Motivating employees: How do you build workplace motivation?

Motivating employees is part of leadership. Motivating teams in the workplace is the ABC of GREAT leadership.

Let me be blunt. If team members are lazy…it IS your job to get in there and sort it out. It may require an autocratic hand…

German General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord in Truppenführung, 1933 wrote the following:

“I divide my officers into four classes: the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!”

Seriously friend…it is not human nature to be lazy.

Or is it?

Motivating employees means stepping beyond the laziness excuse.

More likely something is amiss. Workplace motivation requires you dig a little. People may be unmotivated because there is not enough light or fresh air. Then again, perhaps there is a divorce in the background. Or, the wrong role for the right talent.

If you were a school teacher, with a poor performing child…would you quit?

Yes, I know millions of teachers quit on their pupils every year. But can you imagine what would happen in the world if they didn’t.

Now, I am not suggesting that you make someone’s issues yours. Laziness… is only habit.

A lousy habit at that...

…BUT habits are made to be broken.

So don’t give someone a fish…teach them how to fish.

Plan team building that teaches people how to motivate and inspire themselves. Most team building is fun and motivating…

...right up to the point when every one is back at work.

Same old same old.

Workplace motivation is not as simple as slapping together a few exercises and games. Rather, it is teamwork in the daily workplace that builds truly inspired motivated teams.

Basic workplace motivation tips

2. Help your team to find meaning in what they are doing. Give them something to really chew on and rally behind.

3. Train the team to mentally think in a certain way. Behavior is a result of habits and habit is a result of thinking. If you train a dog to fetch a stick…it takes training to teach him to not get the stick any more.

4. Build acknowledgment and gratitude into the team culture.

5. Check environmental factors.

6. Are the right talents in the right job roles.

7. Spend more time on personal development than you do on job performance.