Motivating Your Employees - Change Your Attitude

A while ago I used to have a manager that was a master of mobbing. We all "loved" her. She would burst into the room in the morning, always trying to surprise us while doing something illegal, she would never say "good morning", she would throw her laptop on the desk and start working as if none of us were in the room. Imagine our rest of the day - we were all sad, our motivation was gone (had we had any left in the first place from the day before :)), we were all looking at the clock hoping it would miraculously turn to 5pm on the spot so we could all run to the tram. I wandered along the factory all day begging for a smile for anyone to brighten up my day...just a little at least as the dark clouds came over me again as soon as I entered our HR office.

Well, do you get it? See what's wrong here? Of course! A manager is responsible for a lot of things and among them is team attitude. Your team looks up to you - you have a bad day - don't let them see it because they will borrow your attitude and have a bad day also. You are nice and smiling all the time - they will be happy and smiling all the time. Genuine smile, I mean, not fake, they're not stupid to buy it...

What can you do as a manager to motivate your team from this point of view?

-Never enter the office in the morning without smiling and greeting them;

-Always make eye contact while talking to your team members – it’s not fun for someone to stand by your desk and look at you while reading emails – that’s not a conversation;

-Treat your team members with respect – remember they help you achieve your goals – no, really! You’re not alone there. You wouldn’t be able to achieve your team goals without your team;

-Never take in the office calls or have discussions where you estimate you would get angry – go in a separate room – an angry attitude from a manager shouting influences everybody, even if the manager is not shouting at someone present in the office;

-Always offer negative feedback in a one-to-one meeting; positive feedback can be offered publicly;

-Try to leave your personal issues at home;

-Be positive, expect positive things from your team and they will achieve them – be negative and show them you don’t trust them (see my manager trying to catch us while doing something illegal – we neved did by the way) and they will dissappoint you;

-Speak nicely of people, not necessarily your team members – your manager, your colleagues, your family. Your team will see that you are a good person and will appreciate the positive atmosphere you are creating;

-Don’t be afraid to show them you have weakneses too – you are human too and they will see you as one of the team, having faith to come to you for an open discussion;

-Roll up your sleeves – don’t give them tasks and flee. Try to show them you are able to work together with them on the tasks even if for some time. I know managers are busy, but taking the time to work by them will make them respect you. Trust me. You don’t want them to see you as a God from above that is almighty. You want them to respect and care for you. You will have your ups and downs and if they don’t respect and care for you, you will be alone during your downs;

-Make time for them – even if a few minutes. They will appreciate it. A lunch out or even in the office together, a short meeting, a few minutes spent near your desk talking, try to make time for each of them;

-Be fair – tream them equally when they go wrong or when they are successful;

What else would you add to my list?
Take care,
Geo

Motivating Your Employees - Active Listening

Listen!

Non-financial motivation of your team when you are the manager is a tricky business. It's difficult and challenging, but also fun and rewarding. Since financial means to motivate people are most of the times not available and even if they were, it's a proven fact that as you go higher on the ladder people are no longer motivated by money, the question is for you as a manager - what do you do to keep your team together, functioning at highest standards? Well, one idea would be to do "active listening".

What is active listening?

It's that moment in a conversation when not only you  stop talking, but really listen to the other, show by various means that you are listening and don't offer any personal opinions on the matter. Active listening is listening, understanding and showing that you have understood. This doesn't mean that you agree, you just show you understand.

How is it useful?
It makes the person you are talking to feel important. And making people feel important is another very strong non-financial motivator. It builds a stronger relationship between individuals who know each other better (because they listen to each other's opinions) and who trust each other.

How do you do it?
There are certain techniques by which you show that you are listening actively:

• Paraphrasing - to repeat parts of what the other has told you, but in your own words;
• Repeating - to repeat the last words the other has mentioned in the form of a question - to ask if you have understood correctly what he/she said;
• Summarizing - to repeat the other's ideas in a shorter version and in your own words;
• Asking questions - asking for additional details either through closed questions (Yes/No) or open questions (that ask for more information and keep the conversation going);
• Verbal signs: Uh - uh, Yeah, I see, OK, Of course, Oh;
• Non-verbal signs - tilting your head, visual contact, body language (staying with your body towards the speaker), raising your eyebrows to show interest;

Can you learn how to do it? Can you practice it somehow?

Of course. Not everybody is good at that. Some even have great difficulties listening actively. There are aggressive people that need to have a say in everything, that interrupt you when speaking, that keep asking questions even if you haven't finished your idea. Here's an idea of what I did with my team - I learned this during a course and applied it with the ladies:

1. Once a week we had our department meeting - at the end of the meeting we had our "active listening" exercise;
2. One of the ladies was the speaker, one was listening actively and the other was evaluating the listener;
3. We would pick a theme - preferably something controversial like death penalty, drugs, abortion, divorce;
4. The speaker had 10 minutes to speak about the theme, the listener to actively listen (this involved not offering any personal opinion whatsoever) and the evaluator to determine whether the listener did indeed listen actively or not, how many of the techniques she used and what else could have been improved in the process;
5. They would switch places three times - this way each of them got to be the listener.

The exercise was useful as they got to know each other better, to respect their opinions and after a while they would use what they learned in everyday duties, not only during the exercise.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Are you a good active listener? Do you know any people who don't know how to listen and could use this exercise?

Take care,
Geo