How do you inspire your engineering team?

We don’t deserve the team we can’t inspire. Camaraderie, purpose, and appreciation need to be our priorities.

Running for Team Victory. Illustration by author.

With record numbers of employees leaving their jobs, perhaps it’s no surprise that I recently stumbled across a product manager asking, ‘How do people inspire their engineering teams?’ Even if you don’t work in product, I’m sure many of us not planning an imminent exit can relate to this problem.

Keeping spirits high while navigating product development’s murky waters is no easy task, especially when it’s unclear if any treasure lies within its gloomy depths.

“The greatest threat to success is not failure, but boredom”, wrote James Clear, author of Atomic Habits. Anyone can work hard when motivated, but a steady IV drip of corporate optimism will not help a team move faster forever.

More is needed to exercise the intrinsic motivation muscles of those around us.

So, how can we balance motivating a team while delivering quality solutions and meeting deadlines? Beyond paying more, what can we do to help sustainably inspire a team to be their most productive or creative?

This article takes a deeper look at these questions and will explore how we can leverage camaraderie…