Motivating Your Team When The Going Gets Tough

By Richard Leech

With all the talk of down-turn and the impact it has on people, managers have to work even smarter to maintain the motivation of their colleagues.
Adversity is a time when leadership shines through and as all supervisors and managers have leadership responsibility isn't now the time to step forward and lead from the front?

Motivation is one of those fuzzy topics that many managers struggle with.
What, for instance, are people motivated by? How do you work out each individual's motivations? How do you know what techniques to use? These are all questions that go...

...through our minds. Motivation theory is also riddled with high faluting, academic content which in itself is a mine field.
However, there are four key motivators which apply to all of us who go to work each day.

These are:

- The motivation to acquire things such as food and housing, at the
basic end, through to things which give us status and enjoyment. When the opportunity to buy these disappears it leaves a vacuum.

- The motivation to bond with colleagues, teams, companies and
managers. People like to belong and need to know they are 'part of the team'.

- The motivation to understand what is going on. Our instincts drive
us to process information - if the information stops flowing this unsettles us.

- The motivation to defend what we have. In the simplest terms humans
don't like moving backwards, so if we can't go forward we will fight hard to stand still!

In these tough times, managers would do well to focus on six activities.
Each of these will help team leaders make the best from an uncertain situation and build motivation - if they are delivered well.

1. Aim for and celebrate quick wins - set short term goals and make a
fuss when they are achieved.

2. Think and do... continued on page two >

 

 

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