Here it comes…push, HARDER, push yourself. If you don’t push harder it’s going to pass you by. LET’S GO! Stand up! Do you feel that? You’re riding the momentum wave. For any start-up, new business owner or leader, creating and maintaining momentum is crucial to the success and future success of their companies.

Many have asked, “How do I create momentum?” and equally as important, “How do I keep momentum going?” in order to ‘ride the momentum wave’.

Here are 4 ways to create and keep momentum going with your team:

1. Celebrate the small victories

Recognize when team members are doing the right things. Whether its consistently showing up to the office 15 minutes before everybody else, dressing exceedingly sharp or just demonstrating great follow-through. Anything that they are doing, big or small, make a point to let them know personally that you notice. This could be done with a simple gesture like a high five or a great job. This will reinforce the positive actions and build their level of confidence.

“Acknowledge all of your small victories. They will eventually add up to something big.” – Kara Goucher

2. Give public recognition

When giving recognition, find a time to do so publicly. It is typically very easy to do this with your top performers, but it is equally as important, if not more, to do this with your fresh, new team members. This will create a company culture of winning and high performance. Especially if your team sees that even the newest guy is exceeding expectations.

A winning team culture will subconsciously push each person to take their performance to the next level. Consider this, if you have 20 team members, and each person gets just 5% better, then your team just got 100% better.

3. Challenge when confidence is high

It is important to constantly challenge your team. It will keep them fresh and committed to performing. If you want to build off the momentum that you will create within your team, then it is important to recognize when you have people with high levels of confidence and to challenge them at that moment.

Give them a task that is slightly more challenging than what they have been doing on a regular basis. Their high level of confidence will push them through and allow them to complete a task that they may have been able to complete at any other moment. By completing these more challenging tasks, their level of confidence in their abilities to succeed will be at an all-time high.

“Together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky.” – Sonia Gandhi 

4. Develop goals as a team

Take some time out of your normal routine to sit down with your team to develop goals. By having your team create these goals with you, it will create “buy-in” from your team. As you and your team get closer to hitting these goals, vocalize and ensure that everyone is aware of the progress.

No one wants to let down the team, so this will create a level of personal commitment to the team from each individual person which in turn drives your business toward accomplishing the goals.

How do you create momentum or motivation within your team? Leave your thoughts below!