Change happens through people. All projects don’t get implemented through mere thought or direction of an individual. Events are organized thoroughly. Projects get coordinated, planned and implemented with the collective effort of individuals. Depending on the project requirements, skills and competencies are identified and talents possessing these skills and competencies are brought together to fulfill a Change.

The success of the Change solely rests on the ability of the team members to work cohesively and seamlessly. Who should ensure this? I must say it is the responsibility of the Change Leader. But building a cohesive and working team is not an easy task. Failures normally result not from lack of skills or talents within the team but the failure of the members working together. Why is this so? We should realize that the team is composed of individuals with different backgrounds, motivations and characters. Thus, building a cohesive team and achieving a high performance level requires the Change Leader to effectively manage the varying motivations of each team member.

If we write this in a simple mathematical equation:

Team Performance = Summation of (individual team member’s personal motivation/objectives multiplied by achievement rate of meeting that individual’s motivation)

The higher degree of satisfying or meeting each member’s motivation targets, the greater the chances of making the team perform better. Again, easy to say but not easy to achieve. The Change Leader needs to “read” correctly the underlying motivation of each person. We can classify personal motivation into these basic categories:

1. Recognition
2. Security (Career Advancement / Job Stability / Employment Sustainability)
3. Financial Gains
4. Altruism

People possess all four motivations but there always has 1 dominant motivation factor at a given situation. Likewise, motivations shift from one to another.

RECOGNITION: I call this a “Movie Star”. A person who likes to be recognized. Being in the limelight; the thrill of achieving an award or certificate; having his/her name in the company newsletter, etc.

SECURITY: “General”. A military officer understands his role in the “sustainability” and “stability” of a given assignment (i.e. location, area). Mirroring this in a team, an individual focused on job security or advancement as his/her primary objective.

FINANCIAL GAIN: A person who gets motivated with money and benefits is what I call a “Banker”. Numbers count the most especially those that impact his/her own pocket.

ALTRUISM: A “Social Worker”… A person’s philosophy is that the change benefits others and their working lives get better through the success of the project. The passion of the seeing the “goodness” of the project propels this person to actively participate.

Once you become a Change Leader, it is good to do theses tasks once you have formed the team.

1. Sit down with each team member and understand the person’s background, role in the company, history, etc.
2. Explain the person’s role in the team. Can the role adequately perform by this person?
3. Seek comments and opinions on what the person expect out of his/her participation in the team
4. Close and summarize the discussion.
5. Schedule follow up sessions with each person.
6. Relate each member’s responses to their primary motivation and bear this in mind throughout the project.
7. Repeat this process periodically.

Achieving a high performance team does not occur by chance but requires effort and attention by the Change Leader. Critical factor for us as Change Leaders is not to underestimate individual’s motivation objectives and the importance of performing the exercise to “read” the objectives. The one who can correctly “read” member’s motivation and satisfies them; the greater the chances of having a high-performing team.

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Sherman Yap works as an Area Head of Procurement for South East Asia in DHL Express Singapore Pte. Ltd. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and currently under a Master Black Belt certification program under Rath and Strong. Sherman’s career includes management consulting, business strategy and corporate planning, procurement and logistics and Lean Six Sigma. He can be reached at Sherman.Yap@dhl.com.