Here’s the million-dollar question: Who would want to be influenced and inspired by you? If you cannot answer this question, then you have no business managing anyone. As a professional speaker and corporate trainer, I have asked this question of thousands of man agers and leaders across America and abroad, and you’d be surprised how difficult this question can be for some managers and supervisors to answer. Often times the response is simply a stunned hush.
Here’s why being able to answer this question is so important. Managers can’t really do anything or be effective in their jobs, if their employees aren’t motivated to perform well. So as a manager or supervisor, it’s imperative that you continually look for ways to engage your people and rouse their enthusiasm and commitment to the organization and its goals.
The fact is that people are motivated to do what is in their best interests. Your goal as a manager, then, is to help employees identify their welfare with that of the organization.
When this happens, employees will naturally feel motivated to work hard, because it is in their best interest to do so all this is another way of saying that motivation is the intrinsic drive to accomplish our desired ends. Whatever we do, it is always because we fulfil some current or future goal or desire.
Contemplate this when have you been most excited about your work? For most people that excitement comes from being involved with projects that were near and dear to us-projects we took person ally, or in which we believed we could really make a difference and accomplish something for ourselves and others. By helping your employees to identify closely with the job they are doing, you will begin to reap the rewards of intrinsic motivation at work.
And when was the last time you thought about really trying to “turn on,, your organization? You’re the manager, right? Isn’t that your job? Yes, but today motivation needs to be everyone’s responsibility. As a manager, it is your job to help build a truly “motivating organization,» one that inspires employees to do their very best every day. Understanding that the role you play as a leader and manager of people is one of extreme importance, here are three key points to help build that motivating organization:
Know why your employees would want to be motivated by you: When you can answer this important question, you will be better equipped to engage workers in their jobs more effectively and influence their behaviours to act more enthusiastically to meet company goals.
Recognize that real motivation is an inside job: People talk about motivation being either intrinsic or extrinsic. But it’s really only intrinsic, within each of us. What we refer to as extrinsic motivation is really just external factors, like company perks, bonuses, and pay raises that ultimately affect our intrinsic motivation.
Turn employees on to what’s important and meaningful: This requires managers to inspire their followers to be their best, to take risks, to think like entrepreneurs, and to unleash their limitless and synergistic potential.