BUILDING AND MAINTAINING

TEAM MOTIVATION AND MOMENTUM

NIGEL A.L. BROOKS

THE BUSINESS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Article reprint
 BUILDING AND MAINTAINING
TEAM MOTIVATION AND MOMENTUM

Leaders communicate aspirational and inspirational messages that

influence others to motivate themselves. However, to get things done
through others, leaders must also build and maintain momentum over
time.

Leaders first motivate themselves, and then establish an environment that

enables others to motivate themselves too. Leaders can be self-starters,
appointed, or emergent.

The members of a self-managed team work together to achieve a mission

and vision based upon direction from a higher authority. The team
establishes its mission, vision, objectives, and goals as a sub-set of those
of the enterprise. There may be little to no room for negotiation on what
the overall goals are, but only the terms by which they are achieved.
However, without the ability to shape mission, vision, objectives, and
interim goals, the self-managed team can resort to becoming a group of
individual contributors. A self-directed team is both self-managed and
establishes its own direction almost exclusively. Leaders may emerge from
both self-managed and self-directed teams.

It is essential that teams operate within the context of the values, mission,
and values of the enterprise, otherwise organizational silos can result.

A "leader-managed" team serves under an appointed leader who can be

either power-centric or empowering. In either case, the relationship
between the leader and team members is initially directive. The leader
establishes the objectives and goals for the team. However an empowering
leader has the intention of delegating to a self-managed, and subsequently
a self-directed team over time, whereas a power-centric leader does not.

Both power-centric and empowering leaders should welcome team

members, assess their readiness for tasks in terms of commitment and
competence, assign tasks by balancing the competencies between
individuals, and provide the necessary resources. Training programs may
be required to prepare team members for tasks and advancement.

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Power-centric leaders use rewards and punishments, and may micro
manage. Micro managers may take credit for themselves, and prevent
others from advancing. Empowering leaders build and maintain both
motivation and momentum to gain results, from which others can advance
over time.

Momentum is built by maintaining the ingredients for self motivation -

positive attitude, ambition, confidence, commitment, and self assessment.
Self assessment involves determining the aptitude, qualifications, ability,
proficiency, and experience for tasks and future opportunities.

Momentum is maintained by identifying positive role models that team

members can aspire to; overcoming obstacles, resolving conflict, giving
feedback on a timely basis; and recognizing and rewarding
accomplishments. Leaders cannot expect team members to duplicate
success without reward and recognition. However, once momentum is
built, it is easier to migrate from one task to the next.

Giving feedback is accomplished through guidance from mentoring and

coaching. Mentoring addresses the personal and professional
competencies of each team member - intra (self) and inter-personal skills,
and functional knowledge and technical skills. Coaching addresses the
enterpriship competencies that enable team members to assume
entrepreneurial, leadership, and managerial roles with increased levels of
responsibility in the future as they become empowered. In effect
mentoring is about understanding what the rules are and why, and
coaching is about how the rules are applied.

Whereas empowering leaders initially assess the readiness of team

members for tasks, momentum is achieved by enabling team members to
assess themselves, and make adjustments from mentoring and coaching
accordingly. As such, the relationship becomes supportive as the leader
delegates to the team members, first as self-managed, and then later as
self-directed. Empowered team members are also able to assume
leadership roles elsewhere in the enterprise as they advance.

Empowerment is an enterpriship (entrepreneurship, leadership, and

management) competency.

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For more information...

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www.enterpriship.com

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About Nigel A.L Brooks...

Nigel A.L Brooks is a management consultant to entrepreneurs, business

enterprise owners, executives, and managers, and the enterprises they
serve. He specializes in developing the entrepreneurial, leadership, and
managerial competencies that build sustainable advantage from vision to
value. He is an author and a frequent speaker.

He obtained his professional experience as a partner at Andersen

Consulting (now Accenture, Ltd.), as a vice president at Booz Allen
Hamilton, Inc. (now Booz and Company), as a senior vice president at the
American Express Company, as president of Javazona Cafes, Inc., and as
president of The Business Leadership Development Corporation. He has
been a contributing editor for the Bank Administration Institute magazine,
and has served on boards of entrepreneurial networks. He was educated at
the University of Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom.

His clients are in the financial services, food services, high-tech,

manufacturing and distribution, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, professional
services, retail and wholesale, transportation, and government industries.

He has experience in North and Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

www.nigelalbrooks.com

About The Business Leadership Development Corporation (BLD)...

The Business Leadership Development Corporation is a professional

services firm that works with entrepreneurs, lifestyle business enterprise
owners, executives, and managers, and the enterprises they serve.

BLD develops entrepreneurial, leadership, and managerial competencies

that achieve performance excellence by building sustainable advantage
from vision to value through:

 Strategic Management Consulting

 Executive Coaching and Mentoring
 Professional Training via The Center For Business Leadership
Development (CBLD)
 Motivational Speaking

www.bldsolutions.com

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 THE BUSINESS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
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PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85032 USA
www.bldsolutions.com
(602) 291-4595

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