddingbells.com explains how you can create one to meet planning milestones and relieve stress through therapeutic doodling.3 Share the Wedding WorkloadEven though youve been dreaming about your wedding since before you met your fianc its not just your day. Delegating tasks to your husband-to-be will get him more excited about different elements of the event (even the flowers), and will make it easier for you to find a balance between wedding planning and your job.4 Maximize Your BreaksUtilize your lunch break to s chedule and follow up with vendors. Your company may have a policy about using their computer for personal activity, so familiarize yourself with that first. At a minimum, you can use breaks to call vendors and to ask your boss and colleagues for recommendations.5 Schedule Appointments Off-HoursThe easiest times to meet with vendors are the evenings, Saturdays and Sundays. You dont want to rush finding the perfect venue, dress, DJ and florist. Also, if you want your fianc, parents, bridesmaids or friends to join, its easier to find time when everyone can meet after work or during the weekend.6 Limit DIYDo-It-Yourself is great way to save money and personalize favors and dcor. However, theres only so much you can do when you work 40+ hours each week. Choose a select number of tasks to DIY and then leave the rest to the professionals whose full-time jobs are to make your wedding awesome.--Kristen Farrell is a professional communicator who previously worked in human resources. She shar es career lessons and everyday experiences on her blog kristen-farrell.com. When shes not writing, youll find her running, crafting, or spending time with her husband, Jonathan and cat, Trotsky.