Great leaders recognize the significance of motivation as a crucial aspect of workplace success. They understand that everyone has unique drives and interests to nurture within them.
An effective way to motivate your team is by understanding what inspires them and asking about their most awe-inspiring experiences. This is a good place to begin!
1. Ask Questions
If you want to understand what motivates others, asking the appropriate questions is key. Unfortunately, directly asking “What motivates you?” often yields responses like, “I don’t know” or “That depends”. People often have trouble pinpointing their motivations themselves and may be unwilling to discuss them openly with others. Instead of directly asking “What motivates you?,” try instead asking something more open-ended, such as, “Which projects energize or reward you the most?” or even simply: “Which type of work do you most reward?”
Ask employees what they appreciate most about their job and gather a sense of what drives their motivations – this may help identify core values of your team and find ways to best support them. Some employees might feel inspired to work harder due to appreciation, while others could benefit from learning new skills.
By surveying employees on what their team needs to be happy and productive, you can gain a great insight into what your members appreciate about their job and how you can make your workplace a more positive space for everyone involved.
Ask them about their goals and dreams for the future; this can give you insight into whether they’re looking for long-term careers with your company or just trying to survive each workday. Use this information to create more engaging work for team members that’s challenging enough for them, motivating enough and interesting enough. You could also use it to assess any barriers preventing them from reaching their full potential; some individuals might struggle focusing if their surroundings or manager don’t make them feel comfortable enough.
2. Listen
At first, it can be tempting to discuss what motivates someone else. To discover their true motives, it’s best to listen. One way of doing this is allowing them space to express themselves without interruptions from you; don’t fear silence – instead use it as a sign that you are fully immersed and engaged with what they have to say.
As they speak, try to mentally block out distractions like background noise or interruptions. When your thoughts wander off track while they speak, bring it back on focus by paying attention to key words and phrases they mention. Incorporating thoughts about what you would say next or preparing responses takes away from their ability to hear what they have to say – an effective listening is dependent upon not missing what they say first!
Another mistake people often make is making the assumption that someone’s experience reflects on them personally, for instance when listening to someone discuss an emotionally challenging family situation and you start planning how you would react or recalling past incidents similar to it, it can appear insensitive.
Once they are finished speaking, demonstrate your listening by paraphrasing their statements and summarizing their message. Don’t forget nonverbal communication such as eye contact, leaning in and smiling to show that you are truly interested in their statements; only then can they know they have your full attention; this will gain them trust and respect and create stronger relationships allowing for more frequent open discussions about what drives them and motivates them.
3. Assign Responsibility
Assigning responsibility can be one of the most effective strategies for motivating others. By showing that you trust and believe they possess the capabilities to complete their task successfully, as well as setting high expectations that they’ll want to fulfill, responsibility can provide an incredible incentive.
If you don’t have the time or energy to handle an individual task alone, delegating it may help. That way, you can focus on big picture while knowing that someone else will handle details; this strategy can especially benefit team members with more experience in their role.
When assigning tasks, be sure to clearly communicate what’s involved and set clear deadlines. Furthermore, align each assignment with other organizational goals and objectives so the individual will feel like their work fits into a bigger picture. This gives them an increased sense of purpose as they see how their contributions impact your organization as a whole.
Do your employees really know what motivates them? One effective way of discovering employee motivations is through discussion with them directly. Sit down with each employee individually and explore what they like about their jobs, the kind of recognition they prefer, and their reactions when things don’t go according to plan.
Once you understand what drives employees, you can formulate an action plan for moving forward. Keep in mind that not everyone responds the same way when it comes to being motivated; finding what works for each person individually is key here. However, there are some motivating factors that seem particularly powerful such as:
4. Encourage
Encouraging others is an art. To be an effective encourager requires seeing each person’s individual sparkle and then acting as a mirror to reflect it back at them. People who feel encouraged feel more energized, empowered and motivated towards success.
Thus, it’s essential that you understand the mindset and motivational triggers of those around you – be they colleagues or family – if you want them to keep moving forward with life. Gaining insight into their worldview and life is key for encouraging continued progression.
Providing someone who values competence and autonomy with tasks that allow these elements to be satisfied will keep them engaged with work. Or if an employee thrives off feeling rewarded from seeing their efforts make an impactful contribution in their community, now would be an ideal time to link work back to personal motivators, showing how these skills could apply outside the workplace too.
Be reassuring and remind people you believe in them by showing your support of their efforts, even when their results don’t quite live up to what was anticipated. For instance, if someone is working tirelessly on a project but has yet to see results they were hoping for yet, you could remind them all they have accomplished so far.
Simply taking time out to encourage those around us can have an enormous impact. Even small gestures like sending someone a handwritten note, texting someone that you are thinking about them or calling to check in can do wonders! Our world doesn’t need more Negative Nancys or Frustrated Freds – what it needs more of are people willing to spend time giving people hope through encouragement.
5. Celebrate
Be mindful that not everyone’s motivation comes from work alone; people may have interests outside the office that drive them as well. Chat to your team members about what interests they have outside the workplace; find out what motivates them such as adventure, competition or success-feeling feelings.
Utilizing their knowledge can help you create a motivating environment for them. For example, if they tend to be highly competitive, try giving frequent and public recognition of their wins. Or if they prefer feeling in control of their destiny by setting short-term goals that they can celebrate as soon as they meet them.
As you seek to motivate others, keep one thing in mind when motivating them: no single leadership approach will work for everyone. People respond differently to different techniques; take the time to get to know your team members well – some respond best to financial rewards while others might prefer recognition and sense of achievement over blanket motivation techniques that might not work at all.
Recognizing and celebrating success – big or small – is essential to good leadership. Praise should become part of company-wide practice; try starting meetings off right by giving a quick rundown of how each of your team members excelled during the previous week, or create a Staff Shout Out Wall where employees can publicly express their appreciation. Leapsome also allows users to reward hard workers privately through its Praise feature – whatever works for your organization is key here; just show that you value their contributions while inspiring team members to continue pushing themselves beyond.