It
doesn’t matter if you're a small team, an organization, a company or a family,
you will need a lot of motivation to get things done and achieve a level of
success.
But
what is motivation? This is a tricky question, because while it’s not
complicated, it certainly is not something that a lot of people have automatic
understanding about.
So,
if you are one of these people who has the job of getting others excited and
inspired then here are 5 steps to motivating and bringing out the best in them:
Find Out What Makes The Person You Want To Motivate Tick
Each
person, whether he is an employee, a co-worker, a team member or a family
member, has some amount of motivation in him.
Try to identify this level. What
makes them tick? What do they find
exciting, interesting or worthwhile?
What are their goals? How do they
hope to achieve them?
Do
not try to approach the challenge in a generic way because you will be met with
a lack of enthusiasm or even resistance.
Use a personalized approach if you want to motivate an individual. With a group, look for a common denominator –
a common goal or interest – that you can use to motivate them and get them to
perform.
“By recording
your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the
person you most want to be. Put your
future in good hands – your own” ~ Mark Victor Hansen
Start Seeing Things From Their Point Of View
It's
easy to explain things based on what you perceive. But what about what others see, think or
feel? Each time you present an idea or
concept to the person you want to motivate, ask them for their opinions and
listen to what they have to say. You can
then use information obtained from them in order to create a motivational plan
that has the strongest appeal to them.
“The quality
of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitments to excellent,
regardless of their chosen field of endeavour” – Vince Lombardi
Providing Rewards and Recognition
Between
pleasure and pain, people will always choose pleasure. Try to steer away from using negative
motivational tactics such as fear or threats.
These could work initially but they are not very effective for
motivating people over a long term.
Besides, using negative reinforcements might result to a feeling of
annoyance, anger or exasperation. If not
corrected early, this could even lead to aggression and rebellion.
Use
rewards instead. To motivate people,
give recognition, acknowledgment, gratitude, even gifts or citations. People want to know that you notice their
hard work. Didn't you say you expected
the best? Once someone has risen to that
level of excellence, give them the recognition they deserve. You'll be surprised at how effective this
technique is in keeping people motivated.
“The task of leadership is
not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there
already” ~ John Buchan
Showing Through Example
If
you want to know how to effectively motivate people, show them through
example. What sort of behaviour do you
expect from them? Why not show them by
doing it yourself? They will be more
willing to believe than if you just lecture and never show.
“What lies behind us and
what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us” ~ Ralph
Waldo Emerson
Don't Push
It
is said that you can't lead a horse to water.
When you're trying to motivate people check to see if their willingness
is still there. There is a point in
every endeavour when you begin to meet with resistance. This could happen for a number of reasons,
including boredom, distraction, discovery of other more interesting things or
just simply lack of interest. It could
also be that your motivational efforts have reached a plateau.
Should
this happen, learn to let up, step back and if necessary, let go. People will be more motivated if they don't
feel pressured. If you sense a
resistance, stop and check for identifiable factors that are stopping you. Once you have found them, design a different
approach.
“When you reach the end of
your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on” ~ Thomas Jefferson