Ways to motivate other people
What are the most important ways a leader can motivate other people?
Motivating other is essential because employee can obtain a sense of purpose and maintain orgaizational goals and objective. Employees that are motivated will work harder, stay loyal to the company, and find pleasure in their position.
This is so true, Virgie! So how do you do this? How does someone motivate another person?
I truly believe that people must motivate themselves. That said, as a department leader with one year under my belt, I believe in leading by example. I am passionate about my company, my work and the people in my department and they know it. The team that I lead know how to do their jobs-they don't need me for that. What they need is a sense of pride, purpose and fun! They also need to know they are appreciated.
Sounds as if you have a good read on your team, Lynn. That diagnosis is essential to providing them with the elements they need to do their job. In your case, as a leader, you're providing direction so they can put all their effort into a job well done for a reason. Good work!
I agree with Lynn that successful individuals have a high level of self-motivation, and that is one of the factors which makes them successful. As a leader, I feel that you can help motivate other people by providing meaning and direction in an individuals job and to help them develop a sense of purpose in their role on the team. I also feel that developing strong trust with your employees is essential. If the employees trust that you have their best interest in mind, as well as trust in your vision of accomplishing the teams goals, they will be motivated to be a part of that successful undertaking or challenge. I feel that if people don't trust you as a supervisor, or trust in the way you are leading them, they will not be motivated in the work they are doing.
Excellent points, Kevin. Providing direction for your folks is essential in helping them to embrace their purpose. And without a doubt, trust built between a leader and his/her followers is a key element to your success. It sounds like you are a leader that looks to cultivate trust, puropse and vision for your team. I imagine that helps in motivating those individuals.
I try to motivate from the two elements that drive me every day. First, I believe that our responsibility is to provide the best, most approachable education possible while the students are with us. Second, I love and believe in what I do. It makes me happy to see talented people succeed at what they endeavor to do. My enthusiasm is genuine and I never ask anyone to do anything I wouldn't do myself, so as a result, its easy to dig deep and find help, even in tough situations because the goal is so important to us all. I also truly respect my co-workers, so the time I could be spending sugar-coating situations or smoothing over situations is spent doing good work to help our students. Even when I have employees less motivated to go the extra mile, they are receptive to the idea that what we do is for the client first, we are merely the instrument of that, and from that perpective, they step their game up when needed.
Excellent insights and practices, Brian. I can hear the passion and motivation for what you do in your response. I'm sensing that you demonstrate that in your actions and set an example for your staff by modeling positive behaviors. Keep up the great work!
Shannon Gormley
I believe one of the best ways to motivate someone is to let that person know what the end result of a job is and then to have that person be involved in the process of how to get to that end result. One can't allow that person to try to achieve the goal without any guidance at all, however, input from the person working on the task should feel that their ideas and thoughts are valuable.
Matthew,
Excellent observations. It sounds like you do your best to empower your team and colleagues to envision the end result and determine the steps that they will need to take in order to achieve that vision. It also sounds like you see the value in providing guidance along the way to continue moving in the direction of the goal. Great approaches!
Shannon Gormley
I believe there are many factors to motivating people and that not everyone is motivated by the same things. But essentially, one must see the need to accomplishing what he or she is being asked to do before we can expect optimal poerformance. In addition to seeing the need, they must also be provided the proper training, materials, and support to perform at the highest level possible. Motivation is a complex process, and the leader must possess a multi-faceted skill set to be successful.
James, that is a great point. Not everyone is motivated by the same things and so it sounds like you appreciate when a leader has different ways to motivate others in order to meet the needs of the entire team. I'm curious, what are some examples that you have found successful?
Dr. Jean Norris
I agree with Lynn that successful individuals have a high level of self-motivation, and that is one of the factors which make them successful. Also Matthew mentioned that the best ways to motivate someone is to let that person know what the end result of a job is and then to have that person be involved in the process of how to get to that end result. One can't allow that person to try to achieve the goal without any guidance at all.
My questions are: If you guide also provide the proper training, materials, and support, but the person does not try to make any changes, is it because that person is not motivated enough?
What would be the next step?
You bring up some interesting questions Mehrzad. First off, you are correct that providing proper training, materials, and support are imperative for helping or leading an individual to achieve department goals. It's difficult to say what might prevent a person from making changes after receiving all of the above. Motivation could be part of the equation, but there could be so many factors influencing the motivation. How effective was the training? Are the materials sufficient to achieve the goal? How do relationships with co-workers and supervisors impact the the goal? The list of questions can be quite long. Asking the person what might be standing in the way could be a next step, but I'm curious what you and others think?
How effective was the training? The training is effective as we have the same system for every new staff joining. Are the materials sufficient to achieve the goal? They are very clear and gets to the point. How do relationships with co-workers and supervisors impact the goal? The person has a great relationship with everyone and is a great team player. I gave this person another opportunity and assured that will receive any support that would be needed throw out the process of achieving the goal. I think your suggestion is the best for the next step. I will try this for sure. Thank you
I agree that everyone is not motivated by the same things that are taught in he classroom. I believe students learn and get motivated if there is some visual and hand on experience in the classroom. Instead of instructors talking the whole class time it needs to be switched up to where students will get more interested in the subject. This is also how we retain Retention in the classroom. Students will find learning being fun.
A good leader can motivate others by showing their own honesty, trustworthiness and that they believe their staff are competent to do their jobs. A good leader motivates others by letting them make mistakes and encourages them to learn from their mistakes. A good leader will motivate others to see how they play a role in the big picture no matter how small their role is. I believe a good leader will also use their own passion for success as a tool to motivate other to succeed.
get thier buy-in. Make them feel like they have some some important role in the reaching thier goal - make it fun - challenging and rewrading
Excellent insights Pamela. I get the sense that you have had the opportunity to experience this first hand and can appreciate a leader that motivates through their passion and honesty. Thank you so much for sharing!
Dr. Jean Norris
