What are the best strategies for keeping your team motivated during a pivot?

The team should have the assurance of being understood clearly and have the freedom to take steps so that ownership could be taken .

In times of a significant pivot, involve your team in the decision-making process. Seek their input and insights on the pivot strategy.

Encourage open and constructive dialogue. It's not just about broadcasting your message; it's equally important to listen. Welcome your team's concerns, questions, and suggestions.

Encourage inclusive decision-making by involving your team in the pivot process. Seek their input, involve them in brainstorming solutions, and make them co-creators of the pivot strategy.

When communicating about a pivot, set realistic and achievable milestones along the way. Break down the pivot process into smaller, manageable phases, and celebrate milestones as you reach them!

Involving your team in any pivot gives you a much better chance at keeping your team when you have pivoted. Authenticity is key and being authentic to your stakeholders is required. Your team is your first layer of stakeholders - they have everything to lose - so being clear about what they have to gain is important. Poll your team, keep an open door policy, and have a pathway for anonymous feedback. Remember that a great leader doesn't pass blame downstream - but surely passes all the glory from positive outcomes downstream.

Helping team members feel seen, heard and appreciated is a great way to move forward with enacting change. More importantly, it contributes towards their self actualisation which fosters loyalty, decreases turnover and brings forth their most needed skills.

Communicate more often than you think is necessary. And communicate utilizing multiple avenues. In-person one-on-one meetings, group meetings, formal meetings, informal meetings, and in writing. Identify leaders who may not be in formal leadership positions but have the respect of their peers to help you communicate. Most importantly, create a culture where change is expected. And if the changes all align with a bigger vision it won't feel so much like change but as progress! Celebrate the progress.

Encourage peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, whether through informal discussions, mentorship programs, or cross-functional training. Team members often have diverse skills and experiences that can be valuable in navigating the pivot.

Create a culture where team members can regularly provide input, voice concerns, and share ideas about the pivot. This ensures that you're not just seeking input at one point but maintaining an ongoing dialogue.

Set up feedback mechanisms to continuously assess how the pivot is progressing and to identify any roadblocks. Create a culture of adaptation where team members are encouraged to provide feedback on what's working and what isn't.

Conduct a comprehensive skills gap assessment to identify areas where your team needs support. This could involve surveys, skills tests, or one-on-one discussions.

Recognize that each team member may have varying levels of expertise and needs when it comes to acquiring new skills or knowledge during a pivot. Create personalized skill development plans that take into account their current competencies and the requirements of the pivot.

Implement adaptive training programs tailored to the changing needs of your team. These programs should focus on developing the skills and competencies required in the new direction.

Give time to the team, understand what they lack and what is needed so you can give them additional resources. Also, When you give time to them they are ready to be trained as they look at the leader as an inspiration. They are encouraged to work better and be on the top of the organisation's vision. In fact some of the great leaders are concerned about the emotional well being of the employees. As it's linked to their life hassles sometimes counselling works and that doesn't disturb the workplace

One I have found helpful is celebrating the wins and sharing the mistakes. Celebration of the wins with the credit to the team is the best way to get the motivation running in the team. If something is wrong the leader should take responsibility and accept the challenges to overcome the mistake to success. the team feels secured and comfortable to work for long term Celebration in public, in private with the team can help the morale of the employees.

Humans generally appreciate celebrating milestones. And it is important to ensure you do do things for yourself after you have achieved something. This is especially so when you are dealing with a team. You need to ensure they know you appreciate them and that you recognize their efforts and their achievements. It boost morale, it gives them confidence, and enhances overall output.

Your core values and culture should never waver, even if the business moves in another direction. Storytelling can be an incredibly powerful way to reinforce those values, especially when the stories talk about the positive impact of the business in the lives of customers or the world at large. In previous roles, it was always helpful when GTM could share customer feedback directly with non-customer facing teams. That humanized the work that was being done, often behind the scenes.

The best of the leaders are very proud to talk about their vision,mission and core values. They are happy to show it to the team in the workplace, what they care for and what they stand for. The most important part of the team players retention is the visibility and credibility of the vision, mission and core values which is seen in the leader. Unfit team members for the above core values will leave the organisation on its own.

One trick to pivoting is to imagine that every startup has two legs to stand on, and when you pivot you keep one leg on the ground (unchanged) while moving the other leg. These two legs could be comprised of a specific industry that you serviced, a core set of values that you held, a mission that you developed, a cultural strength that you've cherished, or any other strength or meaning that you build during the previous iteration of the company. This mindset helps to create continuity from the efforts that were previously invested in the company by the team, while also providing the flexibility of exploring a new direction for the company as a whole. This can be repeated multiple times, moving different or the same leg, to pivot.

In general, I don't believe in motivation. I believe in vision & goals. If a person that you work with has the same vision & goals, then your mutual work can be aligned. And in this case, neither of you has to be motivated.

Be honest with them. The team that got you here may not be the team that gets you there, i.e. post pivot. Clearly communicate what changes are going to be made and the stakes of those changes. Roles may change, processes will, products/services may come, go, or radically change. When you are honest with your team, you will quickly see who is on board, and who may leave, or worse, stay an obfuscate the information and changes you need to make.

Reinforce the connect between individual roles and company mission, to maintain purpose through change. Approach pivots as energizing adventures rather than derailments - an attitude that will galvanize rather than deflate morale. Solicit team perspectives to feed into revamped plans and have them help communicate the refreshed vision to maintain enthusiasm across the organization.

Your employees are your team. You are their coach. Your job is to get the best out of each of them individually and as a group. As a result, you want to discard any notion of a "cookie cutter" approach or "one size fits all." You know what motivates each person. You know what each team member appreciates, fears, strives for and wants. Use that to work with team members both in groups and one-on-one. Teach your managers this same concept, help them learn how to implement it, and watch the managers and their teams fly!