Good leaders want their team to give their best and achieve maximum productivity at work. And it is in their power to help people reach their full potential.

As their leader, your team looks up to you and your influence will have a great impact over their lives. This article is meant to help you discover a few strategies that will inspire people and empower them to obtain better results with their work.

Be authentic

Pretending to be someone you’re not might take you to unthinkable heights, but it won’t take you far away. Not even the best actor can stay into character for all of their lives. Eventually, your real self will come out, and some people might not be accepting what they discover.

It is important to remember that there is no point in trying to please everyone from the start. It is a lot better to form authentic relationships with some of the persons you work with than faking it to make everyone like you. Make sure that your behavior is aligned with your beliefs – this is what makes you a role model able to inspire people and make them want to be better.

Promote a culture of learning

One of the best learning strategies inside a company is peer-learning. That is because people learn the best when they learn from each other. Thus, leaders should encourage such behavior and help employees share knowledge and provide constructive feedback to each other.

Helping one another grow will also improve teamwork and increase productivity for the team as a whole.

Build connections

Employees tend to be more loyal to a mission or even to a person, than to a company name that doesn’t mean too much to them. And loyalty is a powerful motivation. Turn yourself into a leader that people feel loyalty for by building individual relationships.

Always treat your team members as people, not just as employees. Ask questions about their personal lives and remember to follow up after a while. Find out what motivates them, what are their career expectations, and make sure to point them in the right direction. Their appreciation and work happiness will be reflected in higher productivity rates and overall success.

Reward effort, not only wins

Everyone enjoys getting recognition for their merits. However, everyone also appreciates it when their efforts don’t go unnoticed, even when they aren’t leading to some big success. Praising employees with every occasion will send them the message that their work is being valued and making a difference.

This can work as a powerful motivator that will encourage people to actually keep up the good work 😉

Offer the best tools

Struggling to do a good job while working on an old and tired PC would put anyone off and make them less motivated. You can’t expect them to reach maximum productivity with technology that is old, buggy, or moving too slowly.

Using the latest software and top of the line hardware will help people work faster and better. Invest in programs that will help your employees make the best of the time they spend at the office. Use apps that automate tasks, and a team communication solution that will help people stay in touch and share information with minimum effort.

Embrace failure

The safest way to fail is to not even try. Most people are so afraid of a potential failure that they avoid taking any risks. Playing it safe may keep you on a steady road, but it will never take you to the heights of glory. Innovation and progress require taking the untraveled road, even when you are not sure of where it is going to get you.

Good leaders encourage their employees to take risks, and if failure happens, they will learn its valuable lessons and get back on the horse stronger than ever. People who are not afraid of failure lead happier and more productive lives, following their dreams instead of holding back for the sake of safety.

Avoid micromanaging

You may sometimes feel that your team needs constant supervision in order to get things done, or to get things done exactly as you expect them to. While this might be valid for achieving some strategic milestones and respecting deadlines, it can actually harm the productivity of your team if taken too far.

Micromanaged employees are more likely to be unsatisfied with their jobs and resent their managers. People are a lot more productive when they have autonomy to choose their own methods, schedules, and tools. So instead of micromanaging, show faith in your team, and allow them the liberty of making decisions regarding their own work.

Build something bigger

To some extent, we are all dreaming of changing the world one way or another. Even though most of  will never hold the kind of power required to do that, we can still make a difference by contributing to the greater good through the work we are doing. Therefore, it is important for your company to make a statement – to make people feel that they can be part of something bigger than themselves.

Let everyone know what you are standing for and what your higher mission is. This will motivate people with shared values to bring their contribution so that together you can achieve your common goals.

Leaders, not just managers

As a leader, you have the responsibility to guide your people in the right direction. Providing the best tools and empowering their work is absolutely essential. Through constant encouragement and rewards for their efforts you will inspire and motivate your team members to keep doing their best.

Build personal relationships and show people that you actually care. This is going to make them happier and more loyal. The key to progress and innovation is to allow your employees the freedom to do the work by the best of their abilities and to encourage them to take risks instead of always playing it safely.

Last but not least, building something that you can all be proud of is what will make everyone come back to work with a smile on their face every day. And that is the very definition of success.