By: Amy Batten, NASC Volunteer Staff Executive Director
An important responsibility of a leader is to motivate other individuals and groups. With the school year half way over, it can be a challenge to keep members of your organizations motivated. Here are some tips in keeping members of you councils and organizations motivated during second semester.
- Make every effort to recognize individual and group accomplishments. Whether it is a formal award or a simple thank you note, show members you appreciate what they do.
- Model motivation. If you expect to motivate others, you need to show through your words and actions that you are motivated to do your best.
- Get members involved in committee work that build off of their strengths or interests. People are more motivated to complete a task if they enjoy what they are doing.
- Revisit your group’s goals and purpose. Sometimes being reminded of what you are there to do can help refocus and motivate a group to move forward.
- Identify and build the leadership skill sets in group members. Delegate specific tasks to group members (especially new or younger members). Make sure you check in with them to offer assistance or advice. Once the task has been completed, thank them and ask for their help again in the future.
Remember that improving motivation is a process. It’s not going to happen over night, but if you incorporate some of these tips and stay patient, it is well worth the wait.
YOUR TURN
With these tips in mind, what are some ways you motivate your councils or groups? What have you found to be most successful? Post your comments below.
NASC Leaders 