Plan for Positive Influence

Plan for Positive Influence

In business it is essential for teams to operate at the highest level of performance but in order to do so team members must be motivated to perform. When employees are satisfied at work they are motivated to perform at their best. They are vested in the project and want to see the project succeed. This sounds easy but when you being to factor in that everyone has different attitudes, emotions, personalities and values it becomes a difficult task to influence behavior. There are many theories and models that have been developed over the years to try and achieve this but the reality is that there is no set way. The team needs to be evaluated to determine what will be the best fit for the team.

Once the team members have been assigned the first thing that needs to be done is evaluate the group, unless you were able to select the team member before formation. If you are able to select team members this is even better because you can choose the members who complement each other. During the evaluation stage you are looking for personalities, attitudes, values, and the emotions that drive the individual. This will be accomplished through the initial meetings and talking one on one with the team members. All of this will have to run concurrent with beginning the project. During the initial meetings you should be asking questions to find out what the expectations of the team members are and what their personal goals are. During these meetings you will find out what will motivate the team to perform. According to Robbins and Judge one way to motivate is through employee involvement. "It's a participative process that uses employees' input to increase their commitment to the organization's success" (2011, p. 9). By engaging your team in this process early on you are motivating them to achieve their own success and giving them ownership in the success of their fellow team members.

Through this process you will identify the goals and values of the team. According to Fisher "...these smaller level goals help to contribute to reaching the overarching organizational goals (2009, p. 353). This process is based on motivating through goals. As you are moving through the project you will need to evaluate you the team to ensure that the team stays aligned with the goals and values. If you have differences in goals or values you will want to take steps at ensuring that the values of the team members are respected. Differing values can be very effective in getting a new perspective for the project.

After you have learned what motivates the team members you need to find out what tools that they need to be successful. This may be resources, training or mentoring. For example you have team member that is very task orientated but they are driven to complete tasks and may rush the decision making process. When the team hits road blocks