Even people who aren’t hockey fans love a Cinderella team. The 1982 Canucks, the 2004 Flames, the 2005-2006 Oilers--all of these teams were rated average by experts and they performed as expected throughout their regular seasons.

Then post-season came. With each period, each game, each playoff series, they gained momentum. And that made the difference between winning and losing.

Every organization needs momentum to grow. Leaders create momentum. When momentum starts, it brings everyone along. Teams succeed. And the more they succeed, the more they want to succeed.

They begin to look for ways to keep their momentum going.

A while ago, I met the newly hired Executive Director of a well established non-profit organization. Although the organization had once been high-performing, the new leader soon recognized that the organization had lost its momentum.

Board members were not fully engaged and employee morale was low. Funders and donors were growing frustrated by the organization’s low performance outcomes. In short, it had been a long time since the organization had experienced a win.

The newly hired leader asked me how he could get the momentum going again. Here is what I told him:

1. Feed the momentum with clarity of vision. High-performing leaders have clarity of vision and they constantly share that vision with the members of their organization.

2. Be a living example. Motivation is contagious. As a leader, you need to model commitment and passion. That’s how momentum spreads.

3. Make attitude a value. Strong leaders show everyone in their organization that the highest value they contribute is a positive attitude. Skills are important, but only attitude drives momentum.

4. Eliminate those who do not add a positive attitude to the team. As a leader, you invest in those you lead and you are glad to do that. However, if you have a team member who continues to drain morale, you must do something about that. You owe it to the organization to let that person find a workplace where they can contribute with genuine enthusiasm.

5. Help the team celebrate each win. As John Maxwell says, it’s amazing what leaders can achieve when they don’t care who gets the credit. Effective leaders constantly look for someone doing something right. And they celebrate those small wins, which turns everyone in their organization into a winner. That is how momentum is sustained.

6. Expand the vision. As Michael Korda wrote, “One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.” Once your organization understands the basic vision, build on that understanding to achieve greater goals.

7. Continue to build momentum. It’s easier to sustain momentum than to create it. But with strong leadership, momentum can be achieved. That is why building momentum is such an important leadership skill.

Call to Action:
1. Think about the 7 recommendations in this post. How do they apply to your organization and role?
2. Write down 2 or 3 things that you will do to gain momentum in your organization.

The best is yet to come. It starts with you.

Your friends,
The UpCloseTeam