Don’t Fire ‘Em – Fire ‘Em Up! 21 Days to a Winning Motivated Team

By Aoife Gorey

Will you give up ten minutes each day for the next 21 days to fire up your team like never before? The sooner you can launch a new employee into productivity, the better off you will be.

Employees want management they can look up to, not management that looks down on them. An honest respect for all, a genuine recognition that everyone has something to offer, is at the heart of a successful motivator. Without respect, so-called motivation becomes manipulation, and manipulation is never successful in the long term. Here are tips to get your team excited about work:

Take an interest in the career and personal goals, aspirations, interests, lives, and families of those who work for you.
“Motivation” is about giving your people a “Motive for action.” Understand what your people value, and you can easily formulate a way in which doing what you need them to do will help fulfill not just your goals, but theirs. Take an honest interest in every one of your people, and the means to motivate them will become readily apparent. Make it a goal to learn something new about at least one of your people every day.

The best way to knock a chip off a person’s shoulder is to let them take a bow.
Do you know anyone who complains about getting too much recognition or praise for a job well done? Do you? Yet, research consistently shows that people will go to extraordinary lengths for a leader who takes the time to catch them doing something right; and when they do, provides them with sincere praise and recognition in front of their colleagues. Praise and recognition are more motivating than money or any other single thing we can give to the people we lead.

Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.
Dale Carnegie nailed it with this gem. When you must draw attention to poor performance, don’t criticize – coach! Don’t criticize what is being done wrong, but focus all of your attention on the new behavior or action that will put things right. Always finish with a positive comment to let them see that the reason you’ve raised the matter is that you have seen they are capable of so much more. Correct the errant action, provide some positive feedback, and then forget it. Act like you expect better performance next time, and you’ll get it.

Request – don’t order.
Real leaders lead from the front; they don’t need to push from the back. Everyone rebels to some extent against being “bossed around.” No one minds being asked for help.

Discuss – don’t argue.
Maturity is being able to disagree agreeably.

Be careful with humor.
Avoid any kind of demeaning humor. If there’s the slightest chance of being misunderstood, keep it to yourself. “If in doubt, leave it out!”

Listening is the greatest compliment you can pay anyone.
Our opinions are all sacred to us. Listen and hear the concerns of your people.

Most important of all…
Model the behaviors, attitudes, and morale level you expect others to display. Show them it works.

21- Day Action Plan

Why 21 days? Research shows that it takes 21 days to establish a habit. Take the topics discussed above and apply them for 21 days. You will discover that by the end of this period, you will be doing all of these things naturally. And, the level of motivation in your team in general, even in your “toughest cases,” will be at an all-time high.

Motivation is easy if you care enough to put in a little extra effort. Anyone can motivate, and anyone can be motivated. All it takes is the right person in the right place, managed by someone who cares. Invest a little time over the next 21 days and fire ‘em up like never before!

Content sourced from 40 Strategies for Winning in Business by Jim Sirbasku, Bud Haney with Deiric McCann.

How do you motivate your team? Let me know in the comment section below.