Teamwork and Motivation at Work

Motivation can be aroused in many ways such as from speech, an action, or even in a story. To me it is the drive that inspires one or others to dig deep to find what is required to achieve their goals. It can be from a person’s character, achievements, success, principles, history or back ground and so on.

It is now the norm for organizations to demand or to promote team work as part of their organization’s character. It is one thing to state your desire but totally different to taking the steps to achieve the desires. Motivating a team say one that undertakes a project will require careful approach in the composition of the team. Being selected to be part of a project can resuscitate ones motivation. The next aspect is the team’s composition. Not all workers are excellent in their attitudes and application; there are those who are lazy. The best workers are usually apprehensive of the lazy ones and pairing such contrasting personalities leads to demotivation of the best workers. What the leaders/bosses think is the best team isn’t always the case. The workers themselves know each other’s characters better than the bosses ever will, from their frequent interactions like financially assisting each other like always borrowing soft loans, and coming to work after a night out still reeking of liquor but because once in a while humanity tugs at their heart strings they decide to cover for them and the bosses never get to know of it.

Everyone loves being rewarded so in addition to being part of a project team, the reward the team gets after achieving their set goal also gives them a satisfaction and motivation to want to work for the team next time round if they in another team project. They will view the reward as something that each of them contributed towards attaining the set goals. That is one way of looking at it.

Another way to look at it is that there are those who do more than the others. Common knowledge is that we always want to a fair return especially for our efforts. The person who burnt the midnight oil to find a solution and toiled throughout will not like it if he a rewarded that is equal to the one who used to report late, go missing in action during the operations, in short one who never applied himself according to the team’s ethos. This will hardly go down as motivating. What will in fact motivate such performers is to provide individual recognition over and above the award the team will get.

In 1999, Manchester United was in the European Champions League semi-finals against the mighty Juventus. They had just managed a draw in their own back yard at the Theatre of dreams, in Manchester, through a Ryan Giggs goal in the dying moments. The match ended 1-1. That was the first leg. In the return leg in Italy, the scene was set at the Stadia Delle Alpi in Turin, Juventus stadium. They had to have a 1-1 score to force extra time while a 2-2 draw guaranteed their final place. In 10 minutes they were 2 down and trailed 3-1 on aggregate. Step up Roy Keane, the Manchester United captain. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and stamped his superior will on the star-studded Juventus midfield which had Edgar Davids, Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane. In an immense performance of leadership, skill and determination Keane first harried the Juventus midfielders, then subdued them, and then stabbed them with a beautiful headed goal. He eventually totally dominated them to provide an unshakeable platform for his team mates to finish Juventus off. Goals from Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole delivered the coup de grace. It was a truly stunning performance by Roy Keane. His performance encouraged and inspired the rest of his teammates to overcome the odds. It should be known that Keane got a yellow card which meant that he will miss the finals. This didn’t stop him from doing his best to ensure the team progressed. The team went on to win the final. They were all given medals but the semi-finals performance by the captain in that match made him a worthy legend of Manchester United folklore.

In Alex Ferguson’s - Managing My Life, the Manchester United manager described Keane's performance thus, "I did not think I could have a higher opinion of any footballer than I already had of the Irishman but he rose even further in my estimation at the Stadio Delle Alpi. The minute he was booked and out of the final, he seemed to redouble his efforts to get the team there. It was the most emphatic display of selflessness I have seen on a football field. Pounding over every blade of grass, competing as if he would rather die of exhaustion than lose, he inspired all around him. I felt it was an honour to be associated with such a player."

The manager would have just chosen to congratulate the rest of the team and that will be good enough but he went further and gave a special mention to his inspirational skipper. This will surely have spurred him on and others when faced by a similar situation in the future matches.

What do we learn, as much as we treasure teamwork we shouldn’t be oblivious to the fact that there are top performers and there are some weak performers. Rewarding them as a team is applauded but also it is highly recommended that the top performers get rewarded when their performances count more than the rest.  Keep this in mind if you want to keep hold of your star performers, motivating them to continue performing, and motivating the team work culture desired.

Well, this is what Roy Keane wrote in his autobiography regarding that match "I was proud of our team that night. I was for once proud of myself, content that I had justified my existence and honored my debts to the manager who'd placed so much trust in me. The Champions League final was where I believed Manchester United should be. I genuinely felt that that was so much more important than whether or not I would be there. When that euphoric feeling evaporated (it lasted quite a while) I was gutted."

WAZZAM??