As a manager, it is your job to keep your team inspired and motivated. Low-morale hinders both creativity and productivity. The best way to retain your team members is to make them feel appreciated, but this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Here are some tips to keep your employees motivated.
Emphasize Collaboration
Encouraging brainstorming and collaboration is one of the most important ways to inspire your team. Employees want their voices heard. The charrette process allows team members to share their opinions and helps them understand that their opinions matter. A charrette is also an excellent way to keep the team’s creative energy flowing. In the architecture field, brainstorming and collaboration are also important. It is really easy for even the most creative architect to fall into a design rut. Having a constant exchange of ideas flowing encourages imagination and your designers will be more inspired. Creative individuals feed off each other, so collaboration is necessary if you want to have the best designs.
Stay Open-Minded
Openness is essential to inspiration. As a manager, you have to be open to new ideas and open to new ways of doing something. Even if you hear an idea and think it’s a bad idea, don’t dismiss it. Many people overlook good ideas because of biases or fear of change. The architecture field is constantly evolving. You cannot stick to the status quo and expect your team to feel inspired. You have to let your team take risks and let them know it’s ok for them to fail.
Increase Interaction Between Team Members and Clients
Many designers never come face-to-face with the client. They might not even talk to them at all. They receive the information second-hand instead. Allowing the whole architectural team to gain exposure to the client is also a good way to motivate. If they meet the client, they will feel more connected to them, and this will help them become more invested in the project. If your team members never meet the client, they have no real incentive to impress them or way to truly understand their needs, and they may be less capable of tailoring designs to the client’s personality.
Lead by Example
Regardless of the size of your firm, a simple way to motivate and inspire is to lead by example. If you are excited about the project, the excitement will spread to the rest of the team. Employees want to work for someone who loves what they do, and they will feed on that passion. If you complain a lot or seem to dread being at work, your team will sense the bad mood, and this will impede creativity and will collapse the team.
Your firm needs a team who is inspired, creative, and motivated to succeed. But even with most creative professionals, inspiration comes and goes. By encouraging collaboration, leading by example, staying open-minded, and creative a safe place for your team to experiment you can keep morale high.
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