How do you motivate a team?

Sitaution- I was assigned as a product manager for a legacy product which was within 2 years of being decomissioned hence was being ignored as part of the larger product ecosystem. This also showed in the overall motivation of the development team that supported the product.

Task- While my primary job was to make sure that we conduct maintenance on the product and address any minor enhancement, the progress was getting affected due to low team motivation. Hence, I needed to get their support in maintaining the product till it gets decommissioned.

Action-

a) I started off with conducting sessions for the team explaining as to how the existing product will get transformed into a new upgraded product once it gets replaced and their role in this process

b) How the legacy product still generated income for the company

c) Made sure that we share regular updates with the team on product outlook and the company's vision around it

d) Providing visibility to the team members with Sr Leadership and recognizing their contributions

e) Creating a career path for them beyond the current product

f) Conducting training and ice breaking sessions

g) Having an open door policy for the team to ask any qn or queries

Result-

The team motivation improved and with it their response on timelines towards maintenance and enhancements. A clear career path also led to gradual release of resources from the legacy product and adding less experienced resources who were excited to try their hands on a low risk legacy product