How hard does your team work? How sure are you that their effort is in line with yours? Imagine what you could achieve together if it was. If they acted like they owned the business, treated every customer like the most important person in the world, and had new, brilliant ideas every single day. If they were obsessed with personal development and becoming better at their role. If they worked evenings and weekends because they were hellbent on your mission. Where would your company be compared to now?
A group of people aligned in changing the world is powerful to watch. But it doesn’t happen by accident. If you suspect your team is flagging in their mojo and their actions are waning to match, perk them up with these prompts for ChatGPT.
Copy, paste and edit the square brackets in ChatGPT, and keep the same chat window open so the context carries through to each additional prompt.
Inspire your team to make more effort with these ChatGPT prompts
Explain the why
Your team members might not have the context that you do. You know your ambitious mission, you know what you’re here to do. You can see the bigger picture and get perspective from the day-to-day. Don’t assume they have the same complete story, instead make sure they know using this prompt.
“I want to inspire my team to do their jobs better by making sure they know the key reason the company exists. We want to [ultimate outcome you’re trying to achieve] for [scale of target audience]. Can you articulate this in (a) a single line I can display in our offices and internal communications to serve as a constant reminder for the team and (b) a paragraph that succinctly describes the power that our collective efforts could hold, for new team member onboarding.”
Set some deadlines
Every time you set a deadline it focuses the efforts of everyone involved. Suddenly, they are thinking in terms of actions and outputs. They are assessing what they need to do in order to play their part. The best people rise to the challenge. They relish the idea of working together, against the clock, to get things done. To get your team to work harder, set more deadlines. Make your workplace more dynamic and leave lackluster work for other firms.
“I want to set some deadlines that will motivate my team to unite and work harder towards them. At the moment we are working on projects including [explain the projects you’re working on and your approximate deadline]. Today is [today’s date]. Can you suggest some ambitious deadlines for specific elements of our projects that will challenge my team and motivate them to be efficient and productive with their work?”
Practice what you preach
The best founders don’t sit in their glass offices, in pristine corporatewear, gazing out over the factory below. The best founders are on the shop floor with their sleeves rolled up, asking question after question and understanding how everything works. Practicing what you preach might do more for your team’s output than anything else. But what should you do? Figure out how to get involved in their work without stepping on their toes. Ask ChatGPT for suggestions.
“I want to inspire my team to work harder by demonstrating that I also work hard. I want to show I practice what I preach. In my business, can you suggest 5 actions I could take this week, where I can get involved with my team member’s work without stepping on their toes?”
Align their incentives
Some people want money, some people want recognition, others want to work from Bali. What motivates one team member likely won’t motivate another. But how do you know? You ask them. Conduct a survey to align incentives with outcome. Ask them how they want to be rewarded for their effectiveness. Ask ChatGPT to suggest a format then share it around and make your plan.
“I want to conduct a survey to find out what incentives different team members are excited by. I’m open to incentives including [describe the incentives you would consider]. Create a survey that asks team members to tell me their preferred incentive, as well as what they expect incentives would be based on. Within the survey, also ask about the likely benefits, in terms of their output, of having this incentive in place.”
Generate excitement
Anyone can get a boring job. Plenty of uninspiring businesses are advertising on job boards, displaying signs in windows or asking around for people to join their team. But not your company. You amass inbound enquiries from people begging to join your ranks. You have hundreds of applications for every role. Your team members never leave, they only progress up the ladder. Your workplace is a sought-after destination because you made it so exciting. If that description isn’t accurate, make it come true with this next prompt.
“I want to make my company a really exciting place to work. I want my team members to feel proud that they work here, and want to tell their friends about their awesome job. Given what you know about my company and its mission, play the role of an enthusiastic company culture manager and suggest 5 ways I could make my business an exciting place to work.”
Inspire your team to do great work
An inspired, motivated and listened-to team does awesome work. They are aligned with the mission, they feel valued for their contribution and they are proud to represent your brand. As a result, they work harder. They put more hours in because what they do doesn’t feel like work. Or if it does, they just really enjoy it. Set some deadlines, practice what you preach, align incentives and be excited to thrive together. This all-star team of doers might be a few prompts away.
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