Now that the project is underway, it’s your job to keep everyone motivated, on track, and working together. Motivational speaker Brian Tracy said it best: Successful people are simply those with successful habits. Your team’s productivity habits are the magic ingredients to your project’s success. If you have the right team habits in place, your team will complete the project on time and collaborate without much friction.
Even if your team doesn’t have the right work habits now, you can help them build new, more productive behaviors. Just remember that it takes anywhere from 66 days to 8 months to cement a new habit. And proceed with sensitivity — after all, we humans are quite resistant to change.
Here are 5 ways you can help your team build new habits:
· Lead by example. Define the habit you want the team to practice, then do it yourself. Be the role model. Your team will follow your lead when they see the benefits of this new habit on your daily work.
· Find your early adopters. Get assistance from your team evangelists — the enthusiastic team members who can quickly adopt new tools or new behaviors and can help but spread it to the rest of the team.
· Use small wins to gain big victories. Small wins can motivate the team to keep going the rest of the way, even though it may seem difficult at first. Celebrate progress no matter how small, and encourage team members to keep up the good work.
· Motivate your team. Intellectual reasoning won’t always work without some emotional heft behind it. Give your team incentives to practice this new habit. Make it fun.Turn it into a game. Be creative.
· Blend new habits with old. It’s always easier to transition to new habits when you piggyback on older, existing behaviors. It makes the new habit feel more familiar and ensures a more natural transition. Identify behavior your team is already doing well, and help them take it to the next level.