"Choose a job you love and you will never have to work again another day in your life"
Confucius
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Okay, we know the economy stinks. Now that we have that off our chest, why don't we get on with it? I will tell you why. It is tough, painful, discouraging, and just downright no fun to hear customers say time and time again, day after day, "Cash flow is tight. Spending is cut. We are going to wait and see what happens."
Managers need to pay attention. You are needed now more than ever. Hope is an extraordinary motivator. You must demonstrate the will to win! I don't mean grabbing your pom-poms and having a pep rally. I am talking about making motivation a part-a big part-of your plan.
In order to purposely make motivation a part of your management strategy, you need to understand a few basics on how it works. First, motivation factors are not supervision, money status, or security. Motivation factors come in the form of achievement, recognition, challenging work, increased responsibility, opportunity for advancement, and opportunity for growth.
Let's talk about why these are motivators. People have a need for achievement, affiliation, power, and growth. In his hierarchy of needs, Maslow describes self-actualization as the peak we all ultimately desire. It makes us strive for those self-fulfilling moments in life.
Let's look at three simple ideas on how you can create motivation in each of your employees.
Idea One
Employees exert effort because they believe in the attractiveness of the outcome - reward.
Idea Two
You can potentially modify someone's behavior if the reward is desired, the reward is given intermittently - not on a regular basis - and the reward reflects the effort.
Idea Three
Empowerment increases employee motivation.
People come to a job wanting to do well and to be fulfilled. Studies have shown that if a manager is highly motivated the manager's employees are also. So create a terrific self-fulfilling prophecy for yourself this year.
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