Success stories are some of the most powerful ways to motivate your team and to get them pulling in the same direction. When people hear others in the organization are having success and how they are doing it, they will want to be part of that team. They will learn how and will look for ways to contribute. When everyone is on the same page trying to contribute and looking for ways to create their own success stories to share, everybody wins together.
To the alternative, nothing is shared in some companies and therefore the energy is low and the participation is low. The employees are merely showing up to work to get their jobs done for a week’s pay. There is little learning happening and participation is lacking. They don’t feel part of anything and don’t know where they are going.
First let’s be clear there are no magic bullets. It takes hard work and dedication to be effective in building momentum, having team meetings, sharing success stories, and being consistent. Not all employees will jump on board to participate, and you will need to evaluate what kind of people you want in your company. As coaches, we are experts at profiling, training, and motivating your team and can be quite effective in helping you to get these systems in place.
Telling good stories helps us to learn lessons, pass on history, and generally share some laughs. We all remember growing up with Dr. Seuss, or the Harry Potter stories , or even the “Hobbit”. Lessons like good (your company) vs. evil (the competition), or on how to protect our environment (the Lorynx,) and Horton the elephant learning to be brave, all are tales that hold our fascination! Share your company’s stories with your customers.
What are the stories in your company, it’s history, what it stands for? I suggest having weekly team meetings, sharing success stories in sales and operations, asking for participation, and resetting goals for the week to come. Give your people a clear vision of where the company is going and create excitement that they are with a company that is in control of creating it’s own successful future. Your results will be amazing.
Kevin Glynn
