How To Motivate Collaborators

POSTED ON October 01, 2013 BY Brandon Gorrell
CATEGORY Leadership,

People working together can accomplish incredible things when they are motivated.

The great pyramids of giza. Fear is a strong motivator.

Sadly, most corporate dreams die on the drawing board because people lose confidence.

"We were too ambitious." "We don't have the money." "This isn't the right time."
"He's not the right guy." are just some of the excuses...

International collaborations between remote contractors can be tricky, and it’s not unusual for collaborators to veer off-course after a significant period of radio silence. Point being, don’t leave your partners to just assume what you’re doing, what you want, and how you feel about how the project’s progressing. And don’t just take for granted that everything’s going according to plan. Keep an open line of communication: Skype regularly if you’re remote, meet frequently if you guys are in the same city. It’ll keep your team on the same page and keep the project moving forward.

Under-promise, over-deliver. This bit of wisdom may or may not have been coined by Seth Godin. The logic is sound. The quickest way to create negative tension is to make promises you don’t keep. It’s also pretty bad for your reputation if you make a habit of it. Conversely, surprising your contractor with added perks shows your confidence in them and contributes to some extremely solid rapport.

What... pay them more???

Recognize talent. Sometimes I complain (to myself) about a spreading “plague of incompetency.” Admittedly, this is a pretty pessimistic idea, and definitely, it doesn’t give humanity enough credit. I’m not necessarily proud of it. But, despite the idea’s cynical nature, I do believe there’s some truth to it. The message is that good people who work hard and prioritize the quality of their product over everything else are pretty hard to find. A lot of people do just enough to get by. But when you find someone who you just know is working as hard as they can, and won’t settle for “good enough,” you need to keep that person around, for like, a long time. Think of a time span of about the rest of your life. Seriously -- hard-working, talented individuals aren’t a dime a dozen. When you find one, stay involved with them, support them when you can, and work with them when the opportunity arises.

Hire for their brain, not their technical skill. This one’s close to the point above. If you recognize talent and drive in someone looking get involved with you and you’re looking for some help, you’d do best to really consider them. I’m sort of stealing this point from Jim Collins, author of Built to Last and Good to Great (among others). His idea is that it’s a good idea to onboard talented individuals, (somewhat) regardless of their technical expertise. This is of course relative; hopefully you get the idea. But so further, if this talented person you’ve hired isn’t performing well at their position, don’t get rid of them. Instead, have a conversation with them -- rethink their role with them. Remember: you know this guy’s talented. You just have to find a way to leverage his talent.

If you’re micromanaging, you need to start rethinking your hire. I very much believe in this one. If you’re working with anyone other than an administrative assistant, at a certain point, you shouldn’t really have to tell them what to do. Because the right people -- the right hires -- they’re self-motivated. They want to be involved with you, and they take the initiative to keep the relationship healthy and the project going. So if you find yourself having to constantly get someone back on track, you’d do well to reconsider the status of your arrangement with them.

If your contractor isn’t doing what they’re supposed to, it could be your fault. Take this one with a grain of salt, because of course it’s not always going to be your fault. But keep the idea in mind: management is an art, a skill, a strategic task. And maybe (just maybe), if the person you hired for a job isn’t performing to your expectations, it might be because you’ve mismanaged them, didn’t make clear your expectations, etc. Keep that in mind. Your contractor isn’t doing what you want? Analyze how much you could be responsible for that. Read One Minute Manager, by Ken Blanchard.

Don’t take credit for anything. This one’s out of Good to Great too, and of course, like most things on this list, it’s relative. The best bosses don’t attribute their success to their own ingenuity. Nope -- they give all the credit to two entities: luck (i.e. being in the right place at the right time), and the group of incredibly talented people behind their operation. Consider the idea that there’s little to gain from hoarding all the credit for your operation’s success other than a temporary gratuitous ego boost. Consider further how much you gain from passing the credit along to your team: your hires get recognition and they appreciate your gesture. The following can’t be argued: humility is a good look.

Praise, praise, praise. This point follows logically from the last. I heard somewhere that there’s nothing more a person loves to hear than the sound of their own name. I think this assumption holds weight. But I think another thing that’s intrinsically satisfying to hear is praise for a product that you’ve poured 100% of your effort into. The advice is: don’t be stingy with praise. Definitely don’t overdo it, but definitely be generous with it. Praise has a secondary benefit of creating excitement around the project, re-energizing your team with a fresh infusion of enthusiasm. It literally costs you nothing, and it helps everyone -- you, your reputation, your long-term success with your contractor, your contractor’s satisfaction, and indirectly, their finished deliverable.

Help them meet their goals. A healthy relationship with a contractor is one in which the nature of the relationship helps all parties reach their goals. Your copywriter wants to, eventually, start a firm of her own? Help her network. It’ll pay off in the long run -- if she meets her goals, you’ll have a solid relationship and, maybe, access to all the connections she’s made along her own professional journey.

Brandon Gorrell

brandongorrell@gmail.com

Brandon Gorrell

brandongorrell@gmail.com

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