Team Building

Motivation - Dont Make Your Team Uncomfortable

The people in your team may feel a bit uncomfortable whenyou sit down and spend time with them, particularly ifthey're not used to it. They might not be used to you doingit or perhaps a previous manager didn't do it. It's oftenthe case that people are uncomfortable because theyassociate their manager sitting down with them as a preludeto a reprimand.

As Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson say in their book'The One Minute Manager' - "Catch people doing somethingright"Too many managers think that their job is to - "catch peopledoing something wrong."

Many old style managers believed that their job was to checkup on what their people were doing and "sort things" asrequired. Many employees today still feel that's still thesituation. If a manager comes close to you then they'rechecking up. If you've got that culture amongst your teammembers, then you need to change it.

Think of it this way - are you the kind of manager whospends time with your team to find out what they're doing orto find out how they're doing. Make sure it's the latter.

Some of your people may even be a bit scared of youparticularly when they first join the team. You may believethat - "you're much too nice a person for anybody to bescared of little old you" - however I used to believe thattoo.

One day I was discussing a new salesman with John, one ofthe more experienced guys. "Young Patrick's scared of you"he said. "Don't be ridiculous" was my reply, "What have Iever done to make him scared of me, I'm always really niceto him." - "Well he is scared of you and just wants toplease you" said John.

This was something that really made me think because therewas no way I wanted any of my team to be scared of me. Nowthat I was aware of it I took more care in my dealing withPatrick and our working relationship worked out okay.

So always be aware of the impact you're having on yourpeople; you may think that you're the nicest most reasonableperson in the world but how do they see it. Sadly, there are some managers who quite like the fact thattheir people are a bit scared of them and they see it as apositive situation. These are also the managers who spend alot of time recruiting new people.

I can remember times when I've taken over a new team. I'vehad many strange looks and defensive body language when I'vestopped to have a chat with some of the team.Some field sales people would get extremely uncomfortablewhen I told them I'd be spending some time with themvisiting customers. However, I always knew that I wasgetting it right when at later date a salesman would ask -"When are you coming out with me again Alan to see somecustomers."

There's always going to be members of your team who arereally keen to spend time with you and others who are lessso. However, you must spend time with everyone - more withsome and less with others. If you do it right, then yourpeople will start to get used to it and start to see thebenefits to themselves.

Discover how you can generate more business by motivatingyour team!Alan Fairweather is the author of "How to get More Salesby Motivating Your Team" This book is packed with practicalthings you can do to get the best out of your people . Visit http://www.howtogetmoresales.com