Every company would agree that building loyal relationships with your partners (which most companies call clients but at Dreamix we build partnerships, not transactions) is fundamental and vital for moving forward to success. Providing high quality services and perfectly done job is your ultimate goal. However, as it often happens in life, the real deal lays deeper, in the core of the process.

Let’s have a short schematic look at the interaction between a company and its current or potential partner audience.

On the first instance you have your company, which is represented by the people who work there or in other words – your team. These people are in charge of creating a product or offering a service, which product or service is designed to be used by a customer.

There are two scenarios after this sequence:

1. Happy users of your product/services who will provide a positive feedback and use them again
2. Unsatisfied users who will probably provide a negative feedback and will not come to you again

You know the domino effect from playing with the domino bars as a child, don’t you? It’s the same with the sequence above, because if your teammates are not satisfied, happy or motivated their work won’t be qualitative and thus your partners will not receive the best they can from your company. And all this will reflect on the overall performance of your brand. On the other hand, if you motivate your team, you will work with people who are self initiative and content of their work conditions. As a consequence they will do their best to perform on a high level which will produce qualitative products or services which will lead to happy users who will provide a positive feedback and probably build a long-term partnership with your team. The picture is now getting clear: success is pretty much dependent on your team, because

Motivated team = happy partners

And what’s more important, working with motivated people is a prerequisite for feeling great at work. Okay, finally here comes the big question: How to motivate your team?
From my experience of working as a Community Manager I can share with you the top 5 clues in order to answer the question.

Be a super(hero)manager

Being a good manager or a good leader is being some kind of superhero with a variety of powers and skills. You have to be outstanding professional, a psychologist, a communicator….You should also be excellent in time and project management, planning and delegating tasks effectively which is essential for the productivity of your team. For example, if you have a task that requires creativity you should probably delegate it to the person who is good at generating ideas and has unconventional type of thinking. Reasonable delegating like this will give your colleagues the opportunity to work on something that is interesting for them which will reflect well on their motivation.

• Know your team

Regarding the first tip you need to know your team in order to be effective in managing. This means you should be aware of your colleagues’ skills and interests, what is difficult for them and what they enjoy working on. As a manager or a leader you have to be part of the team, there is no doubt here. Everyone respects being appreciated as a person. Your team will value your attention and work with pleasure and motivation. Asking people how they feel or having non formal talks with them will build you as a team. And here is something to keep in mind – be honest when you show attention, always! People will understand if you are asking “How are you?” only because you try to be polite and not because you really care.

• Learn to compliment

We are used to criticize people when they haven’t done something right. It is so easy and natural. However, we often forget to compliment about the things that have been done well. Appreciating the well done job is part of the high quality management. As a leader of a team you should be able to value the efforts of your colleagues and show that you have noticed them. Avoid saying just “Good job!”. Instead of that explain what exactly you liked about their performance, this way you will show you have really paid attention. Even the simple “Thank you John for organizing the whole presentation last Tuesday and meeting all the guests.” will reflect positively on the mood and motivation of your team members. 

• Provide an opportunity for development 

Being stuck at the same level for years is something that lowers the satisfaction from work. Many people feel comfortable with their jobs but quit only because they see no opportunity for professional (and even personal) development. As a manager you should always think about enriching the knowledge and experience of your colleagues. Think about investing part of the company’s budget into courses, workshops, presentations. Provide books at the office which people can read. Focus not only on knowledge related to your work field, focus also on soft skills for example.

• Develop company culture

Company culture is a mixture of the values of a company and it pretty much depends on the people who work in that company. If you invest in building a workplace that is cosy and a company that cares about its teammates you will definitely move forward to the well-being of your team. A happy team is a motivated team. Think about what kind of people you hire – are they proactive and team players? Working with nice colleagues is a strong motivation to do your best at work. And your office space – is it cosy enough, could you improve it somehow? People spend at least 8 hours a day there, you must provide an office space which makes them feel comfortable. What benefits could you provide? Having a healthy breakfast together for example is surely a great way to build the team and a perfect way to start the day!