Having a self-motivated team is a biggest factor that determines and assures a qualitative delivery of a product. This is not restricted to any specific industry and is applicable across almost all industries.
In today's world, your IQ is not the only criteria that a well grown company is looking for. What is equally important, is to have the "Emotional quotient" or EQ, which is a great factor that will help your team grow in terms of learning and productivity.
Speaking from my experience, there are some factors that help your team grow in all aspects.
Also, we are constantly reminded of the fact that when we bring the change in ourselves, the world around us also changes. So all the things that we are going to talk about here are applicable if and only if "You are thinking about your growth too"! Because the change starts from within.
With this, let's start discussing about the ways to make your team a "Super team" :
Learn & Share
The first and the most important factor that shoots your team level is to learn something and share it with the team.
It doesn't really matter if it is not relevant or related to the work that you do, the idea here is to "spread a word" and connect with the people around.
With this, you might end up learning something new about it or even start leading the team for that specific area of learning.
Also, according to me there is a thin line between "Sharing" and "Showing Off". You have to choose to "Share" and not the latter one.
Be humble and if someone else has already done what you are doing then don't hesitate to ask for guidance.
Emotional quotient (EQ)
Actually, for me the point "learn and share" and this point holds the same weightage but since we are talking about the "change that starts from within", I gave higher priority to the "Learn and Share."
This is another most important area to "work on yourself and give it back to the team". Let me first explain what this point really means. According to the official definition -
It is the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one's goal(s).
In simple words,
Don't just work with your team members, understand their emotions.
Try to learn more about them and ask them to share things about their daily life routine.
Life is so much more than just "8 Hours" of work. We, as a human, need to connect with each other and understand the team from another person's point of view as well.
One-on-one interaction with team members
Trust me! I am not boasting about myself on this but this is something that I understood quite early in my career and this has helped me learn so many things on both technical and non-technical grounds.
Try and find some time out to interact with all your team members individually.
This might be difficult for a larger team but it is good even if you can afford to interact with at least a couple of team members.
What exactly happens when we do this ?
There might be something that you cannot share with the whole team but you will be able to share it with one person that you think, might understand better or help out with some solution around it , if not then would at-least be a good listener.
Share your ideas and ask for feedback on them.
Ask for your current feedback, if that can be shared. This would help you to know where you stand or what your team members think about your skills and would give a direction to move towards, in future.
And in general, talking is good. If you are not doing this, I recommend you to start doing it. Go talk to your team members, RIGHT NOW !!
Mate, I think you need to improve on this !!
Many times, people find it difficult to share feedback with team members and take help from managers for doing this job! I don't think this is just a manager's job to provide feedback to other members.
You can own this and help the person to work and improve on the areas of improvements.
What is important here is to understand what your teammate needs to work upon and how it will help your team to deliver the best of the best!!
This is a great factor of a "Self-Motivated" team.
You see all the points that we have discussed till now, this is the only step where we talked about a "Manager".
You are learning to manage your team without one !!
Hey Manager !! if you are reading this, don't feel demotivated instead feel proud if your team starts following all of these points and in-fact you are the face of your team.
Mate, I've got you something, it's on your desk.
This is about Surprises !!
But only the ones that will help them learn something they have been aiming for or have planned for, in the near future !
For example, if I know that my teammate is willing to learn about "Yoga" but is not finding a good resource or a book. I would surprise him with the best book that will help him learn and accelerate in that specific area. BTW, I recommend you to read "Autobiography of a YOGI" !!
Share your achievement with the team
It is important to share the progress with team members.
That is how a team and then the world will start noticing you and they will know who to connect with, in case someone needs any kind of help in something that you hold expertise in.
Don't just work with them, call them up for a game.
Lastly, don't just work with them, plan a trip, go for any sport, watch your favourite game etc..
Team Parties are not boring in general, they are boring because you are not just interested!! :)
I hope I was able to share some useful points for accelerating and making your team a "Super Team". The ways to improve are not limited to just these 7 factors but these have helped me to bring the most out of my team and keep the team environment always positive. I would like you to share your thoughts about the same. Thanks.