Create self-motivated teams by fostering commitment, breaking down communication barriers, building trust, and empowering teams to solve problems and enhance performance.
As a manager or team leader one of the most pressing challenges you may face is motivating your team. But what if we told you that your role as a leader isn’t to constantly motivate your team but to create the conditions in which they can motivate themselves. This shift in mindset can have a profound impact on your leadership approach and your team’s overall performance.
The Problem: The Pressure to Motivate
The issue with trying to motivate your team is that it often leads to the belief that it is your job to inspire and drive others, constantly pushing them to achieve results. This creates an unspoken assumption that your team members lack the ability to motivate themselves. In reality, the source of motivation is not as external as many believe. It’s crucial to recognise that motivation doesn’t have to come from you. In fact, attempting to motivate your team directly can backfire and create a dependency that undermines their self-motivation and accountability.
This dilemma relates to the concept of locus of control – a psychological theory that refers to the extent to which individuals believe they have control over the events that affect them. Those with an external locus of control tend to feel that external factors such as luck, circumstance, or other people’s influence control their outcomes. In contrast, those with an internal locus of control believe that their actions and decisions directly influence their outcomes.
As a leader, you may have an internal locus of control — believing that you can influence and control events to achieve success. The irony arises when you try to motivate your team in the same way. Your belief that your efforts can drive their success inadvertently treats your team as though they have an external locus of control. This undermines their belief in their ability to motivate themselves, which can lead to disengagement, dependency, and a lack of ownership.
The Solution: Creating the Right Conditions for Self-Motivated Teams
Instead of viewing your role as the one who must ‘push’ your team into action, shift your focus towards creating the conditions for your team to motivate themselves. It’s about understanding that while you, as a leader, have influence over certain factors, your team members possess an innate ability to drive their own motivation if you remove the barriers standing in their way.
The goal is not to directly motivate others, but to foster an environment where their intrinsic drive and self-motivation can thrive.
The Practice: Practical Steps to Empower Your Team
1. Foster Team Commitment Through Regular Collaboration
One of the first steps in creating self-motivated teams is ensuring the team has opportunities to connect and collaborate. When teams meet together regularly and have meaningful discussions, they develop a sense of mutual commitment. This is essential because a team that feels connected to a shared purpose is more likely to self-motivate and drive results without needing constant direction.
It’s your responsibility as a leader to facilitate these opportunities. By creating spaces for open communication and collaboration, you allow your team to set collective goals, share ideas, and provide feedback. When team members understand each other’s perspectives and contribute to the development of solutions, they feel more invested in the outcome. Their commitment to the team and its success will naturally grow.
2. Break Down Communication Barriers
Clear communication is essential to creating self-motivated teams. If your team struggles to communicate effectively with stakeholders, it can create frustration and a lack of clarity around their purpose. As a leader, your role is to eliminate these barriers and ensure that your team can connect with key individuals and groups. This will allow their contributions to be recognised, which in turn boosts their sense of value and motivation.
Encourage open lines of communication and transparency. This could involve facilitating meetings with external stakeholders, ensuring that your team members have access to the resources they need to communicate their impact, and ensuring that feedback flows freely both ways.
3. Address Trust and Collaboration Issues
One of the most significant barriers to motivation is the lack of trust within a team. If your team members don’t feel they can raise concerns or be open with each other, it can lead to misunderstandings, tension, and a decline in morale. As a leader, it’s essential to create an environment of psychological safety where team members feel comfortable voicing their opinions without fear of judgement or retaliation.
This can be done by setting the tone for open, respectful conversations and modelling trust-building behaviour yourself. Encourage your team to support each other, collaborate freely, and offer constructive feedback. The more they trust one another, the more motivated they will be to work together to achieve their goals.
4. Remove Obstacles to Internal Communication
Internal communication is key to any team’s success. If your team faces restrictions in how they communicate internally, it can impede their ability to coordinate, plan, and execute effectively. As a leader, one of your roles is to reduce these restrictions and allow your team to develop their own sustainable methods of operation.
This could involve providing tools and resources that enable seamless communication, such as project management software or regular check-ins. But it’s also about giving your team the autonomy to find solutions to internal communication challenges on their own, trusting them to create processes that work for them.
By removing these barriers, you empower your team to take ownership of their communication strategies, which in turn fosters greater accountability and motivation.
5. Focus on Empowerment Rather than Control
Finally, it’s important to recognise that motivation comes from within, not from external control. By empowering your team to make decisions and take responsibility for their outcomes, you give them the autonomy they need to feel invested in their work. Micromanagement will only serve to suppress motivation, as it communicates a lack of trust and respect for their abilities.
Allow your team the freedom to make decisions within their scope, and offer guidance when necessary rather than dictating every action. This approach will encourage self-reliance and a sense of ownership, which is crucial for long-term motivation.
Conclusion: A Shift in Leadership Approach
Shifting from trying to motivate your team to creating the conditions in which they can motivate themselves may seem subtle, but it’s a profound change in leadership philosophy. When you stop seeing yourself as the motivator and instead focus on empowering your team to take control of their outcomes, you unlock their potential and create a thriving, self-sustaining team culture.
By fostering collaboration, breaking down communication barriers, addressing trust issues, removing obstacles, and empowering your team, you set the stage for them to become their own source of motivation. In doing so, you create a high-performing team that can drive success without relying on external influences or constant direction.
