I’m often asked the question ‘how do I motivate my team?’, writes James Sweetman. My answer is always the same. Most people don’t lack motivation, the vast majority of employees come to work wanting to do a good job.
What they often lack is clarity, and after a break, people need reorientation and teams require realignment before they can build momentum. Without it, there will be busyness, but no clear purpose or direction. When teams are aligned, energy is used wisely. When they are not, even the most motivated people can begin to disengage.
Momentum is movement. Clarity gives it direction
As inboxes fill and meetings reappear in the diary, the unspoken expectation in organisations in January is that everybody should ‘hit the ground running’. But teams don’t need more urgency in January, they need a shared understanding of what is important.
When there is clarity about priorities and expectations, and when people understand why their work matters, and how it connects to the bigger picture, motivation tends to follow naturally. This is especially important at the start of the year. January is a threshold moment. It offers leaders an opportunity not just to restart activity, but to reset focus.
How do I motivate my team?
So if you are asking the question – how do I motivate my team? Here is what is required, especially now at the start of a new calendar year.
Setting the scene
Leadership in January is less about driving performance and more about creating conditions for it. This means:
- Taking time to re-establish priorities;
- Getting clear as to what success and progress look like;
- Providing certainty when the team is dealing with change (even if that simply means sharing relevant information and updates with them);
- Creating space for two-way conversation, not just instruction.
All effective teams are built on trust and certainty. Leaders who take time to realign are sending out a powerful message that clarity matters, my people matter and our direction matters. This kind of presence lays the foundation for high-performance.
Three questions to refocus your team
In my experience, simple, well-timed questions can do more to restore focus than any detailed plan. As I have said for many years, questions determine focus, engage the mind and ensure team meetings are dialogues not monologues. Here are three of my favourite refocusing questions:
- What matters this quarter and what can wait? This helps reduce overload and shapes priorities.
- What do we need to stop doing to work better together? Working smarter always means dropping inefficiencies, not adding more to an already lengthy ‘to do’ list.
- What would success and progress look like by Easter? This makes goals or targets more tangible and relatable.
As I often say, answering these questions is not their sole purpose, their value lies in the quality of the conversations they create within your team.
Attitude and Mindset
Negativity, a victim mentality and cynicism are qualities that don’t lend themselves to motivated teams. As a leader you have to ensure that you retain a positive outlook and are a role model – the qualities you want to see in your team. You have to believe in the potential of your team, even before they do. As a leader you know where you are now in terms of key metrics, but you also need a sense of where you want to be. Remember as a leader you achieve with and through your colleagues.
A different way to motivate your team
So, how do you motivate your team? You don’t do it by pushing harder, creating artificial urgency, or relying on slogans and incentives. You motivate your team by creating clarity, direction and trust. You motivate them by helping people understand what matters now, how their work contributes, and where their effort is best placed.
January does not need to be a starting gun. It can be a reminder to reconnect teams with meaning before asking for momentum. When leaders take time to realign priorities, reset expectations and welcome honest conversation, motivation rarely needs to be forced. It emerges naturally from a sense of shared purpose. Remember motivation is not something you do to a team, it is something you build with them.
Author: James Sweetman. ‘Unlocking your team’s potential' is just one of the workshops I facilitate in organisations. This video will give you an idea of what it covers. Check out my other training options here.