By just reading the headline, you might think that this article is targeting leaders. You are wrong, this article is targeting you, as the employee, as a part of a team. I am going to write a bit about team work and your part in it. Remember that you hold a vital role in any team, and you need to understand this role to contribute to the victory. I will first start by a comparison with ancient boats,

Gar! Land hoy Pirates!

I always like to compare teamwork with a sea voyage where you set sail for a faraway destination. You need a captain, you need a navigator and you need a lookout, gunmen, a chef, cannon fodders and deck boys. All of you have different skills and abilities, and you are expected to use them. The chef does not necessary know how to read a map, he is still an important part of the team. The captain does not know how to cook, but the captain is still in charge. Each and one of them with different roles, but still equal important. The captain must understand that he is not more important than all the other roles, as this often leads to mutiny.

Learn how to navigate

If you are the navigator of your team, make sure that you are hungry for more skills about navigation. Create a learning goal to become the best navigator possible. I will tell you again and again, buy some books! Learn from other navigators, participate in online forums (yes pirates are very modern these days ). Don’t worry about IF you are going to reach your destination, because without proper skill you won’t unless you do as Christopher Columbus and set sail, only to re-name your destination when you missed with half a globe. What you need to worry about is improving your skills. And the reason is simple, with skills comes success. If you know how to navigate, you will get to your destination. If you become an even better navigator, you will get there faster.

But do not forget to cook

This is very important. When you are on a team, you’re not alone! What if the chef has to walk the plank? Who is supposed to cook? Unlike an engine that breaks down, with one part out of order, humans have the ability to adapt new conditions. What if an engine was redundant, one breaks down and another one keeps going. This is absolutely necessary in a good team. This does not mean that you now need to be full time chef, but you know how to cook and can prevent the crew from starving or ending up with scurvy, until a new chef is in place. This is why it is a good advice to learn a bit about what the other people in the team do as well. Create a redundant team that will keep going.

Mutiny happens for a reason

When the captain keeps changing the recipe for the chef, or deciding on another route, overruling the navigator he is micromanaging and create two things you do not want in a crew; Lack of trust and dissatisfaction. The captain needs to trust his crew members to be best at whatever they are hired for. But the captain need to know the value of knowledge and make sure the crew has learning goals. The captain should help the navigator to become a better navigator. Start with; “What do you want to improve?” A leader is a servant, applying his efforts to help other evolve. But wait, your captain is currently in a flying state between the plank and the deep ocean, what do you do? Who is in command? Now what? Yes, you get the point. In addition to being a good navigator, an above average chef, you should also read about leadership. You should also know the role of the captain. Who runs this place when the captain is gone? Do you all set sail for Tahiti? Or are you trying to loot the next armada? You must understand the importance of achieving the goals and as a team you need to take responsibility, for the team to run smoothly. So if you want to be captain one day, start acquiring the necessary skills now. No need to wait until the captain is shark bait.

Now you know about the different roles, and how you need to know more about more than just yours.

Create an open space for dialogue

To get a team to function you need room and space for open dialogue. It is important that people can talk without fear, and team members need to understand that it is ok to be criticized. But remember criticism need to be constructive and with an intention to make people grow. If you have people with opinions, let them speak, listen to them. I heard about a woman here in Norway that had a sound proof scream room at work, where people could go and just scream! How great is that? Do not look down on people with other opinions. The deck boy might not like the food the chef is making, he is allowed to have this opinion, there is still no reason for the chef to hate the boy, but he might rather take it into consideration, and maybe once in a while adjust his menu? You understand what I mean.

Hire the right people

Look for tolerance in the people you hire. Look for people that understand that there is a difference between what you do and who you are. Look for people that are able to understand the importance of lifelong learning. If you get team members that care about each other, and are interested in seeing their friends and co-workers develop, you are then hiring the best crew. – Remember lesson number 1: Understand the different team roles.

Please do feel free to add more ingredients to this team recipe by commenting – what does it take to make a winning team?

I hope you enjoy my blog and feel free to subscribe. Thank you so much for reading, you rock!

Motivational Gardener

Do you have green fingers? Can you make a plant thrive? Have you ever bought a plant and forgot about it? What happened? Have you ever planted a tomato plant? Did you get tomatoes, or did it wither and die? Have you ever bought an aquarium and wounded up with fish floating upside down in green water? Have you ever hired a highly motivated person just to see them fail? Is it enough to tell the plant to grow? Is it enough to shout “Swim, damn it!” to the fish?

Would you like your team to perform better?

You need to understand that motivation is not just about showing up at work and smile. It is not just about fun. Motivation is like a plant or a fish tank, it needs the right environment and it need caring hands, tender and love. You need to clean it sometimes, keep the cat away and you need to pay attention. What would happen at your job if everybody performed just 10 % better? Do you think it is possible? Sure it is. Do you know what your team is capable of?

Grow motivation

Motivation is harvested like tomatoes in a greenhouse, remove the weed, water when necessary and make sure the bugs are at arm’s length. You need to understand motivation to know how to grow it. Plants and fish tanks do come with instructions. Motivation does too, there are a lot of books about motivation out there, and there is a lot of research on the topic.

The Recipe to motivation

• Add a lot of positive feedback to the soil
• Make sure that you got good tools that work
• Define clear and understandable goals
• Include the people in the process, talk and share
• Believe in them, and feed them with trust
• Give them light and love, not darkness and fear
• Show them what the great huge red tomato look like, and tell them that they also one day might even become ketchup
• Ask what they would like to improve
• Create space to grow

And add the powerful ingredient of WHY!

I can tell you to run a mile or two. I can even show you how. But there is still not sure you will do your best? What if I told you to hurry because there is happiness waiting at the end? [Insert whatever would make you happy] – but you have a limited time to do it? Would you need me to explain how to run? Would you want me to do it for you? Or would you start running right away? What and how is easy to understand, but understanding why is the most powerful tool to include in your recipe.

Understanding why applies to a lot of things at work. It helps you in a direction, it helps you to stay motivated and it will help in changing times, hard times and good times. 

Why motivation is important

Your employees and co-workers will stay in their job longer, just as a plant will last longer with love and care. Let’s say you have 50 people at work. 2 people quit each month, resulting in a total new staff every 25 month. Reduce the number to one and you have doubled your average experience of your staff. More experienced staff produces more. Costs of employee turnover are enormous. Do you have a team that train new employees on a regular basis? How much does that cost? The bigger the team, the more problems you have with motivation. Do you have your own class room? These are signs that you might need to re-consider your employee strategies. Would your customers rather be served by rookies or experts?

And money for the win

You do not necessary need to pay more. Pay is not the most important factor in motivation. Pay needs to be good enough to rule out financial hardship. If people have a clear vision of why, in a warm and trusting environment where they can contribute and be listened to they will turn down jobs paying a lot more and stay loyal to you.

So create your own “fish tank” at work. And ask yourself this, can you afford not to? Do you know the level of motivation at your job? What can you do to increase motivation? – But remember motivation is not implemented by a memo.

Read more about motivation to better understand:

- How do you provide value at work?

- Spot the big picture.

- Slow Down Motivation

- How to make your employees thrive

- The Positive Power of Applause

- Lift me up! How to motivate an employee

For some inspiration watch this great video:

- When it comes down to motivation

I hope you enjoy these resources about motivation and feel free to subscribe to my blog. Thank you so much for reading, you rock!

Motivational Gardener

No, I don’t hate my job, but you might hate your job. Do you know why? I am going to help you think differently about your job. There is no need to hate work; there is always a solution to job dissatisfaction and you might hold the key yourself. I am going to ask you some questions, you will provide the answers. So do you want to do something about it?

Question #1: What is your career goal?
Don’t know? You know what you don’t want to do? In my experience job dissatisfaction is often caused by lack of career goal and direction. You might be like a boat at sea with no people aboard to navigate. No direction equals no purpose, no purpose equals no meaning, no meaning equals boredom.

Question #2: What do you love about your job?
Hate is often the result of continuous negativity. Can you list 10 things you love about your job?

Question #3: Can you get a better job elsewhere?
The reason I ask is; why have you yet not moved there? Are you not qualified? Will you get a good enough recommendation from your current boss? A lot of unsatisfied employees slows down productions, displays bad work ethics and might end up close to being fired if they don’t quit first. Have you ever thought that you might need to do something yourself to improve your result, references and your qualifications?

Question #4: Who is suffering from your hate?
Hate is an internal feeling and the only one suffering from hate is you. If you hate your boss, he might still get results, if your motivation is so low that it hurts productivity you are that will end up without a job. Hate is a feeling that will get you nowhere.

Question #5: How can you change?
Did you know that some people love having a bad boss? Do you know why? It is a learning opportunity; you can learn what not to do if you ever become management material. You can learn what not to do if you ever open your own business. You might not be able to change your job, but can you change?

Question #6: What can you change?
Is there anything you can do to thrive at work, with non work related tasks? Do you care about your co-workers? Can you serve coffee? Water some plants? Clean? Decorate? Talk with people? Teach other how to do their job correctly? Is there anything around that you can grab responsibility for? Is there an area your boss is missing? Can you take charge in those areas? Anything you can do to make your day more interesting.

Question #7: Where is your passion?
You probably lost your passion for your job? What got you there in the first place? What things could keep you up all night because it is fun and interesting? Can you make a living of it? Is there any jobs related to your passion? Can you bring some of your passion to work? If you like to take pictures, you could do so at work, make an office picture art expo. Do you like to create websites? Could your services be of use for your company?

Question #8: When are you going to quit?
If you hate your job, and you see no way out of it, then quit! What are you dependent of your income? Read question #3, if yes, quit. If no, find what your job is doing for you. List ten things you can do because of your job and your income, if you can’t list ten things you probably not in need of your pay?

Question #9: Who is in charge of your life?
Are you making your own decisions? Is anybody forcing you to stay at your job? There is a lot of responsibility resting on your shoulders. You are a part of a team; it is your job to make the other happy. If you can teach this philosophy to everyone around you, they all will try to make you happy; just don’t be a grump about it.

Question #10: Do you think you need to be negative?
Negative or positive, it is actually a choice. Do you choose to be positive? Take 5 minutes before your job. Read the ten things you love about your job, read the ten things your paycheck is giving in return to you. Chose your attitude to be positive and see if the days turn out a little better.

As you see, being unsatisfied at work might be something you can change. You have the power to turn your current job into your dream job.

So what are you going to do about it?
You could become a great employee? Or you could find your dream job?  Either way I hope you dig my blog and want to subscribe to it. I would also recommend this post to add some value to your job. Thank you so much for reading! You rock!

What do you fear?  Do you have the answer to this question? Have you ever been in a meeting and afterwards regretted that you bit your tongue? Have you gotten in trouble because you did not face your troubles earlier? Well let me tell you a little secret; Leadership is all about fear and courage.

What do you want to do?

You are probably surrounded by choices and opportunities all day long. Each one of those daily happenings is challenging you courage to deliver. It might be a talk that gets postponed, a disagreement with your boss, (un)reasonable demands from your spouse. Sometimes you might just agree or give in. How many times have you in retrospective been right? You own it to yourself to display the courage to do what you think is right.

What is fear?

Fear is your mind cooking your past experience and negative expectations analytics into a soup of fear of being wrong, being stupid, saying something out of place, speaking up and so on. In a group of people there is always somebody that hopes that somebody else is going to say exactly what themselves are thinking, even if mindreading is a skill few non-fictional characters possess. Fear is what’s keeping you from doing what your really would like to do.

This brings me back to leadership. It is easy to point out something in an e-mail. It is hard to say stuff to someone’s face. Guess what is the best approach? It is easy to overlook someone doing a poor job; it might be hard to fire him, because he is such a fun co-worker. It is easy to find an excuse; it is hard to face the problem. If you can fight your fears you will become a better leader.

Challenge yourself to great leadership

I have had a dream for years; a few weeks ago I decided to promote myself as a public speaker at a future telecom conference. I feel I have something useful to say, I fear speaking in public, I challenge myself. I am 100 percent confident that I will do well. I am challenging my own fears and so should you. I remember a few years ago I was shaking in a dressing room at work. I was about to jump into my batman costume and run crazy around the office. I stood in the dressing room for 10 minutes before my head rushed full of blood and I ran around the cubicles. The morale and mood of the entire department skyrocketed in one tenth of a second! It was amazing, I filled myself with energy and everybody had a blast! Traditional leadership needs weeks to gain the same effect as I did back then in just a few seconds. And it was fun. I’d do it again if I would still fit in my hot batman costume.

As a leader you are obligated to keep challenging yourself, challenge your knowledge, challenge your courage and challenge your surroundings. This is the only way you will continue to develop.

How do you challenge yourself to become a better leader?