As a leader, it’s your job to get the best out of your team. This doesn’t mean you are a slave driver and that you crack the whip to milk every last minute of productivity. 

Rather it means that you help your team to reach their full potential. When they are actively engaged and enjoying themselves, productivity will naturally be high.

This week one of my coaching clients was sharing how she and her sister have been enjoying an exercise challenge.  She was miffed when her sister pipped her at the post before the deadline. She was also miffed when she had finished a workout yet didn’t receive the credit because the recording device had run out of battery. 

This story and experience opened up an entire discussion about how to engage your team. 

When I suggested creating a competition between team members, her initial reaction was, “You can’t make your team compete”.

Maybe the word “challenge” is more appealing as you set up a challenge to get a certain amount of work finished by the end of the month or attain a certain target. 

As we discussed it further, we both had examples where we had been engaged in friendly competitions at work. Winning a prize wasn’t always the motivator. At times it was simply knowing you had put in the effort and “won” that was most satisfying. 

When my clients used to meet me in my office, the first thing they often did was to share their success stories and get to “Ring the Gong”.   It was our favourite thing to do – to celebrate the wins. 

This week I’m challenging you (ha ha) to come up with some fun and interesting ways that you can engage your team. What friendly challenge can you give them that will have them run toward the finish line? 

Not only can you “make your team compete”, in many cases they will thank you for it because it just might be the thing that spices up the week or the month.