{"id":70616,"date":"2016-09-18T18:08:25","date_gmt":"2016-09-18T18:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fintech.commercegurus.com\/?p=70616"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:34:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T10:34:20","slug":"ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Ways to Motivate Individuals to Become a Winning Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

In sports, we often talk about athletes who \u201cwant it\u201d more than others. These are the players who show up early, who use up every last ounce of energy in pursuit of their best performance. Players for whom defeat is viscerally painful, the ones who will stop at nothing to succeed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Motivation comes from two places — intrinsic, which comes from within, and extrinsic, which comes from external forces. As a leader, it\u2019s easy to rely on incentives, penalties and other extrinsic motivation \u2013 \u201cIf you do X, you will get Y\u201d — but these kinds of incentives only go so far. The best coaches on the ball field and the best leaders in the office understand that to build a truly winning culture, you need to create intrinsic motivation. Inspiring those you lead to do great work for the love of the work itself and not because they\u2019ll receive a trophy at the end of the game or a mention in the next company newsletter.<\/p>\n

But how do you instill that passion? Here are six lessons I\u2019ve learned from coaches to foster intrinsic motivation in your office.<\/p>\n

Link individual to team success<\/h2>\n

Motivation soars when athletes know their actions can make the difference between a team win or a loss. On the field, this can be clear cut \u2013 hustling for a loose ball can mean the difference between a turnover or a goal. At work, the link between an employee\u2019s day-to-day work and the success of the business can be less obvious but employees must understand the importance of their contribution to the success of their department and company as a whole.<\/p>\n

Shoot for \u2018small wins\u2019<\/h2>\n

One secret of successful athletes is their ability to break down goals into discrete parts. Instead of focusing on their dream of breaking a record, they focus instead on the small steps that will help them get there — increasing their mileage, lifting more in the weight room, even something as small as drinking more water.<\/p>\n

Small wins allow your team to focus on making steady progress and motivate them to keep working towards the larger goal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s important reasoning behind this: psychologist Karl Weick says goals can be counterproductive to motivation. People are often discouraged when confronted with a large, daunting challenge. Weick\u2019s advice? Reframe goals into smaller challenges with visible results that he calls \u201csmall wins.\u201d Small wins allow your team to focus on making steady progress and motivate them to keep working towards the larger goal.<\/p>\n

Practice makes perfect<\/h2>\n

As athletes notice their skills improving, their intrinsic motivation grows and they work harder. Give your teams the chance to practice and hone their skills, whether it\u2019s through internal training or external resources. There are so many great professional development platforms (from General Assembly to Coursera) and skill-building events available today, and making these available to your team will only bolster their performance and attitude about their work.<\/p>\n

Build relationships<\/h2>\n

Athletes who care about their coaches and teammates become invested in their team’s success as well as their own. Great managers create bonds that spread among team members. This doesn\u2019t mean just friending your direct reports on Facebook or taking them out for drinks. It means making a concerted effort to understand them, their strengths, weaknesses, passions and fears.<\/p>\n

Praise the effort – not the outcome<\/h2>\n

Too much generalized praise such as \u201cYou\u2019re awesome\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re a rock star!\u201d can actually decrease motivation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Recognize your employees\u2019 contributions, big and small, with positive reinforcement. But keep in mind it\u2019s better to reward the effort than the person. Too much generalized praise such as \u201cYou\u2019re awesome\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re a rock star!\u201d can actually decrease motivation. Researchers from the University of Chicago found that children who are praised for their performance \u2013 for example \u201cYou worked really hard\u201d \u2013 instead of abstract personal praise such as \u201cYou are smart\u201d are more likely to embrace challenging tasks in the future. Your direct reports aren\u2019t toddlers but the idea is the same: reinforcing the hard work helps an employee understand what worked.<\/p>\n

Have fun<\/h2>\n

The most motivated teams are also the happiest. But what comes first: the motivation or the enjoyment? Economic expert Andrew J. Oswald studied the impact of happiness on productivity and found that a positive mindset can improve performance. In one study, subjects were shown a video \u2013 either of comedy routines or a \u201cplacebo\u201d video that wasn\u2019t as funny. Those shown the comedy video were 12 percent more productive than those who saw the less funny video.<\/p>\n

Intrinsic motivation is essential for high-performing teams. Those leaders who understand the difference between internal and external motivators and know how to harness them will have the edge on their competition, on the field or in the marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Post from Entrepreneur<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In sports, we often talk about athletes who \u201cwant it\u201d more than others. These are the players who show up early, who use up every last ounce of energy in pursuit of their best performance. Players for whom defeat is viscerally painful, the ones who will stop at nothing to succeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[20,23,26],"class_list":["post-70616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice","category-teamwork","tag-motivation","tag-relationships","tag-success"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWays to Motivate Individuals to Become a Winning Team - Equinox Consulting Partners, LLC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ways to Motivate Individuals to Become a Winning Team - Equinox Consulting Partners, LLC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In sports, we often talk about athletes who \u201cwant it\u201d more than others. These are the players who show up early, who use up every last ounce of energy in pursuit of their best performance. Players for whom defeat is viscerally painful, the ones who will stop at nothing to succeed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Equinox Consulting Partners, LLC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-18T18:08:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T10:34:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success_1080_600.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_imw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_imw\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/\",\"name\":\"Ways to Motivate Individuals to Become a Winning Team - Equinox Consulting Partners, LLC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success_1080_600.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-18T18:08:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-01T10:34:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/c8367122f440cfd432e275a9ca0750ae\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success_1080_600.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success_1080_600.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ways to Motivate Individuals to Become a Winning Team\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/\",\"name\":\"Equinox Consulting Partners, LLC\",\"description\":\"-\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/c8367122f440cfd432e275a9ca0750ae\",\"name\":\"admin_imw\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c68a4edd9156023b7b63ee0f7a27a0f60b562072c1d9cd7fd2dbd42494265d8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c68a4edd9156023b7b63ee0f7a27a0f60b562072c1d9cd7fd2dbd42494265d8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin_imw\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/author\/admin_imw\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ways to Motivate Individuals to Become a Winning Team - Equinox Consulting Partners, LLC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ways to Motivate Individuals to Become a Winning Team - Equinox Consulting Partners, LLC","og_description":"In sports, we often talk about athletes who \u201cwant it\u201d more than others. These are the players who show up early, who use up every last ounce of energy in pursuit of their best performance. Players for whom defeat is viscerally painful, the ones who will stop at nothing to succeed.","og_url":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/","og_site_name":"Equinox Consulting Partners, LLC","article_published_time":"2016-09-18T18:08:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-01T10:34:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success_1080_600.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"admin_imw","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin_imw","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/","url":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/","name":"Ways to Motivate Individuals to Become a Winning Team - Equinox Consulting Partners, LLC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success_1080_600.png","datePublished":"2016-09-18T18:08:25+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T10:34:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/c8367122f440cfd432e275a9ca0750ae"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success_1080_600.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success_1080_600.png","width":1080,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/ways-to-motivate-individuals-to-become-a-winning-team\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ways to Motivate Individuals to Become a Winning Team"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/#website","url":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/","name":"Equinox Consulting Partners, LLC","description":"-","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/c8367122f440cfd432e275a9ca0750ae","name":"admin_imw","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c68a4edd9156023b7b63ee0f7a27a0f60b562072c1d9cd7fd2dbd42494265d8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c68a4edd9156023b7b63ee0f7a27a0f60b562072c1d9cd7fd2dbd42494265d8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin_imw"},"url":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/author\/admin_imw\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71921,"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70616\/revisions\/71921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equinoxconsultingpartnersllc.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}