communication motivation team leadership

1. Communications strategies can promote and enhance the evolution of a shared purpose. Psychological approaches like transactional analysis and Shapetalk can help transform the ways group members communicate and interact with one another, which in turn promotes an alignment of goals, strategies, and values. Using channels of communication, leaders can inspire group members to take responsibility for their role, exercising assertiveness and engendering trust and mutual support.
Similarly, leaders can use techniques like Rock’s SCARF model, which defines the five domains of social behavior such as Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness (“David Rock’s SCARF Model,” n.d.). The SCARF model, like other psycho-social approaches to communication like Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Persuasion can be implemented in ways that help individuals identify the sources of stress, discomfort, or perceived threats, and to react constructively to manifest the shared purpose, solidifying it and making it strong (“Principles of Persuasion,” n.d.).
Alternative methods of promoting communication in a shared purpose scenario include the use of a persuasion box. Like a role playing scenario, a persuasion box can shake up the static group dynamics and encourage individuals to react differently from their conditioned patterns. The leader should ideally also consider the Belbin model, which demonstrates team diversity in terms of behavioral clusters but also roles.
The Belbin roles should not be viewed as fixed, but flexible, yet each person may exhibit the traits of one or more of the roles such as the investigator, the coordinator, the specialist, and the plant. These models help to identify communications problems early, helping to create a harmonious team dynamic particularly effective for making a shared purpose goal real and strong.
2. My communications skills have improved exponentially since applying the tools and models that highlight shared purpose objectives. For example, transactional analysis has helped me to cultivate a more conscientious approach in one-on-one interactions. Assertiveness, Shapetalk, and inspiration plus channels of communication have also been instrumental in improving my overall emotional intelligence. My strengths include empathy and strong active listening, while my weaknesses include developing assertiveness without aggressiveness.
Because empathy is a strong suit, I have excelled at employee engagement. Empowering employees is a strategy that I continue to use to inspire engagement and dedication. I also appreciate using communication techniques that recognize the unique gifts and talents of each person. Tools I have used to stimulate awareness of diversity int he group include the Belbin role model.
To overcome my weaknesses with assertiveness, I have taken the persuasion boxes more seriously. This method, along with transactional analysis and Shapetalk, have allowed me to evolve my communications skills in a safe and supportive environment, but I still need to apply what I have learned to the real world. To this end, the SCARF Reward and Threat model proves critical.
The SCARF Reward and Threat model has shown me why I shut down in some situations, and why I can suddenly exhibit signs of irritability or anger in others. Understanding how I perceive threats using this model, I have been much more cognizant of how to improve my communication with colleagues and team members in a shared purpose scenario.
3. Root theories of motivation such as Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model, Frederick Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, or Motivation-Hygiene Theory, and the Hawthorne effect are all relevant and applicable in the workplace. The needs hierarchy and the Herzberg Two-Factor theory are in fact easily relatable, as both show how people ultimately are not motivated by extrinsic rewards like salary and other financial benefits but need the intrinsic factors like a feeling of meaning and fulfillment in their work.
Different situations will require the use of different motivators, though. At first, employees may need extrinsic motivation to change their behavior. Later, those same employees will react differently to extrinsic motivators and need to switch to the intrinsic factors.
Factors also change in different teams, according to their composition but also environmental factors, as the Hawthorne effect shows. The Natural versus Forced results model is also similar to the Motivation-Hygiene theory, showing why employees need to be emotionally engaged and stimulated in order to remain invested in their work.
These motivation factors will change over time, and will vary between individuals. One of the real challenges of working with a diverse team is that each person will react in strikingly different ways to the same stimuli. Some employees will value flexible work times, but others would prefer stability, for example, Yet all employees ultimately do reach up through their needs hierarchy to seek self-actualization and a sense of fulfillment in their careers.
4. Motivating the team is one of the most critical functions of the leader. However, leaders will immediately recognize that not all people are motivated equally by the same things, and also that the same person will be motivated by different things at different times or in different situations. Leaders will use multiple means of motivating team members, including both natural and forced motivation, and both intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
Using forced motivation and extrinsic rewards should be limited in the team setting, as ultimately employee engagement requires higher-order needs fulfillment. Forced motivation may be “necessary to breach certain established barriers,” but less effective in the long run (“Natural Motivation vs. Forced Motivation,” 2009, p. 1).
Leaders also need to reach for the higher order meaning in each team’s shared purpose, but this does not necessarily apply to individual tasks. As Loder (2015) points out, human beings need to “believe in something,” and that belief provides the deeply rooted, intrinsic, natural motivation (p. 1).
Motivating particular team members is important, particularly when the leader recognizes that some are underperforming or unmotivated. Some team members may not feel supported, and simply changing an approach to communication will help.
Without motivating unmotivated or under-achieving team members, the leader risks failing. The leader also risks isolating the team member and sacrificing all the hard work in developing the shared purpose.
It is also important to get particular team members to commit to objectives for the same reason. When the objectives are framed in ways that are mutually beneficial, buy-in becomes easier via the use of motivational theories. Hertzberg’s and Maslow’s theories show how it is necessary to frame objectives and goals in meaningful ways that speak to the individual team member.

5. I have supported my team in a number of different ways, using several strategies including the GROW model, Push and Pull coaching, and the Emotional Bank Account. I have also used Powerful Coaching Questions to guide my interactions with team members, always remaining committed to employee engagement as an end goal.
The GROW model has helped me to develop my team by showcasing shared Goals, framing them in terms of current Realities, highlighting the ways of removing Obstacles and exploring Options, and locating a viable Way forward. This model has been effective for supporting specific team members who were stymied by obstacles and unable to see the way forward during times of crisis.
The use of Push and Pull style coaching has also been helpful for supporting and developing specific team members. For example, I used this strategy along with Powerful Coaching Questions to inspire, pushing people past their zones of comfort but also pulling them with incentives they could use to motivate themselves to move past barriers.
I also use the Emotional Bank Account model, which has enhanced my interpersonal relationships. The bank account model shows how all relationships involve give and take, and this has helped particular team members understand how they fit within the overall group and how they can give more in order to get more from the process.
Finally, to inspire and encourage future employee engagement, I respect diversity on my team. I always refer to the Belbin roles model, which shows how each person will fill different roles in the group according to their predilections, talents, and personality.




References

“David Rock’s SCARF Model,” (n.d.). Mind Tools. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/SCARF.htm
Loder, V. (2015). How great leaders motivate their teams. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/vanessaloder/2015/02/25/how-great-leaders-motivate/#20587d982a55
“Natural Motivation vs. Forced Motivation,” (2009). http://blog.sannebuurma.com/2009/01/23/natural-vs-forced-motivation/
“Principles of Persuasion,” (n.d.). https://www.influenceatwork.com/principles-of-persuasion/