How to Reward and Empower Team Members

#Sales can be tough, with long stretches of rejections and no wins. As a manager, you can boost your team’s performance during these difficult periods with positive recognition. → Recognize every win, big or small. Positive recognition fosters a healthy attitude on the team, which motivates them during tough times and helps them celebrate the good times. It’s also important to set up reward systems that emphasize not only quota attainment but also your company’s core values. → Reward high performers across different channels. Positive recognition is more impactful when you deliver it in a timely, comprehensive manner on various channels. At SalesRoads, we broadcast shoutouts every day on Slack. Teammates and managers applaud each other when they book an appointment, close a deal, or perform an action that embodies our core values. We also give accolades during meetings and coaching sessions, as well as present awards at our quarterly town halls to star employees and others who exemplify the company’s values. → Collect feedback to improve your reward systems. Every quarter, we conduct a pulse survey to help us understand if our employees feel appreciated or recognized enough. This practice uncovers insights into how the team feels, so we can course-correct and improve our reward systems. Sales is already a tough job. Don’t make it unnecessarily harder by underappreciating your team. Sometimes, all you need to achieve outstanding results is to create a supportive and encouraging environment — and that’s your responsibility as the manager. #Management #leadership

The greatest leaders don’t control, they empower. 5 ways to empower your team effectively: — 1. Delegate decision making Letting employees own their actions is a superpower for: - Building trust - Growing confidence - Developing decision-making skills Vulnerable share: I HATED and felt ashamed when I was being a micromanager and didn’t empower the team. I felt insecure about the team being able to perform at the level we needed to scale and avoid burnout. Big mistake, big lesson learned the hard way. Give authority to your team members on projects or tasks they have expertise in. The more they get to decide → the better they’ll perform. — 2. Recognize and reward initiative Public acknowledgment in meetings and tangible rewards motivate employees. Create recognition programs that reward taking initiative, problem-solving, and innovation. We used Bonus(dot)ly (amazing tool, a must in my view), to help teammates recognize each other based on our core values. Awesome feature with tokens that you accumulate for rewards! Everyone needs to know their extra efforts aren’t going unseen. — 3. Invest in professional development Your team doesn’t want to do any more frickin LinkedIn learning courses. They invest more effort when they know you actually care about their growth. If I could go back in time, I would hire WAY more coaches/consultants for each area of the company that we wanted to master. Why on Earth did I try to solve so many things on my own, with SO many experts out there? — 4. Foster a culture of feedback: Tension is low when feedback flows freely in a company. This is something that I don’t regret. We were extremely open and yet candid with constant feedback. Anyone could challenge anyone (even the guy/girl from CS to the CEO), if it was done with solid facts and respect. We all acted as equal share-holders. The best feedback follows a simple structure: - Regular not random - Focuses on behavior, not personality - Future facing, not dwelling on the past And always aligned with the companies best interest and mission. — 5. Establish clear goals Empowerment doesn’t mean a free-for-all. Most of the times we felt that the team wasn’t internally aligned, was when the incentives and goals weren’t clear nor aligned between areas of the company, and the company’s long term. Let team members operate autonomously with: - Clear goals - Defined boundaries - Achievable milestones Most people “know” about the SMART goals concept, and yet when we analyze their goals, I usually see undefined or difficult to measure goals. Don’t overlook Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals. This allows for autonomy while still being aligned with company objectives. — If you’re ready to empower your people through your leadership…. Apply these 5 steps immediately. Your team members will thank you. — Repost ♻️ to your network to share, and follow Ignacio Carcavallo for more like this.

Do you want to lead a top-performing team? Someone once shared with me that a true sign of a strong team is how they operate and perform when their leader is absent. This idea stuck with me, and I became curious about what it would take to build a team that could function at a high level without me. I concluded that if I wanted my team to be the best, I needed to make myself less of a factor (”zero” myself out). Not so I can disappear and play golf; I am horrible, by the way, but more so to ensure the team continues to elevate. With that, I asked myself a couple of questions: - What do I need to do differently as a team leader? - What factors should I consider as I go through this process? Here's what I landed on: 1. Empower Through Delegation: Give your team autonomy and ownership over meeting agendas, projects, and tasks while providing guidance and support when needed. Trusting your team members to make decisions fosters confidence and boosts morale. 2. Encourage Collaboration: Foster a culture of collaboration where ideas are valued, respectfully challenged, and everyone's voice is heard. Encourage open communication and teamwork to leverage the collective intelligence of your team. Collaboration not only enhances creativity but also strengthens togetherness. 3. Provide Ongoing Development: Invest in your team's growth by offering continuous learning opportunities. Whether through 1:1 connects, team calls, or training programs, prioritize their development. 4. Provide Access: Connect your team to different departments and resources within your company. To enhance their network, try to give them access to some of the leaders and decision-makers you interact with. This not only gives them valuable exposure but also allows them to gather information and influence decisions. 5. Celebrate Successes: Recognize and celebrate your team's achievements. Celebrating successes reinforces positive behavior and motivates the team to continue their collective journey. Remember: -Be present daily for your team. -Success belongs to the team; the leader owns any misses. -Tailor your approach to your team's abilities. -Enjoy watching your team grow! #Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #TeamSuccess

Do we take saying 'thank you' for granted? My husband started a new job last week and is just getting to know the team he is leading. Yesterday a delivery of 70 cases was received and needed to be put away before they opened for business. One of the women on his team happily jumped in to help. She worked expeditiously and with a smile. After everything was put away, he said “Thank you for helping.” ✅ No big deal, right? ❌ Wrong! 🎇 It was a big deal to her. My husband was taken back by the appreciative look on her face. He said she looked as though this was the first ‘thank you’ she had ever received. To my husband, saying ‘thank you’ to an employee is his norm. To her, it meant she was seen. It was recognition of her effort. It was encouragement to keep going. I couldn’t help wonder about the leadership style of my husband’s predecessor. Had he taken the team for granted? Did he assume they weren’t capable of performing the physical aspects of the job because of their gender? Had he just lost site of simple norms of politeness? Rewards and recognition are important parts of motivating and engaging employees. The most effective rewards and recognition programs are flexible and adaptable to individual needs. Some people cringe at the idea of being publicly acknowledged for a job well done and others thrive on it. Some people live for the competition and the award, bonus or promotion that comes with winning; while others value the mission and shine from seeing the collective success of the team. One leader with whom I had the pleasure to work with, gives all her new hires a questionnaire specifically on what motivates them and how they prefer to be recognized. Simple and effective! Employees appreciate being asked and she ensures her recognition efforts produce the intended, positive results. As you work to wrap up the year, consider what your team members have accomplished, both big and small wins. Recognize their achievements. And don’t forget the power of a THANK YOU! #thankyou #employeeengagement #motivation #rewardsandrecognition