The Technology Life

6 Ways to Motivate Others

By Donald Latumahina (follow me on Twitter) , December 23, 2009

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Note: This is a guest post from Mark Foo of 77 Success Traits

If you’re leading a group of people towards success, you must learn how to motivate others. If you concentrate on understanding what motivates others and you meet the needs of these people, you’ll be on the right track for a positive and enlightening experience for all involved.

Once a person’s base needs are met, they usually move on to working on certain needs of self fulfillment. For example, if someone is hungry, they won’t be able to concentrate on a critical thinking task. In this case you’ll need to make sure that this person has had lunch before the task needs to be completed. But how can you motivate them to complete certain tasks once base needs have been fulfilled?

Try one or more of the following ways of motivating people:

1. Treat People Kindly. As a leader you need to treat the people helping you with the utmost respect and kindness. Hand out praise when it’s warranted. You might not know it, but it’s a big motivation booster when people are treated right. People enjoy knowing when they’re doing a good job and enjoy working with people that treat others with kindness.

2. Give People Responsibility. If there are certain tasks that you’re allowed to delegate to others, by all means choose someone to take responsibility for that task. When people are fully responsible, they’ll be more likely to find the motivation to complete the task. This is because, as a part of a group, they may not feel like their hard work matters, but when they’re responsible it certainly matters. They also know that they’re being held accountable for the success or failure of the project.

3. Be a Good Listener. No one likes to feel like they don’t matter. Just because you have final say doesn’t mean that you can’t get some help with important decision making. People enjoy feeling like they’re making a difference. Always keep an open ear and you’ll be motivating your team to come up with solutions and creative ideas.

4. Set Stretched Goals. Think long and hard about how your goal setting abilities can teach you how to motivate others. You don’t want to set goals that are too easy. Your team might reach them quickly but they won’t be pushed to become the best they can be. On the other end, you don’t want to set goals that are unattainable either. Your team will quickly lose motivation because they’ll never get the feeling of having met their goals. You want to find a goal that would push them to achieve just a little more than they have in the past and keep going from there.

5. Get to Know People. You may not want to be personal friends with your colleagues, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get to know them as people. Keep lines of communication open and get to know your team by paying attention to their wants, needs, strengths and weaknesses. People are smart and they’ll know when they have a leader that cares and a leader that doesn’t. They’ll certainly be more motivated to work hard for somebody that cares about them.

6. Keep Everyone in the Know. Nobody likes to be left in the dark. Make sure that you’re open about your thinking and decisions with the people you’re motivating. Sure, sometimes there will be things that you’re not supposed to share. You just need to make an effort to spread the word around when you can communicate important issues.

Remember that when you’re working on motivating others, it’s definitely important to strengthen their sense of belonging. You’re leading a little family and when everyone’s happy, they’re motivated to achieve big things.

Mark Foo has brought together 48 personal development bloggers and writers to co-author The 77 Traits of Highly Successful People eBook that spells out all of the success secrets of the very successful people. This eBook is available to you FREE and you can grab your free copy now at http://www.77SuccessTraits.com.

Photo by Darcy McCarty

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Currently 3 comments

1. Comment by Persha -DumpedDays

   #1 23. December 2009, 10:30 am o'clock |

   All too often, many of us hold back who we truly are, fearing how others will take us. The thing is you can’t compromise yourself and who you really are, nor should you be apologetic about who you are. None of us is for everyone.

2. Comment by Oleg Mokhov

   #2 23. December 2009, 1:55 pm o'clock |

   Hey Mark,

   Being a good listener combined with giving people responsibility is a sure-fire way to build a motivated team that passionately and effectively achieves results.

   Maxwell and Ziglar stated as such in their book 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.

   By showing that you genuinely care what someone thinks, they become passionate about the project. They see that their unique value can make a difference, so they want to try so that they become personally responsible for the results.

   By then giving these people responsibility, they feel independent and a strong member of a team, rather than just a pawn to push widgets.

   Passion combined with a desire and belief that they can make a difference is a powerful combination to have in a person. One that can get higher quality results in less time.

   The other 4 tips are solid as well. Expands beyond just motivating others into being a great person. To reference another book, How to Win Friends and Influence People would confirm that these tips will help create better relationships with others.

   Nice one Mark. Simple and to the point list, a handy resource to reference when needed.

   Best,
   Oleg

3. Comment by J.D. Meier

   #3 24. December 2009, 6:23 pm o'clock |

   > Hand out praise when it’s warranted.
   I like how you qualified. Some people give out praise to the point it no longer has meaning. I think the best praise is when it’s specific and from the heart.

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A great reminder...

It’s been a crazy year. Bank implosions, wars, Adam Lambert not winning American Idol... craziness I tell you! It has also been a crazy year for leaders. Leading organizations through a turbulent economy has been a Herculean effort.

Fortunately for me, I sit in a position where I can watch leadership trends unfold across the many industries and companies we work with here at thoughtLEADERS. We’re blessed to have the opportunity to train some of the brightest client organizations out there.

This year, we’ve seen four major trends take center stage. If you’ve missed them, you’re missing huge opportunities to improve your organization. As a leader, you need every edge you can get so I encourage you to explore these trends and figure out how you can take advantage of them. So in no particular order, here are trends you can't miss as a leader:

Trend #1: Social Media and Expanded Use of teh Interwebz

Yes, I’m pandering by writing about this. Just saying the words “social media” guarantees your article will be forwarded and retweeted across the blogosphere. Try it – click the little “tweet” button at the top of this post ;). It’s nauseating to see how explosive this space has been and the plethora of “experts” it has produced. Many of those so-called-experts are charlatans and you need to tread cautiously in this space.

That said, social media’s explosivity is a major trend leaders must appreciate. Your teams are using these tools (Toobla, twitter, facebook, blogs – if you haven’t heard of these you need to check them out). They read blogs like this one (unless your IT organization is SO paranoid that it blocks any form of streaming media including blogs – and yes, I know several that do). Your competitors are using it too (some better than others).

Figure it out. Understand the medium. Know how to play and how to manage it. You need policies on it. The best policy I’ve heard so far was a one liner: “Don’t do anything stupid.” You can’t regulate this stuff to death. Embrace it.

Use social media for recruiting, business development, and market research. My firm has benefited greatly from embracing it (new customers, partners, and insights). If you’re not fully aboard the social media train, buy a ticket. And yes, I deliberately misspelled “teh Interwebz” above – if you spent more time online you’d know it’s a web-funny that all the hip kids are saying these days.

Trend #2: Innovation Caused by the “More With Less” Dynamic

I sat in a meeting the other day where a very senior leader was lamenting his charter to do more with less. Two sentences later he said the current challenging times were requiring him to innovate more but he didn’t have the money to innovate. Wow. I was speechless. Hello! McFly! Ever heard the phrase “necessity is the mother of invention?” PLATO said that back around 340 BC!

Technology and connectedness afford us unbelievable opportunities to innovate at ever-decreasing costs. Example: a colleague of mine has created a very cool learning platform called Emerging Leadership Circle. It makes accessing great leadership training incredibly affordable for organizations (head on over to ELC for a look-see). The innovative part is he’s leveraging great content providers from other companies and delivering the service in the format of video lessons for a fraction of what other training costs. Innovative.

Great organizations regularly find ways to innovate by looking at how they can do things better, faster, and cheaper. Look at what Intel and AMD have done for computing based on Moore’s law. They’ve generated incredible innovations stemming from a drive to make things cheaper and better.

Ask yourself how your organization can be more innovative. How can you blow up your business to simultaneously eliminate waste and create new opportunities?

Trend #3: People Are Our Most Valuable Resource (cough, cough)

This is one of the emptiest statements I regularly hear organizations espouse. When someone says this, I ask one penetrating question: can you show me the actions that back up that statement? Befuddled faces follow.

Saying people are valuable and showing they’re valuable are two very different things. The statement looks great on a recruiting brochure but if you’re not backing it up with action, your associates will quickly figure that out and head for greener pastures.

Before you say something stupid like “Unemployment is 10% so they’re not going to leave if I don’t invest in them” I’m going to ask another penetrating question: what are they going to do when the job market recovers? They’re going to bail on you. Your choice is to train them now or lose them later.

I run a leadership development training company. Folks regularly ask me “How’s business?” My response is always “Fantastic!” They’re confused by this because many organizations cut training budgets as soon as things get tough. Fortunately we serve clients who invest in their people regardless of the economic environment. These companies understand investing now gives them an edge later.

Are you really investing in your people and backing up the “most valuable resource” statement? Because your competitors are…

Trend #4: Letting Your People Do Their Jobs

Okay, you got me – this isn’t only a trend from this past year. It has been a trend forever (at least for leaders who “get it”). The trendy thing about it is that many organizations AREN’T doing it so the ones that are have an edge in the marketplace.

You hire people and spend gobs of money paying them. You may as well get some return on that investment. The only way you can get that return, however, is to make them do their jobs. Here’s the rub – the great leaders in the audience who read that last sentence winced at the way it was worded. Great leaders don’t “make” people do their jobs. Great leaders create environments where people are excited to do their jobs. They’re excited to go above and beyond to perform outstanding work.

I constantly see examples of leaders who do this well. I don’t care what industry you’re in – EVERY leader can create an environment where their people can shine. I’ve seen it happen in retail stores. I’ve seen it happen at beer distributors. I’ve seen it happen in the military. Unfortunately I’ve also seen my share of “leaders” who are really detail oriented control freaks masquerading as leaders.

Is empowerment REALLY happening in your organization? Why not? Go change that. Now. If you don’t, there might be another reason for your team to hate you on top of the 10 reasons they already hate you.

The Trend is Your Friend

Stock market investors are familiar with the phrase “the trend is your friend.” Hopefully you, as a leader, are at the forefront of the aforementioned four trends. If you’re not, there’s still time to jump on them and do what you do best: lead your organizations to a better place.

- Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

The Anatomy of a Lousy Sales Pitch

November 9, 2009

The Anatomy of a Lousy Pitch!

At this very moment millions of people are listening to sales presentations and most of them are probably thinking “when will this be over?” Let’s face it sales people exert a lot of energy to get in front of prospects and a good percentage of those sales people blow it by making a mediocre presentation. How are your prospects reacting to your presentations? Are you talking about your client’s needs? Could your presentation be better?  What are you doing to distinguish yourself from the competition?

This week Joe and Mike discus the anatomy of a lousy pitch and give you some ideas about how you can improve yours.

Listen to this weeks Sales Podcast

MP3 Stream

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This week Guest Interview… Tim Wackel - Anatomy of as lousy pitch

Show Notes: Life After Death by PowerPoint video

This week’s post on the SalesActionPlan Blog:

Overcoming the Four Top
Pricing Objections in a Complex Sale

The most common objection that you will come across in any sales deal is pricing. The prospect will always, without exception, attempt to bring your price down. Your job, as a top salesperson is to find out why the prospect is objecting to the price. Once you have this information, you will gain the ability to minimize or eliminate the loss that you would have to suffer by allowing for a discount. Read more about handling pricing objections

We published our first e-Booklet set
Titled “Killer Sales Questions” and “Coffee is for Closers - Deal or no Deal
Get Both for only $19.99

Sales Podcast and Sales Blog
salesactionplan.com salesroundup.com

Related posts:

1. Be careful what you ask for as a manager you just might get it!
2. Prospecting 2.0 Burn the Ships!
3. Overcoming The Sales Price Objections!

Posted in General Skills, Podcast

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