Management for Beginners - All about Motivation

Managers who actively support and motivate their team members to feel closer to them. You build trust and inspire others to achieve higher performance by showing a sincere interest in your team members.

A good team is not just a healthy team, but it is a team where team members are supported, motivated, and recognised for their achievements. A good manager understands that they can appraise and provide feedback every time they speak to a team member. Everyone needs to receive positive feedback to know that they are important, are a contributor and team player and believe they are receiving an honest assessment of their performance. 

Team members fall into two motivation categories

·       Self-motivated. These are self-motivated team members who have a set of internal personal and professional drivers that motivate them. These are usually your star performers, which you risk losing if you do not provide them with appropriate autonomy, feedback, and empowerment to do their job.

·       Non-self-motivated. Some team members need external motivation. These team members do not possess these same drivers as their self-motivated colleagues and require you to actively motivate them.

The role of the manager

Good managers communicate high expectations to team members, inspiring them through motivation to become committed to and a part of the organisation's shared vision. They also encourage team members to be creative and innovative and to challenge their beliefs and those of the manager and the organisation. Exceptional managers are curious about the inner motivations of their team members because it's the key to higher performance. Does your team member enjoy meeting new people? Mastering new skills? Bonding with a team? Working in the background? How much do you know about your team members?

1.     Set High standards.

The standards that you set for yourself are one of your biggest motivation tools. Working to the best of your abilities shows team members what you expect from them. They will only work as hard as you do, that is, to the standard that you are setting. That's why motivational managers will always push themselves to reach a higher standard. This simple act inspires others to do the same. Team members follow the lead, which creates highly motivated and productive teams.

2.     Communicate often.

Feedback is crucial to your team members’ motivation levels. Your team members need to know what they're doing well and what they could improve on. They need feedback and recognition of their efforts and successes. Unfortunately, 69% of managers don't feel comfortable talking to their team members, meaning they are disconnected from their team. This leads to them avoiding opportunities for communication, much like not listening; failing to communicate leads to team members disengaging. They feel like their manager does not care, which means they don't care either.

Motivational managers go in the opposite direction. They often communicate with confidence. They articulate clearly, which helps their team members to understand the direction they need to go in. Providing direction is an essential team member motivation tool at your disposal. Use your feedback sessions to ensure your team members know what you need from them.

3.     Listen to team members.

Every team member needs to know and feel that their manager listens to what they are saying and respects their ideas. They want to be confident that some action may be taken based on what they have said. Despite this, many managers don't listen to their team members. They may ask questions, but they do not hear the answers, believing that their ideas are the only ones that matter.

This tells team members that their opinions and ideas have little value and is a great way to demotivate them. This results in missing out on many great ideas and suggestions.

4.     How to quickly demotivate people.

·       Do not give feedback or recognition.

·       Micromanage.

·       Make decisions without consulting team members.

·       Allow team members to miss commitments without a negative consequences.

·       Not making allowance for personal factors and their effects on work.

How to deal with the fear of failure

There is a significant and insidious cause of failure, and that's our self-defeating thoughts brought on by fear of not meeting expectations. You can see it in a team member’s eye when you give them a task that they do not feel confident about. They have learned that failure, not meeting expectations, can have negative consequences or, in extreme cases, be punished.

These consequences can be humiliation, no further work allocation of the type just tried, no promotion or not being given a second chance to take on something new. Only negative, resounding thoughts about their lack of ability and possibly their job being at risk resounds in their head.

Fear of failure is probably one of the main reasons we prefer to numb ourselves through inaction rather than move forward. Sometimes we are so afraid of letting ourselves down or letting others down or disappointing them that the opinions of others dominate us to the point of paralysis. Other times it is a deep-seated feeling of unworthiness that makes us question our abilities.

Succeeding or failing is not the issue; what is the issue is 'having a go'. When used with people you are getting to know or to whom you are giving a complex task that they have no experience or knowledge of, the following technique works well. It is the 'hand' technique.

Hand Technique

It works like this; explain the task and what you think the outcome may look like, and then deliberately place your hand about 10 centimetres above your desk and say, "what's important here is having a go. I don't care if you only achieve this much (then raise your hand a bit higher) or achieve this much; what I care about is you agree to have a go at this task; please, I am not interested in what you achieve."

The hand technique removes anxiety about their ability to do the task and your expectation of the outcome.

Finish up by saying, "please come back at any time if you need help." Tell them it's your job to help. This technique is remarkably successful, especially as people get to know you and what you expect of them.

Just having a go and giving it a try is what it's all about, and most people succeed the first time.

Actions

1.     Give effective recognition for a job well done by doing it in front of others. Be sparing in your praise; recognition must be deserved.

2.     Look for opportunities to improve communication between team members by highlighting someone's strengths and by underpinning any shortcomings.

3.     Every time you speak with one of your team members, it is an opportunity to provide feedback on their performance and offer support and motivation.

4.     Comment on a recent email or report you received.

5.     Comment on customer feedback you received that concerns their area.

6.     A comment that you think things are going well.

7.     Equally, make 'observations', not criticisms about things you don't like. ("I noticed that last email you sent me was very long.”)

8.     Implement programs to recognise the performance and efforts of all team members. (E.g., Employee of the month).

9.     When you give someone a difficult task or one outside of their skillset, remove the fear of failure by telling them that what you expect is that they 'have a go,' not what they achieve, and offer to help. 

10.  Accept mistakes, but not when the same one is made three times.

Summary

1.     Managers who motivate. - Actively support their team members and feel closer to them. You build trust and inspire others to achieve higher performance by showing a sincere interest in your team members. A good team is not just a healthy team, but it is a team where team members are supported, motivated, and recognised for their achievements. A good manager understands that they can appraise and provide feedback every time they speak to a team member. Everyone needs to receive positive feedback to know that they are important, are a contributor, and team players and believe they are receiving an honest assessment of their performance. 

2.     Team members fall into two motivation categories. - Self-motivated. These are self-motivated team members who have a set of internal personal and professional drivers that motivate them. These are usually your star performers, which you risk losing if you do not provide them with appropriate autonomy, feedback, and empowerment to do their job. Non-self-motivated. Some team members need external motivation. These team members do not possess these same drivers as their self-motivated colleagues and require you to actively motivate them.

3.     The role of the manager. - Good managers communicate high expectations to team members, inspiring them through motivation to become committed to and a part of the organisation's shared vision. They also encourage team members to be creative and innovative and to challenge their beliefs and those of the manager and the organisation. Good managers: - Set High standards. Communicate often. Listen to team members.

4.     How to demotivate people quickly. - Do not give feedback or recognition. Micro-manage. Make decisions without consulting team members. Allow team members to miss commitments without negative consequences.

5.     How to deal with the fear of failure. -There is a significant and insidious cause of failure, and that's our self-defeating thoughts brought on by fear of not meeting expectations. For a team member, the consequences can be humiliation, no further work allocation of the type just tried, no promotion or not being given a second chance to take on something new. Only negative, resounding thoughts about their lack of ability and possibly their job being at risk resounds in their head.

Management and TeamsRussell FutcherAll about Motivation