Rejuvenate a tired team

It’s been a long year, but there’s still a ways to go. If your team is feeling worn out, follow these tips to breathe some life back into employees, and finish the year strong:

Provide a new perspective. When you’re slugging along, you can lose sight of how you fit into the big picture. Show employees that their efforts matter. Let them meet other teams that rely on their output, introduce them to customers and show them how their efforts are affecting the bottom line.

Tap their creativity. They may be burned out if they’ve been focused on a project, quota or goal. Take a break and encourage them to innovate. Ask them to identify a problem and solve it, to improve a process or to come up with a new idea.

Create a new challenge. This may seem counterintuitive, but setting a new goal can motivate employees to step up their performance. Expand the scope of a project, set the quota slightly higher or establish a whole new objective, and adjust the incentive accordingly. Just make sure the goal is attainable; otherwise, people will feel further demotivated.

— Adapted from “Tips to Rejuvenate Tired Teams,” Workplace Issues, www.workplaceissues.com.