The number 1 job of a leader is to create an environment where people are motivated to be the best they can.
If this job is done right, it just may justify the exorbitant compensation that often goes along with that job. Even doing it right does not mean that it is an easy task. Just ask someone who works and is working. Let's face it, most work is boring, no matter how hard the leader tries to create an exciting and encouraging environment, you just can't make lemonade from oranges. Finding and keeping people motivated to be their best requires an ongoing and thoughtful effort. It is in this effort that the challenge of leadership is at its greatest. You see people want to be happy with their work and people are happy doing things they like to do, things that actually satisfy what they value. But, people are different and have different values. Almost every one of us has some little nuance that makes us different. Appealing to all or even most is a task that often eludes even the most capable.
It is motivation that drives people to be their best and when they are at their best they are happier.
Contrary to what many of us have thought at one time or another, achieving important goals are not the thing the make us happy. It is the journey toward the goal where the real gold is found.
Right there is a "nugget"-people are happier moving toward the goal than they are when they reach the goal.
One might even conclude that the journey is better than the destination. Hummmmm???
So how do leaders perpetually motivate their people? The answer is they don't, at least they don't for very long. Most lasting motivation comes from within not from without.
Dr. Steven Stein, a previous guest on Internet Radio show, Entrepreneurs R Us, in his book, Make Your Workplace Great gave us some insight into steps leaders might take to make a GREAT WORKPLACE.
1. Be a Feedback Fanatic: Have you ever known anyone who began a job or a project with a specific goal to fail? Well neither have I. People usually begin a job with a plan to succeed or be happy, but something happens along the way. Often time they do not know what went wrong but those of us around them do but we fail to share that information for fear of hurting the person. Be Fearless! GIVE YOUR PEOPLE FEEDBACK -ON GOING.
2. Provide a Challenge: To perform at the highest level, people need to be challenged. If they are bored they will disengage. To keep your people "running at the most efficient pace keep them challenged.
3. Embrace Flexibility: Time is said to be more valuable than money and I believe it. Money we can always get, but time, once used, can never be reclaimed. Missing your son's ball game or your daughter's recital is often more than stressful, it is depressing. The time has come to base work and compensation on results not time spend working. Go to a 4 day work week or install a "flex-time" policy. Observe the difference in attitudes and performance.
4. Be Personally Accountable: Personal accountability is almost as a fly in a snow storm. People just do not want to be accountable for much of anything. Creating a culture or environment that exudes personal accountability is a step in the right direction.
5. Build Trust: People do not trust their leaders today because their leaders talk a lot but fail to do what they say. If you want to build trust in your organization, shut-up and listen. The evidence is compelling leaders who listen are more respected and trusted than those seldom listen.
6. Develop a Participative Management Style: With the rising complexity of problems there is a greater need for input from other sources. Seek the ideas of others, develop a team mind.
7. Stop and Celebrate: Celebrate as a team but even more importantly celebrate with your people in private. Studies show that personal, one-on-one praise is the most effective recognition. Find out what your people are good at and praise them for that, enjoy even the smallest achievements. Everybody loves a winner.
Earlier, we talked about happiness and that it is often found in the journey, more often than in the destination. If that is true, then it makes perfect sense to say "it is the journey that counts for each of us not so much the destination"
Lets talk about some general areas that impact the workplace environment and make the journey even better. Steve Stein, in his book "Make Your Workplace Great" named seven areas that have the greatest impact on performance. Lets take a quick look at each.
Job Happiness: Nearly 30 percent of the workforce are unhappy with their jobs. Why? Some people have great skills but not the ones needed for their job. Their job challenges them beyond their ability, or their job is so easy they devote time to looking for ways to appear busy.
Compensation: Most people are satisfied with their compensation. Pay your people 10 percent more than the competition and you will be a Champion.
Work/Life Balance: The costs of work overload? More mistakes, Absenteeism (300 billion a year in costs), Lack of desire to advance and Losing top performers to competitors, to name just a few.
Organizational Cohesiveness/Teamwork: Develop a shared purpose with the employee in mind involve the employee in important decisions.
Leadership: Possibly the weakest link in the leadership of any organization is at the middle manager level. Many are ill prepared to manage others and cannot even manage themselves. Maybe the biggest single obstacle to improved performance wrests in 2 areas Assertiveness and Accountability.
Anger Management: Anger is the single most experienced emotion in the workplace and destroys people and things that we can imagine.
Organizational Responsiveness: Many organizations are good about wanting to know what people want but much less competent at acting on the want.
Creating that great environment begins with understand what already exists. If you have been wanting to know what motivates your people, do something different; Ask Them
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