Each gift we have, each thing we work for, each skill we acquire, has a goal—to use it to teach others how to have and use that same gift. The ultimate goal of motivation is to use it to motivate others. We need to train people that they need to be motivated. They must work for what they want. General Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “There is no victory at bargain basement prices”. How do we teach them this? How do we learn to motivate others so they’ll reach for that victory? How do YOU motivate others?
The first step to motivating anybody is to make sure they know exactly what’s going on. They need to see what you see, know what you know, think what you think, and you need to get them there. Hold one of those horribly staunch and formal business meetings in a windowed office around a black, rectangular table with armed, office chairs, have a luncheon in a noisy restaurant, (just make sure it’s Italian—my favorite), have donuts and coffee in fold-up chairs with a chalkboard hanging on the wall, whatever, just meet with your people. Give them a clear vision of what you see for the future of your business. Explain the whys behind it. Help them to clearly understand and to see that vision for themselves. Show them what brought you from where you were in the past to where you are now, to where you believed then to what you believe now and why. Tell them why you want to help others to do this thing you love and believe in so dearly. Show them how you’re going to succeed in this. Your business is not just about making money, it is about helping others—how? Why? Where? Show them! Don’t just tell them of your vision, show them.
The next thing you can do in motivating your employees or team is to be a counselor among the members and, of course, to be friendly. Create relationships with them. Be aware of their needs—emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Be aware of their desires. This is part of having open communication, which we’ll talk about later. Be aware of their abilities and use them! Using their talents will motivate them like you wouldn’t believe! Lastly, cultivate the relationships of your team members and help those relationships thrive. Relationships among your team members will spark a healthy competition among friends when an award system or contests are implemented, which are other tactics of motivations, by the way. Remember that!
Another way to motivate others is to be a good listener. People need to be listened too. In today’s world, good listeners are hard to find. Too many people are too busy and in too much of a hurry. We live in a go-go world. Other people just don’t care. I am busy, but I’m never too busy for my team members. Sometimes we do have to schedule a time to meet, but I always make time for them.
When you are listening to them, be kind. Don’t rush people through their conversations or complaints. If they bring up things they have done, hand out praise. People don’t get praised enough and are usually looking for it whether they know it or not.
If you want to motivate others, you must be an example of a good person. Seeing you being an upstanding person will motivate your team members because they are more likely to follow someone who is a good role model than someone who isn’t. As a motivator, you should be reliable and have good character and integrity, doing the right things even when no one was looking.
Being enthusiastic about your business will motivate them all well. Your enthusiasm will spawn passion about what you do, which rubs off on others, kind of like a contagious laugh or a big yawn does. I bet you just yawned reading this! Your enthusiasm will also cause you energy, which will motivate your team members. My energy mixed with my humor makes my team members laugh, which motivates them further. By the way, my humor is a 15 on a scale of 1-10… although some would disagree.
You can’t be motivational if you’re not inspirational. In fact, you have to be the driving force toward motivation. If you don’t kind of give them a gentle “push” in the right direction, like you would gently push a rowboat away from the shore, they may not get motivated at all.
Giving an unmotivated person a small taste of responsibility may push them to want to fulfill that small area of respect you have bestowed upon him. For instance, when my five-year-old, Valentina, would come to visit me at the office, she’d just kind of mope around, driving her brother crazy. Finally, one day, Mary, my assistant, made Valentina her official paper shredder—my idea! This changed Valentina’s life… and her brothers.
You can motivate your team members through delegation. Not only will delegation help them, but it will help to free up your time as well. By the way, I will just throw this in there for free, when you delegate a task to a team member, don’t micro-manage it! Leave it all up to them. Anyway, Robert E. Lee taught that the greatest motivator is to grant independence and responsibility. Do this, and you’ll see a change!
Give your team members goals they’ll have to reach for. However, if the goals are too easy, they’ll not push to be their best. If they’re too hard, they’ll feel like they’ve never fulfilled your goals for them and may be hesitant and complain about trying any goal again in the future. Setting your goals for them to where they have to reach just a little will stimulate motivation. With each goal accomplished, set another goal that will cause them to have to reach just a little further beyond where they think they can, to stretch just a little further beyond what they think their limits are. We are capable of so much more than we think. Possible. A leader must be able to trust his team members to be able to reach certain goals. The higher the risk, the higher the trust. He needs to know they can stretch to certain limits. He needs to work those limits, work those muscle, if you will.
The last thing I plan to tell you today (or the last they’ll let me tell—I have a word limit) to reach that ultimate goal of having motivation, which is to motivate others, is to keep the line of communication open. No one likes to be left in the dark. Let your team in on what’s going on. If there are tasks coming up, problems to be solved, activities to be planned, let them chime in on ideas. This will strengthen their sense of being and lead them toward being further motivated.
Once they become motivated, they can also reach toward this ultimate goal of motivating others. I encourage you, friend, use these methods. Yes, there are several more out there too. Google them, look them up, read good books on them, and motivate your team. Then, and only then, will you have a motivated team, each motivating others, reaching toward the goal of a successful business that can help others to the extent of their ability and even reaching beyond.
