As we begin the last month of our quarter focused on Relax and Reset, let’s look at some key ways you can help your team reset and be more productive, focused and happy for the remainder of the year. In the past we have posted blogs around the beginning of the year to help individuals have their Best Year – check them out!
You can use many of these activities to help yourself or others reset and end the year strong. We’ve listed below the top five ways we feel you can help your Team Reset.
1. Reenergize the Team
Start with checking your own energy. The level of excitement and enthusiasm you bring to the work you are leading will have a direct impact on the team. To win their buy in and getting your team Reenergized for the last 3rd of the year, you want to start with yourself. What will reenergize your passion about the work? Brainstorm some ideas that might do the same for your team.
Helping the team get Reenergized includes some of the same elements that helps them relax which we discussed last month. Figure out what “Fun” looks like and feels like for your team and ensure you inject fun in regular intervals to reenergize your team.
2. Revisit the Vision
If you’ve not done so previously, make it a mission to learn each team members personal values and what’s most important to them. Helping them connect their personal values to the overall vision of the team or organization will help them see their part in the bigger vision of your team or the organization.
Revisit our previous blog on Values and Purpose. This effort will also help you build a stronger relationship with your team member which can pay many more dividends as you work together in the future.
3. Review Team Goals
Now is a great time to check in with each team member and “take the temperature” on how they feel about the progress they’ve made toward their professional goals. It’s also a great time to ensure your team member is setting SMART goals. Review our past blog on Goals and Goal Setting.
Each year we should revisit our goals. For a team, it’s a great time to check in to see what progress each team member has made toward their assigned goals but also get curious about their progress towards any personal goals they have shared during 1:1s.
When you review Team Goals, as the leader check to ensure each goal should have the same priority and is relevant. Completing this inspection around goals gets everyone on the same page and understanding what their contribution to team success must be.
It’s also a great time of the year to lay the ground work of what goals might be on the horizon for the next year. Leverage your team’s input in how those goals might be achieved. Engaging them in the planning process for the next year creates a deeper level of ownership of team success.
4. Reformulate their Career Plan
Post summer breaks and getting their children back to school, as well as heading into annual review season, presents a perfect time to support your team members with their professional career plan.
How have they progressed since the last review? Did they take the steps agreed upon? Did you support them in the career development over the last year?
The conversations regarding their career plan should allow the team member see “What’s In It For Me” (WIIFM). This is the “channel” that managers sometimes forget to “tune into” and answer the WIIFM for each member of their team. As much as we would want our team members to show up and take on new projects or responsibilities without asking why or what's in it for them, we must answer the WIIFM. Taking on a new responsibility or a new project should be a step that helps them in their career. Show them how.
By working with them on their Career Plan you make a big deposit in their emotional bank account. Your time and energy invested in helping them see their career potential, even if that means they get promoted off the team builds loyalty to you and to the organization.
Look for more guidance on developing a career plan in our previous blog and upcoming blogs.
5. Reignite their Growth
The fifth way you can help your team reset is to reignite their growth. This can be a professional growth initiative that’s produced as a result of their Career Plan or a desire to grow personally that you’ve uncovered during your 1:1s.
What programs or benefits do you have available within your organization that the team member should leverage? Whether it be Tuition Assistance, free Courses they can take online via your Learning Management System, or reading a book as a team – there's an opportunity for you to find a way to reignite your team members' growth.
We are also heading into the Fall conference season. Is there a conference they should attend that will help them professionally from either a skill development or networking capacity. Decide how you want to invest in your team member to help them reignite their growth. Maybe it’s time away from work, time on the job or a financial investment that you should encourage.
Best practice for leaders is that you discuss during 1:1s what the team member learned, their key takeaways and what they are getting out of any growth initiatives you are supporting from a time or financial commitment.
Let us know what you would add to our list of Top Ways to Help Your Team Reset. What’s worked for you and your team? Comment below by becoming a site member and share!