The Fred Factor written by Mark Sanborn details the life of a remarkable mailman who brought passion and enthusiasm every day to what some consider a mundane job.  Maintaining a positive attitude for yourself can be difficult, let alone ensuring an entire team stays in a productive and creative mindset.  Executives that lead by example and make a habit of helping the team yield far better results than those looking to take credit or assign blame.  The first step is to make sure you’re not the problem. 

“No matter how good you think you are as a leader, my goodness, the people around you will have all kinds of ideas for how you can get better. So for me, the most fundamental thing about leadership is to have the humility to continue to get feedback and to try to get better – because your job is to try to help everybody else get better.”– Jim Yong Kim

As the saying goes, “people don’t quit their job, they quit their boss”.  This pertains to all levels of a company’s hierarchy.  Perhaps there are things you can do to improve your leadership skills.  Effective managers are always learning and trying to get better.  Here we’ve identified 5 ways to motivate your marketing team and build a culture of innovation.

1. Encourage Idea Sharing

"Leaders who make it a practice to draw out the thoughts and ideas of their subordinates and who are receptive even to bad news will be properly informed. Communicate downward to subordinates with at least the same care and attention as you communicate upward to superiors." — L. B. Belker

One of the best ways to encourage idea sharing is to recognize those ideas and help to expand upon them.  When soliciting ideas from your team, focus more on the positive than the negative.  Elaborate on and commend good ideas and then ask for further explanation on those you may disagree with or not understand.  Idea sharing and creativity are what allows you to innovate and stand out.  Developing a culture that encourages them is essential in an industry that relies so heavily on both.

2. Improve Communication

"The art of communication is the language of leadership." — James Humes

People follow leaders, not bosses.  Effective communication can only happen when all parties involved are respected and know their value.  A company of yes-men will get you nowhere.  In order to bring about growth and change, your team needs to know they can speak freely about all business-related matters, regardless of their role.  Speaking negatively about members of your team will cause a split, which can further stunt communication and negatively effective productivity.  Proper communication will also ensure important tasks don’t fall through the cracks as everyone will know what they are accountable for. 

3. Provide Constructive Criticism

“Being a critic is easy.  But if the critic tries to run the operation, he soon understands that nothing is as easy as his criticisms.  Criticism without a solution is merely an inflation of the critic's ego.” - Haemin Sunim

Pay attention to your critiques and responses when dealing with your associates.  If the criticism you bring provides no value to the recipient, you risk damaging employee relations and causing turnover.  However, constructive criticism will show your team that you care to help them improve and recognize the effort that has been made.  It will also help you gain credibility and respect, as you will be able to showcase your expertise on a particular subject.  Specific feedback and an answer to the “why” will help your criticism come across in a more positive light. 

4. Growth Opportunities

“Financial, career, professional, and personal opportunities for growth provide more reasons for employees to give extra effort and enjoy working for your business than just a title and a paycheck.” - Andrew Greenberg

The opportunity to grow is at the top of the list for many job candidates as well as your current team.  Knowing there is a true opportunity to move up in your company and improve their lives is an important factor in motivation as well as employee retention.  When a team member feels “stuck”, productivity can suffer.  You may have the right people in place to perform certain tasks, but those people likely want more.  Recognizing talent and providing real opportunities for team members to move into more prosperous job roles will improve morale and help your company grow.

5. Compensation And Bonuses

Survey after survey indicates that the number one most important thing to employees about a job is salary. - Ashley Stahl

This one is easy.  Regardless of your views on the importance of money, it is what pays the bills and puts food on the table.  It also plays a major role in quality of life.  Whether or not an employee communicates their personal issues, you can be sure that money has a great deal to do with most of them.  A bad living situation, unreliable car or the inability to purchase healthy food can have a significant impact on employee morale and productivity.  While companies can’t afford to make everyone rich, be sure your employees have enough to live well.

Employee motivation hinges on many different factors, some outside of the control of management.  Control what you can and make a conscious effort to understand the wants and needs of your team.