Building a team of employees of different age groups can be tough, how do you motivate everyone to get behind the plan and perform at their best?
The ActionCoach “6 keys to a winning team” has been used as a framework to build high performance teams for many years and is still relevant today when the intergenerational gap seems more apparent than ever.
Leadership that inspires
It is the role of the leader to inspire, to set the vision for the future and to find a way of communicating that vision so that every member of the team knows what the vision is, what the plan is and what their role in the plan is. This may involve using many different communication methods and styles to appeal to different age groups, but also different learning styles and Disc profiles.
Don’t rely on an annual away day to communicate with staff, make communication at the heart of everything and make the vision, mission and plan visible every single day. The new recruits to the employment marketplace are often looking for more than just a paycheque. They want to be part of something bigger and something that aligns with their values. Make sure that they understand the vision and mission of the company – if they don’t align, they may leave, but that is better than them staying in post and not pulling their weight.
A common goal
Aligned to the vision and mission of the company, all businesses should be clear on their goals. These goals should be designed to ensure that the long-term visions are achieved. It is important to have long-term goals, medium-term goals and short-term goals and the goals throughout the organisation should be aligned so that the various departments and teams, are not fighting against each other to take the business in different directions. All age groups work better when they know that there are goals in place and what those goals are.
An Action plan
There should be an action plan, which is what actions need to be taken to ensure that the goals of the business are achieved. Remember that often school leavers have not had an opportunity to think for themselves or outside the box and therefore you may have to have a very detailed action plan for some staff, whereas your more experienced staff will know how to do something.
100% inclusion and accountability
All employees perform better when they understand their role in the team and how their actions affect the success or failure of the business. This means that they should be clear on their expectations – what you expect of them and critically for the younger generation, what they can expect from you. You will need to be clear on what actions are expected, what the results of those actions are required and use Key performance indicators to show performance. Ensure that you follow up on these KPIs – celebrate the wins and action where the results are not being achieved.
Rules of the Game
The best teams are diverse teams, ones that have multiple skills, attitudes and motivations. In such teams, it is important to clarify the rules of the game, simply, how you are going to conduct yourselves in the workplace. Supposedly silly things such as who makes the coffee or buys the milk can have a greater impact on staff moral and cohesion than they merit, so getting clear on these will clear the way for agreement on more important areas of behaviour such as meeting etiquette and customer service agreements.
Support Risk Taking
Encourage new ideas, advancement usually comes from someone having a crazy idea. If you don’t support these, your team members will stop sharing a better way to do something. Even if you don’t immediately see the value, it is worth reviewing all new ideas to mine them for the gold nuggets that may lie at the bottom of a crazy suggestion. Supporting risk taking does not mean you put the business at risk, but that all and every idea is considered and that team members are not penalised for making mistakes when trying something new. Have boundaries and limits in place that protect the company.
And surrounding these keys: Communication
Above all communicate with your team, if you don’t the vacuum will be filled by gossip and supposition. Your message will get lost and you will constantly be fire-fighting.
