MOTIVATING YOUR TEAM FOR PERFORMANCE
Hey everyone! My name is Monica Sella and I am currently the VP of Admissions at 2U. Here at 2U, I work with the GWU, SMU, UCB and Syracuse admissions teams. Prior to my current role, I was the Director of Admissions for the MPH@GW. In every role at 2U, I have had the privilege of working with great teams and individuals. My entire career at 2U has involved motivating teams to successfully achieve goals, so I jumped at the opportunity to attend this year’s development session, Motivating Your Team for Performance. Even though this is my fifth company meeting, the professional development sessions seem to get better and better each year.
Heather Dexter, our SVP/GM of the George Washington University, and Gabriel Bustamante, EVP Global Sales and Admissions, presented. Even though Heather and Gabriel have different management styles, both are successful when it comes to motivating teams. Kicking off the session, they both acknowledged that it’s important to motivate your team in order to achieve top performance, but there is no one way to do it. One of the most interesting parts of the session was learning what contributed to Gabriel and Heather’s motivation styles. Heather comes from an HR background and weaves those experiences into the way she motivates the teams she works with. Gabriel grew up as a bullfighter in Mexico, where if you were not successful, you would be attacked by a bull. The crowd responded to daring fights where the bullfighter was pushed to their limits. His experience has translated into a motivation style that is based on high expectations and clear metrics. This session was full of lessons and advice, but there were some important take aways that I found most helpful. Trust your employees, identify both the team’s purpose, as well as the individual’s purpose, and most importantly, remember that you need your team more then they need you.
Trusting your employees is key to successfully motivating a team. When you are under pressure to hit a goal or meet a deadline, it’s very easy to question the steps being taken towards that goal. The importance of trust has caused me to live by the saying trust but verify. Being able to verify that everything is being done and done correctly will reassure that you can trust your team. When you are able to 100% trust your team, you can “turn off” and know that everything that needs to be accomplished will be.
Another good piece of advice is that we need to identify how employees’ actions have a direct impact on the business. Providing context as to why their individual roles are important not only helps with external motivation, but internal motivation as well. Teams and individuals may think they know the impact they have on the business, but through feedback a manager can ensure that the individual/team truly understands their impact on the business. When providing feedback, be sure to provide context. It’s not enough to say great job, or we have to hit this! Managers need to explain how the team/ individual are doing a great job and why it’s so important. I am a big believer in goals, but if I don’t explain why the goal will help us be successful, or break down the steps that need to be taken to achieve that goal, the individual business impact may not be understood.
All of the advice from today’s session was great, but the most important lesson was that you need your team more than they need you. Having played sports at all different levels, I have always lived by the saying “you are only as strong as your weakest player.” Still to this day I live by that saying, only now my saying is that I need my team more than they need me. Identifying members on your team who excel in different areas will allow you to develop those strengths and develop your individual team members. You can then use these strengths too, as well as the success of your team overall.
The conversation that occurred during this session could have continued for hours. This alone speaks to the importance of motivation to the overall success of a team. After I get back to lovely Landover, MD, I look forward to continuing the conversation and learning more about the things that motivate my team to continue our success!
