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Tips
To Inspire Your Team
February
1, 2007
Author: Tom Perkins - Business Development Coach and Certified
Personal Trainer
As
a manager or supervisor, your staff looks to you for
leadership and guidance.
Typically, you can provide that leadership in one of
two ways.
You can dictate to your staff to do what they need to
do or you can inspire them to perform.
Which do you think will prove to be the most
productive?
As
a leader, we create the work place environment in which people
function.
If it is one of fear, then people
will no longer take risks.
Create an atmosphere of criticism, and your staff’s
confidence erodes.
However, if you build an environment of trust, you
empower your employees to do their best.
You build a high performance team.
Here
are some components to inspire and build a team!
Trust
Educator
and activist Booker T. Washington once said, “Few things
help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him,
and to let him know that you trust him.”
If you set boundaries, trust can be cultivated in such
a way that your team actual thrives and becomes productive.
When team members feel that they have the freedom to
make decisions, to take risks or to speak their mind, they
step up to the plate and deliver.
As a leader, you have to embrace the position that
knowing the “rules”, your team will make the right calls
on their own, and they need to know that you will support
them.
Reward
and Recognition
Everyone
wants to believe that the job they are doing matters; that
they are making a direct contribution to the success of the
organization. Most
people want to be held to a higher standard and level of
expectation. Conversely,
they also expect to be recognized and applauded when they
reach or exceed those expectations or standard. Recognizing and/or rewarding a team member for a job well
done does not mean you have to spend a lot of money to come up
with a rewards program. However,
developing a cost-effective but significant ways to reward
your staff for a job well done does send a positive message
that you value the contribution of your staff.
Opportunity
Opportunity
allows those who are striving to achieve more to do so by
learning new skills and experiencing new things.
Opportunity energizes people and motivates them to
perform at a higher level.
In short, it raises the bar.
Enthusiasm
If
everyone on the team believes they are working together toward
a common goal – whatever that may be – they are more
likely to enthusiastically commit themselves to it.
As a leader, you have a tremendous impact on building
that enthusiasm for the job.
If you are enthusiastic and charged up about your own
work, you instill that enthusiasm in your team.
As
a leader, you have the ability to influence your team and
their performance.
If you believe in creating a working environment that
fosters trust and enthusiasm while providing recognition and
opportunity, then you are building a sustainable
high-performing team.
With
a degree in Accounting, certified as a personal trainer, and
primary function as a business development coach; Tom
Perkins works with personal training departments,
fitness professionals, management of health clubs, as well
as fitness product and sports nutrition companies in the
areas of sales, marketing, and promotion; operations and
administration, and staffing and human resource management.
With 6 startups in 17 years under his belt and over 20 years
of working with the fitness industry Tom leads companies to
profitability through Fitness Industry Solutions www.fitnessindustrysolutions.com.
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