PEOPLE MANAGEMENT 1

Motivation Magic

The secret to motivation magic simply is to respect employees as individuals and treat them as adults. Too many companies feel they have to keep secrets from their employees. They treat them like children who can't handle the truth. They feel they have to "shelter" or "protect" the employees from the harsh realities of the business. WRONG!

If you want your employees to be motivated, to out-produce their peers, to deliver more than they ever have in the past, be open and honest with them. Treat them like the adults they are and not like your children.

Here are some specific articles that deal with motivating employees. All of them stress different aspects of treating employees with the respect they are due and treating them as adults. Try this approach and you will be amazed at the improvements you will see. Productivity will increase. Absenteeism will decrease. You'll see more innovation. And your job will be just a little bit easier.

Mo1: Want More Innovation? If you want more innovation from your people, let them know that their employment is secure, even if their job changes. People worried about losing their jobs tend to find ways to stretch out the work, not innovative ways to do it better.

Mo2: Don't Be A Demotivator Your job as a leader is to get and keep your people motivated and working toward the common goal. Demeaning them, to their face or to others, erodes their motivation. So does dismissively telling them that their ideas "are stupid". Watch your own actions to be sure you aren't defeating your own efforts by demotivating your people.

Mo3: Your greatest resource is your people. You can have the best, high tech, equipment available. but, without the people you have no business. Treat your people with the same, or greater, care as you do your equipment.

Mo4 : Keep the flame alive. When people join your organization they are all fired up and ready to do great things. Over time we all too often wear down that enthusiasm. Instead, do what you can to fan the flames of their enthusiasm and you will be amazed at their output.

Mo5: Listen to your employees. It doesn't make any sense to spend all that time and effort to find and hire the best people if you are just going to ignore their input.

7 Ways to Grow the Action Habit

People at the top of every profession share one quality -- they get things done. This ability supercedes intelligence, talent, and connections in determining the size of your salary and the speed of your advancement.

Despite the simplicity of this concept there is a perpetual shortage of people who excel at getting results. The action habit -- the habit of putting ideas into action now -- is essential to getting things done. Here are 7 ways you can grow the action habit:


1. Don't wait until conditions are perfect - If you're waiting to start until conditions are perfect, you probably never will. There will always be something that isn't quite right. Either the timing is off, the market is down, or there's too much competition. In the real world there is no perfect time to start. You have to take action and deal with problems as they arise. The best time to start was last year. The second best time is right now.

2. Be a doer - Practice doing things rather than thinking about them. Do you want to start exercising? Do you have a great idea to pitch your boss? Do it today. The longer an idea sits in your head without being acted on, the weaker it becomes. After a few days the details gets hazy. After a week it's forgotten completely. By becoming a doer you'll get more done and stimulate new ideas in the process.

3. Remember that ideas alone don't bring success - Ideas are important, but they're only valuable after they've been implemented. One average idea that's been put into action is more valuable than a dozen brilliant ideas that you're saving for "some other day" or the "right opportunity". If you have an idea the you really believe in, do something about it. Unless you take action it will never go anywhere.

4. Use action to cure fear - Have you ever noticed that the most difficult part of public speaking is waiting for your turn to speak? Even professional speakers and actors experience pre-performance anxiety. Once they get started the fear disappears. Action is the best cure for fear. The most difficult time to take action is the very first time. After the ball is rolling, you'll build confidence and things will keep getting easier. Kill fear by taking action and build on that confidence.

5. Start your creative engine mechanically - One of the biggest misconceptions about creative work is that it can only be done when inspiration strikes. If you wait for inspiration to slap you in the face, your work sessions will be few and far between. Instead of waiting, start your creative motor mechanically. If you need to write something, force yourself to sit down and write. Put pen to paper. Brainstorm. Doodle. By moving your hands you'll stimulate the flow of ideas and inspire yourself.

6. Live in the present - Focus on what you can do in the present moment. Don't worry about what you should have done last week or what you might be able to do tomorrow. The only time you can affect is the present. If you speculate too much about the past or the future you won't get anything done. Tomorrow or next week frequently turns into never.

7. Get down to business immediately - It's common practice for people to socialize and make small talk at the beginning of meetings. The same is true for individual workers. How often do you check email or RSS feeds before doing any real work? These distractions will cost you serious time if you don't bypass them and get down to business immediately. By becoming someone who gets to the point you'll be more productive and people will look to you as a leader.

It takes courage to take action without instructions from the person in charge. Perhaps that's why initiative is a rare quality that's coveted by managers and executives everywhere. Seize the initiative. When you have a good idea, start implementing it without being told. Once people see you're serious about getting things done they'll want to join in. The people at the top don't have anyone telling them what to do. If you want to join them, you should get used to acting independently.