First, you need a sense of the mission.
Getting a work puzzle on the table is the starting point. However, a team needs to know why it’s putting the parts together. It needs to know where its going.
Give everyone that sense of the mission.
Make your vision of what the future holds compelling.
Draw people together with bold words, clear images, deep emotions.
Here’s what to think about and act upon to be truly magnetic:
1. From NOW to NEW: No clinging to the past. Paint a picture of a creative, caring, cohesive company where what you do will make a difference personally as well as professionally. When people are attracted to a future with a purpose, they all begin to look in the same direction and pull together faster and smarter.
2. Use BOLD Words: Find the “promised land” that lies between overstatement and understatement. People get fired up about being part of something bigger than themselves. Take on climate change, education reform, gender rights or diversity and have an extra class about these subjects at lunch and learn seminars.
3. IMAGINE: Come up with something powerful and dramatic enough to include everyone. Give lots of ideas so that your team will think about what part they can play when they are at home, at a kid’s soccer game, falling asleep. Let there be a common aim that turns all in the same direction. How can your products or services fill a need in the community?
4. Use the ARTS: Have a contest where people can paint a poster, devise a song, make up a dance that can become part of the company culture. The arts have a healing impact. Everyone has a talent that can be used on a daily basis and helps keep morale up. This mental shift can be the secret sauce for your team.
5. KEEP IT GOING: Momentum is the task of the magnetic leader. Keep the dream going, no matter what. Think about people like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Elon Musk, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders. Today’s dream can be tomorrow’s reality. Never give up.
When you start the magnetic process it becomes irresistible. Here’s one example of how a team of despondent workers changed what was going on at work with a few bold and specific methods.
It was before Christmas and the entire company was informed they would have to work through the holidays to meet orders for the first week in the new year.
Spirits were down in the dumps and some threatened to quit. Then a team leader got them all together and painted the bold picture of bonuses and time off. She started a contest for posters to get them through the tough times ahead.
Contest winner showed Santa, beard flowing, wearing a hot pair of swimming trunks on a surfboard. Underneath it said, “Here’s to January.”
This and other posters were hung all around the offices. Morale was up and yes, company productivity was at an all time high.
Definition of a magnet at work: A person that has a powerful attraction. Be someone who knows how to influence, engage, cajole, create, fascinate and your team will join you on your mission to success.