On Saturday, April 15th hundreds of people gathered in Greensboro Center City Park to walk in support of the Catfish Hunter Chapter of the ALS Association. Our team, Brigitte’s Brigade – walked in honor of our Queen, Brigitte Gann who was diagnosed with the disease three years ago. This was our 3rd year walking and raising money to support those impacted by Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS. When you support a cause that you believe in, a cause that has impacted you, a friend or a family member – you look forward to participating. You get energized and inspired. Fighting for a cause helps keep things in perspective about what’s really important in life– you want to give your time, talent & resources. What’s your cause that you get excited about supporting?
Have you ever had a cause (or change or new initiative) at work that was important to your team and needed full support for it’s success? Here are 5.5 strategies to help rally the troops.
1. Maintain Enthusiasm– Smile, Animation, Energy, Tone of Voice and create the right setting. Block out those dream stealers or people that act as rocks on your kite!
2. Select a small group of champions to support the cause and encourage them to be your cheerleaders throughout the organization.
3. Celebrate small successes – short term wins can fuel the momentum. Celebrate good times and move on to the next step.
4. If you get off track or a member of your group – RE-GROUP. RE-STRATEGIZE. RE-START.
5. Hang in there one more round. Too often people give up to early. If it truly takes an average of 21 days to create a new behavior, don’t sell your team short by not giving them enough time to Fight for the Cause!
5.5 PRAY
Who do you need to encourage on your team today? If you took a few minutes out of your day to meet with one of your employees to share with them why they are valued and appreciated at work – what would the impact be?