BRAINSTORMING-2

How Do You Inspire Your Team When You, Yourself, Are Uninspired?

We all go through phases in our careers when we feel frustrated, unsuccessful or otherwise less than inspired. What tactics do you use to bring about inspiration in others when you, yourself, are lacking that very thing?

1. According to Vijaya Kumar Kuppan, Manager at TI cycles of India------We usually get frustrated, when we start feeling that our work will be futile or if we don't get recognized for what we are doing. It's happens in careers. For me when i touch this monotony, I used to take vacation for about week and totally involve in activities, which makes you to forget yourself. After a week you join your work and think as if u r joined that first day... you might find my idea crazy but this will work for sure.

2. According to Antonio Ramos, Experienced Marketing Manager, Brand Champion and Innovative Thinker----I believe that excitement breeds excitement. Whenever I am presented with a task that doesn't excite me, I try to look at a bigger goal that this may be a part of and get excited about moving closer to that goal.

When my team starts to lose steam, I generally call a free form meeting where we get together and speak informally about where we are on the project and what we need to do. I find that this makes everyone motivated to accomplish the task. The important thing is to have snacks at that meeting and allow some outside conversation in. This allows everyone to take a mental break and get re-focused on the task at hand.

Lastly, I always look past the task I am currently doing whenever I am not too motivated on the task at hand. The sooner I get this one done, the sooner I get to do something more exciting.

3. According to Ollie K. Mears, Owner at Mears Management, Founder and Publisher of Bronzed Connections Online Newsletter---------The team leader shouldn't always be expected to be the person to keep everyone inspired in a work environment. Sometimes another member of the team may be able to keep the energy flowing. A good example is what happens in these group discussions. The originator of the thread sometimes gets a new perspective from the others who comment on the topic and keep things going when he/she is not prepared to chime in or during his/her absence from the project. The purpose of having a team is to help each other stay focused and moving forward. So, the leader should allow coworkers enough leverage to share in the motivational process.

4. According to Mark Winton, R&D Director at Storm Logistics----Simple.... get out of the way for a while you sort your S&*&t out.

Have you watched the Tour de France cycle race?

There is a concept called the echelon where the pack of cyclists is led at the front by an individual for a very short period.

This individual is quickly replaced by another less tired individual a few seconds later while the front guy goes to the back and tucks into the slip stream.

By rotating like this the average speed of the bunch is considerably higher than any individual cyclist could ever be.

As a leader you need to be able to direct this process and recognize within yourself that you should be temporarily in the slip steam and letting someone in your team lead for a while you recover to return later and again lead.

Stay at the front too long and you will slow the bunch down and get blown off the back of the bunch on the next hill.

Refuse to do your share at the front and you will get squeezed out of the bunch and dropped on the next hill.

Jump away from the bunch and do your own thing and before the end of the race the pack (sticking to the echelon rules) will catch you and you will finish the race last. Nobody will ever remember you were in front.

Armstrong didn't win 6 or 7 times in a row by doing all the work at the front, he had a team of people leading and alternating out front to catapult him (the team) over the finish line

for me I like to get out into the country and see some wildlife and spend quality time with the family. No phones no internet off the grid.

It’s a good time to test the mettle of your team.

Leave the phone on and nobody will step up and you will get called back from your holiday early at the first sign of trouble.

Not being able to contact you will ensure that someone in your team will have to take the lead.

If you return to peeved customers and lost business fire the entire team.

Within 2 weeks I come back inspired with 100 new ideas and energy to motivate 20 teams....Oh and a great healthy tan and a few pounds lighter as a bonus.

What I feel……Two things I have found - if you're that passionate about what you do, you probably feel that you've lost your inspiration long before anyone around you notices. That's good, because the worst (for me) is feeling that you are letting other people down...and, while you might, you probably haven't (yet).

Secondly, even if your heart doesn't seem to be in it, I have found that you can keep doing what you were doing - and even if it amounts to little more than going through the motions, it can carry you over the rough patch of road until you recover what you have lost.

Finally, of course - sometimes you lose that inspiration because it is actually time to find something else to be inspired about. Be open to that possibility...just don't panic.

When I lose my inspiration, I often discover that I am focusing on myself--how I can sound cool, intelligent, and creative. I find that bringing my focus back to how I can serve the end user of whatever I'm trying to create--what result I want them to experience, how I can improve their life, or how I want to make them feel--always takes me back to more productive, creative place.

Cheers for Kongsi...........anil aggarwal