Why motivational speeches are a waste of time

said they had no goals in place for the upcoming season? Or worse, they came out and said they weren’t aiming to be in the top half of the competition? Not real motivating to say the least.

But there’s no point keeping the goals to yourself, you’ve got to share them with your team so they are also aware of them. People love being around those that are successful and want to achieve goals – they want to be a part of this.

I have a saying that I use regularly in rugby training and in my business coaching – communication leads to clarity, and clarity leads to confidence.

When your team is clear on what their roles and responsibilities are, they are more confident in going and executing them. As humans we do not like uncertainty, so erase the uncertainty and in turn the confusion in the workplace. It will also increase cohesion amongst the team as team members will no longer have disagreements or disputes amongst each other about who is responsible for different tasks within the business.

Celebrate the wins!

Peter Drucker, a management consultant who is often referred to as the founder of modern management practices, coined the phrase “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. You can have the best goals and plans in place and great strategies to achieve these, but if you don’t have the team to execute them then they are pointless. Culture is a business’s best point of difference and the fastest way to get ahead of the competition.

Ask your team their opinion on how to improve the business – whether it be the delivery of your product or service, or even the culture, people want to feel as they though are relevant and valued within a team and their voice will be heard.

If they have great ideas, implement them and acknowledge them. This will increase ‘buy in’ from your team into the business.

Get and give feedback – tell your team members how they can improve, in their role and as a team member. But this should definitely not be a one-way street – you need to get honest feedback about where and how you can improve as a leader and a team member.

The last necessity, and one of the most underrated and too often neglected by leaders within a business, is to give praise. In the book “Essentialism” the author states that the two internal motivators for people are: (1) Achievement, and (2) Recognition of those achievements.

Do you celebrate your team’s ‘wins’? If so, how? It’s important to celebrate achievements of the business and do this with your team.

Business owners who are experienced often struggle with this. Often

those leaders who have started their own business and achieved a degree of success struggle to understand why in this day and age their team don’t appear to have the drive or work ethic that they have themselves, forgetting that it is their own business, and that’s their driver.

They began their journey where praise was often not given for good or hard workers, it was expected, and now more than ever, we seek praise and strive for it. They struggle to accept this, and don’t understand the value or importance of often giving praise to their team and the effect this has on them as individuals and as a team.

Former legendary manager of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, in his book “Leading” believes the two most important words in the English language are “well done”.

If you’d be interested in hearing more on this and how to get the most out of your team, I’m hosting a seminar, “The 9 steps to an awesome TEAM & having 8 weeks holiday a year”, next Wednesday, October 31, at the Commercial Hotel from 6-8pm.

••• z Beau Robinson is an Action Coach Business Coach and former Super Rugby Champion and Wallaby. beaurobinson@actioncoach.com