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Driving to make things happen.

Article Excerpt
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Motivation comes from within, but there are steps you can take that will encourage the employee work behaviors you need to get a job done well. By using the technique of telling, listening, asking, and being aware, you communicate sincerity to employees while you spark their creativity.

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The age-old question is do you motivate other people or do they motivate themselves? The answer is yes.

Have you ever asked, "Why am I not motivated?," "How can I motivate others?," or "What ever happened to initiative?" Do you wonder where energy and drive come from? The enthusiasm to make things happen is a big part of getting things done, and for managers, getting things done through others is an essential part of the job.

Everyone is motivated by something. The key is to learn what motivates people and then help them make the connection--getting them to do what you want or need. You can do this by helping them find the answer to the question that moves everyone forward: What's in it for me? If you can connect actions to goals, the person you're trying to motivate will see how actions can translate into benefits. Whether it is a promotion promised if a project comes in under budget or a repeat customer who praises an employee's creativity in problem solving, there is a benefit or reward for action taken.

A big mistake is believing that the things that motivate you will motivate others. This is almost never true. But if you find out what is important to others, you will discover how to get their attention. A savings bond that takes seven years to mature presented as a reward to a worker who would rather have a cab ride home and a gift certificate will actually demotivate the employee. This will only frustrate the manager who observes the employee's lack of enthusiasm for the job.

When it comes to motivation, you can provide a stimulus, but the response to that stimulus is up to the other person. And different people will respond differently to the same stimulus. How we respond to any single stimulus is often a function of what we are concentrating on at that particular moment. However, there are four keys to motivation that can help unlock the energy needed to get things done: telling, listening, acting, and being aware.

Telling

Providing people...

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