Have you ever stopped to think about the definition of what a challenge is? Challenges are goals that take us out of our comfort zone. And while some people may feel intimidated by them, there are many others who feel motivated by them. Ultimately, it is the challenges that lead a professional, or even a company, to explore their true potential.
In this post, you will see why challenges can be considered the driving force of people and companies, as well as discovering the relationship between challenges and innovation . You will realize that challenges are far from being synonymous with obstacles or problems and you will see how to motivate and engage your team through challenges. Let's go?
Challenges as the driving force of people
Throughout history, we can say that challenges have moved humanity. Man set the goal of producing more, and developed industry. He set the goal whatsapp data of going to the moon, and created rockets. He set the goal of being able to be connected with information and people from all over the world, and created the internet.
And we don't even need to think only about the great achievements of humanity to see how challenges drive us, because this happens at the individual level too.
Athletes are remarkably challenge-driven individuals. Think, for example, of a runner: he constantly sets even more ambitious time goals for his races, and it is to achieve these goals that he continues to train and compete. The result is records like that of Usain Bolt, who was able to run 100 meters in just 9.58 seconds.
Another classic case is executives. They set successful goals for their team, their organization, and their own career. So, they get out of bed every day with determination to face another day of work, in the quest to achieve these goals. The result is cases like that of Elon Musk, who has taken his business to new frontiers in different areas, from the production of electric cars to the development of spacecraft.
It is worth saying that while challenges continue to be presented to these individuals, they hardly lose motivation.
Challenges as the driving force of companies
If challenges are the driving force of people, they are also the driving force of companies; after all, it depends on employees. In a company where the team is made up of professionals who feel motivated by challenges and where these challenges are presented to employees, there will be no problems in achieving increasingly ambitious goals.
If you have a team that likes challenges but doesn't offer them, you'll soon notice that the usual day-to-day work isn't enough to keep them interested. The result is, firstly, an underutilization of the company's professionals; secondly, over time, the loss of these professionals, who will seek challenges in another organization.
And this is where the most complex part of this situation comes. Imagine you have a team of employees who are motivated by challenge. However, you don't set challenging goals for them and, therefore, these employees become unmotivated. The result is that the established goals — those that do not represent a challenge and that could easily be achieved — will also not be achieved.
Therefore, when you have a team of professionals in your company who like to face challenges, it is better to bring challenges to them. Explore the creativity, problem-solving skills and productivity of your employees. It's good for them and, of course, for the company too.
How to motivate your team through challenges?
Let’s think about the challenges a company faces; things like developing a new product, creating a new marketing campaign, repositioning the brand, conquering a market segment, renewing the production process, and so on.