Tell them why the job is important. You read earlier about the need for job meaning. It is one of the top three reasons why people don’t do what they are supposed to do. Once team members understand the importance of their jobs and how they contribute to the overall picture, their attitudes often change dramatically. You add value to them as people. To help make sure that you avoid complaints by adequately communicating job importance, complete these three statements before addressing your team.

• This job will benefit the organization because

  ____________________________________________________________.

• This project will benefit every team member because

  ____________________________________________________________.

• Failing to do this job well (or at all) will result in these long-term negative circumstances:

  ____________________________________________________________.

Tell them what the desired results are. When people don’t know your specific expectations, they don’t know where they’re going, when the job will end, and whether or not they’ve done a good job. Being kept in the dark is very demoralizing. Always define desired results, and watch people respond positively. Here are five key questions your team will need to know to be motivated by the results you seek.

• How will the results be achieved as a team? By individual team members?

• Are the results one time or ongoing? Explain.

• How will the team know when the desired results are accomplished?

• What team rewards are associated with the desired results?

• What factors must be overcome to achieve the desired results (time constraints, equipment limitations, etc.)?

Assign and define job authority. If you give a team member responsibility for an aspect of a project, you must support him by also giving him the authority to make it happen. Other team members must know this person has the authority. There are two basic ways to publicize who’s in charge: by written assertion or by personal announcement to the members concerned. In either approach, you must answer the following three questions to everyone’s satisfaction to make sure the authority “sticks” that you’re about to transfer.

• How will the authority be used on a daily basis?

• Exactly how are team members expected to respond?

• What are the benefits of responding to this new authority — and what are the consequences of failing to respond?

If you want to develop a potential leader and maximize the chances of project success, let the person have the authority to do the job … not just the responsibility. Notice how the three questions above use each approach of the StaffCoach™. You mentor to clarify importance, you coach for clarity and you counsel for accountability.

Agree on deadlines. Be careful with assumptions. When you give an assignment, people won’t automatically know when it’s due. Spell out deadlines clearly. Leaving something to chance will add to your stress and unnecessarily risk your results. To make sure deadlines are M.E.T., you should …

Monitor milestones.

Build in periodic progress checks before the project completion date.

Energize efforts.

If project phases are lagging, suggest ideas and/or change procedures or personnel to bring the project back up to speed.

Trumpet the team!

Did you meet the deadline? Find some way to celebrate it. The celebration doesn’t have to be a big deal — a quick meeting to acknowledge key players, an inexpensive lunch at a favorite “out of office” gathering place, going to the individuals and thanking them. Recognize the effort. The important thing is this: Don’t let a deadline victory slip by without a “trumpeting the team” celebration.

Provide feedback. Ask your staff to give you feedback, written or spoken, on how the job is going. How could it have been planned better? How do team members feel you have responded to their needs? The act of seeking ideas and opinions through open-ended questions will boost the morale of your team more than the greatest pep talk ever spoken!

Feedback is an interesting management and communication tool. Managers will acknowledge that they want it and need it. They will seek out their bosses, check with their clients or observe their people to determine how they are doing. The breakfast of champions. Yet, they aren’t as regular and consistent in giving it. Managing results means continually giving feedback. It is feedback that energizes and propels action.