Inspiring and motivating your team

A common interview question I’ve heard throughout my career is, “how do you motivate others?” This is something that stumped me for many years early in my career. Am I cheerleader? Do I need to give everyone treats? The idea felt very vague and unattainable to me: how could I possibly motivate anyone? 

As I have progressed further in my career and had the opportunity to manage direct reports for the past 6 years, I feel I have a deeper understanding of what it means to motivate and inspire my team. There’s no one thing, it’s a recipe of many things that together, make an impact. 

Recently I spearheaded a project that would hopefully be transformational for our team and our website. We had a problem, we brainstormed, we came up with a solution, and then I needed to sell the project to the team (including my peers, not just direct reports) to get everyone on board. 

This experience made me reflect on what it means to inspire and motivate others. 

Here’s a few ideas on how I believe I have motivated and inspired my team over the years, based on their feedback:

• Be authentic: don’t underestimate being true to yourself and being honest. I wear my heart on my sleeve and especially during the pandemic, I share when I’m struggling and frequently check in on everyone’s wellbeing.

• Actively listen: I’ve heard a saying “listen to understand instead of listening to respond” and I couldn’t think of better advice. Be present. Remove distractions. Respond and support during check-ins and whenever you connect.

• Lead by example: I think this one goes without explanation. Exemplify the behaviors you are hoping to see in your team.

• Express passion: I think it’s easiest to get buy-in when you are inspired by the work yourself. Share your passion with others, don’t hold it back.

• Provide feedback: provide positive feedback whenever warranted and be direct and timely with constructive feedback.

I think all of these actions come together to form a strategy to inspire and motivate your team.

Business Unusual Interview

I definitely had a unique experience with this interview. As soon as Jessa and I launched our live webinar, she lost power and disappeared! There I was, the only panelist in a Zoom filled with attendees, smiling into the void. I knew in my gut that Jessa was doing everything in her power to re-join the webinar, so I decided to do the only thing I could think of, continue on and do my best. I introduced myself and shared the project that Jessa and I had spoken about. By the time I finished going over the details of the project, Jessa was able to re-join from her phone and take us through to the finish line. I'm thankful to Jessa for her grace and flexibility in this unique situation.

Here’s the description from the host:

In this live interview, Jessa Lux (Community Manager, Clique Studios) talks with Simone Worsdale (Director of Digital Strategy, Harvard Kennedy School) about the often underutilized, but incredibly worthwhile steps to take to ensure your content has the greatest impact possible.

When asked about a recent success she and her team has had, Simone describes a single project that (1) achieved front-page results alongside the likes of TIME.com and HistoryChannel.com (2) included a YouTube video that has been watched 57,000+ times, and (3) accounted for their top-performing social media posts for several weeks on multiple channels.

Simone describes what they did to make that project so successful and what steps other marketers can take to increase the reach of their content.

You'll also get an inside look at Simone's team - their process, how they delegate work, and what resources it takes to pull off something as spectacular as the success she described (hint: it's less than you'd expect!).

I hope you find this conversation helpful.

Writing your own definition of leadership

Most of my career, I have sought out expertise on the definition and meaning of leadership. I have read many engaging books on the topic, two of my recent favorites being Bob Iger’s The Ride of a Lifetime and Julie Zhuo’s The Making of a Manager. 

I was fortunate this past year to participate in the Leadership in Action program at Harvard University, a leadership program for middle managers. Throughout the year-long experience, I was challenged in many ways and I learned important lessons about negotiation and strategic thinking. But one of the most invaluable experiences was the one-the-one coaching I received as part of the program. In my first session, my coach challenged me to define leadership for myself. Now this was a new idea to me! I could write my own definition of leadership? It had never occurred to me, for I had always sought out external expertise. She asked me to think about what characteristics made an impact on my own career, and what I would want to offer my own team. 

Before this experience, I had bought into a single definition of leadership. But I then realized it was the harmony of many characteristics that makes a great leader. 

Here are the characteristics that I feel define a great leader.

Trust: You cannot bring out the best in others without trusting them. I operate under the default of trusting my team from the get-go. 

Honesty: I am transparent as much as possible and always speak my truth. I am true to my word. 

Excellence: This one can be tricky, because perfectionism is the enemy of excellence. We all make mistakes, but we must strive to do our best. 

Compassion: We are all human and I am empathetic to others’ life experiences. 

Mutual respect: Under no circumstances will I ever disrespect someone on my team. We are all deserving of dignity, and the work place is no different. 

I’m sure this definition will morph over the years, I may add new characteristics that stand out to me as time passes. But for now, these ideals represent what I want in my manager, and how I hope to inspire and motivate my team. 

Interview with Millennial Marketing Club

I was delighted when Gaby Alpizar invited me to speak with her about marketing best practices. After our pre-interview, we determined that rather than focus on a single topic (analytics vs. social media vs. email marketing, and so much more), it would be more valuable to speak about the importance of marketing leadership. Our discussion is below.