The 3 secrets of Team Motivation
by Alan Fairweather
(c) Alan Fairweather - All Rights reserved
http://www.howtogetmoresales.com/
Are workers telling the truth when they say they are ill?
This question was posed on the Money Programme on BBC
Television in December 2004. British Bosses are reporting
that more and more of their staff appear to be skiving off
with faked illnesses and many firms are taking new steps to
crack down on malingerers. Research by the Confederation of
British Industry suggests that workplace absence is on the
rise for the first time in five years. Last year we were off
sick on average for 7.2 days up from 6.8 the previous year.
It costs UK businesses £11.75bn a year, the CBI says. The
CBI also estimates that 15% of all illness is due to people
taking days off when they are not really ill.
Now while I accept that there will always people who take
time off work for no good reason, I believe managers need to
take a long hard look at how they manage their people in the
first place. Perhaps if the made the workplace a far better
place to be then a lot less people would take a "sickie."
If you want a highly motivated team who don't take time off
work, don't keep looking for other jobs and make a positive
contribution to your business there are three things you
need to do.
#1 Spend some quality time
I didn't say "quantity time" I said "quality time." One or
two minutes of quality time on a regular basis are far more
productive than a one hour review every year.
You need to get to know your team better and they need to
get to know you. It will help you build a relationship with
the individual. You'll gain a much better understanding of
them and how they're handling the job. It will also give the
impression that you care about the individual and show that
you're there to help with problems both personal and
business.
Spending quality time will encourage opinions and ideas to
flow from them and allows you to explain the company's
mission. It gives them a feeling of being in on things which
is a big motivator. It will also help you build an "early
warning system" of any problems both business and personal.
Finally, it builds team spirit and morale.
#2 Give feedback and coach
You need to regularly tell each member of your team when
they're doing well and when not so well. I read some recent
research that suggested 65% of employees in the US received
no recognition at work in the past year. My experience tells
me that it's much the same throughout the world and much
worse in some countries.
Some managers still believe - "why should I praise people
when they're only doing what they're paid to do."
It's also important to tell people when they're not
performing. There are too many managers who either ignore
poor behaviour or come down on the person like a ton of
bricks. There are particular ways to give feedback and coach
and they're described in detail in the book - How to get
More Sales by Motivating Your Team.
#3 Be a believer
We're now getting into the area of "Empowerment" which was
first introduced in the 1080's and became a bit of a
management buzzword. However, I believe that it's one of the
most promising but least understood concepts in management
today.
I'm a fairly down to earth practical sort of person
(probably comes from my engineering background). I'm not big
into management theories unless I can see the benefits for
me - I see a great deal of benefit for managers and team
leaders in Empowerment.
Empowerment is about utilising the knowledge, skill,
experience and motivational power that's already within your
people. The majority of people in teams and organisations
throughout the world are severely underutilised. Your team
have probably more to offer in terms of skill, knowledge and
experience and if you utilize that, you will achieve your
business goals and you'll motivate them.
Discover how you can generate more business by motivating
your team!
Alan Fairweather is the author of "How to get More Sales
by Motivating Your Team" This book is packed with practical
things you can do to get the best out of your people.
Click here now
http://www.howtogetmoresales.com/Motivating%20Your%20Team.h
tm
Attn Ezine editors/Site owners
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your
ezine or on your site so long as you leave all links in
place, do not modify the content and include our resource
box as listed above. If you need additional articles, check
out my article archive for fresh, new content you can use
on your website or in your ezine - FREE
http://www.howtogetmoresales.com/Free%20stuff.htm
About the Author
Alan Fairweather is the author of four ebooks in the "How
to get More Sales" series. Lots of practical actions you
can take to build your business and motivate your team.-
www.howtogetmoresales.com