Keeping yourself and your team motivated day in day out is vital if you are to make the best use of your own potential and theirs. 

 

Some people argue you can't motivate someone else, only they can motivate themselves, but I disagree. 

 

You can motivate someone else, but you have to find out what works for that individual.  Everyone is motivated by something and finding out what motivates every individual in your team is a powerful exercise. 

Ask them next time you have a 1:1 or build an exercise into your team briefing where everyone draws a picture of what motivates them.

 

Once people feel that you understand their goals, desires and motivations it can really help to retain someone and turn around a poor performer.  Show them how being good at their job will connect them to their personal goals.  Everyone wants to make a difference, make sure you are giving people that opportunity.  Ask how they are doing and listen to them on a daily basis.

 

I find this simple question useful to ask myself and my training course participants or colleagues at the end of every day:

 

"What steps forward have you made today?" 

 

These steps may not always be huge leaps but recognition that you have made at least some progress forward can bring a much needed boost.  If you can't identify any progress then this is a good time to refocus your efforts or identify what the blockers are.

 

Training and Development can help to motivate and retain people.  It may be a workshop to remove the blockers such as a time management course or something to build confidence such as a presentation skills course.  It may be a qualification or other course that develops skills and expertise.  Sometimes the cost of such training is cheaper than recruiting a replacement for your long gone demotivated team member.....

We found it really interesting to learn the above study found that organistions with increased levels of employee engagement (i.e. job satisfaction, motivation and commitment) outperformed their peer group by 17% on operating margin!  How do we get increased levels of engagement?  Through Inspirational Leadership, which is the new contact sport for bosses. 

 

Gallup found 19 percent of 1,000 people interviewed "actively disengaged" at work. These workers complain that they don't have the tools they need to do their jobs. They don't know what is expected of them. Their bosses don't listen to them. Based on these interviews and survey data from its consulting practice, Gallup says actively disengaged workers cost employers over £146 billion a year. The research concluded that disengaged workers miss more days of work and are less loyal to employers -no surprise there!

 

Have you ever had a boss that has made you feel motivated, committed to your job and satsified?  How did they do it?  Chances are they listened to you and asked for your input.  Contrary to most standard leadership courses I have experienced, Inspirational Leadership is not about charisma or copying Branson or Mandela, these are not really useful learning points to the majority of us!  (Plus a study by Tosey found that there is no correlation between charisma of CEO's and profit -although a link was found between charisma and their pay -hmmm very interesting!)

 

What we at Real Results translate Inspirational Leadership into is showing genuine concern for your team on a daily basis, finding time to be accessible and asking for their ideas and questions. 

 

We are holding a one day workshop to give lots of practical ways to bring Inspirational Leadership into the everyday workplace.  It is on 14th August at The Golden Tulip Hotel, Trafford Park, Manchester.  Please see the bottom of this newsletter for more information and a reduced price.