How do restaurants work as a team?

How do you motivate a team to work if they're not self-motivated?

• Background: we are a bunch of high school students on a 15-person team for an extracurricular called Science Olympiads. For those unfamiliar with how it works, pairs of team members get different science "events" they have prepared for beforehand (studying, practicing, etc). Performance on team is sum of performances of all its members. Our team has remained relatively unmotivated to prepare until the very last week before competition, and as "captain" this year I'm really making an attempt to change that. I make them self-aware of their performance with mini-deadlines to discourage procrastination, practice tests, offer help in getting resources, and constantly remind them, talk to each member personally to keep tabs on everyone. The response: ignore deadlines, no shame for failing practice tests (many think it's funny), don't voluntarily ask for help, and reply to reminders with empty promises ("I'll do it next week!"). They're all hard-working students, but they just "don't have time" to work for this team. They don't prioritize it, quite simply. I'm at a loss for what to do. Since it's an extracurricular there's really no inherent motivation to take this seriously, but since we're a team and our performance depends on the dedication of every member, the few members who do work will suffer. Everyone wants to do well, but they don't want to work to get there. ..I'm sure this kind of problem isn't specific to Science Olympiads or my situation in particular--what can I do as a leader to motivate them?

• Answer:

  Ask them. Listen to what is said and listen to what is not said. Look for someone on the team that would be able to motivate the others.