Creating A Motivating Environment

No one likes working for a company where they don’t feel motivated to succeed. And there is no doubt that the best, most active and successful companies are those where the workforce is inspired to do great things.

Motivation can come from the individual of course, but it can and should also come from those in positions of power. While some individuals can enter a business and shine no matter what they do, it is far more often the case that they will need to be inspired by another source.

And in this case, a motivating working environment is the best way to make sure this happens.

So how do you create such an environment?

Team building is one sure way to do it. If people feel as if they are no more than individuals in an organisation, and there is no interconnectivity there, then performances will not be as good. But imagine what could be achieved when everyone sees themselves as part of a network. The strength of that network will cause employees to look around for sources of support and advice when they come across a problem.

What this means is that instead of feeling isolated and unable to ask for help, they will be more likely to be motivated to solve the problem. This will occur simply because they know the strength and co-operation that is so much a part of the business.

If your business isn’t currently doing well in the motivation stakes, don’t worry. You can gradually improve things if you are in a leadership role, and the best way to start is by letting everyone know you are there to support them. You need to be seen as someone who is accessible and able to help in any situation.

Team goals are another good way to motivate a team towards better things. And there is no doubt that arranging extra-curricular team activities – such as activity days for example – can have a profound effect on what goes on in the office as well.

Many people also do far better if they are given a goal or task which is uniquely designed for them. Regular meetings with all members of staff can make all the difference to the productivity of the entire business. If the leader is seen to encourage and support each individual worker, then the results that are gained will be far more successful. Developing and supporting the team as a whole is of course just as important.

Every business works differently. But when it comes to motivating people to do the best that they can, you will always see that the most successful businesses in this realm are also the most successful ones in general. They can always get the best from their teams, and this is because they know how to motivate people both individually and collectively.

If you can mirror this technique with your own team, then you will certainly see positive changes in the weeks and months ahead. The time to start is now. And remember – people don’t leave companies, they leave managers.

Management vs Leadership

Some people dislike the word ‘manager’ or ‘management’, simply because it seems too harsh for what it is. There is certainly an essential place for managers in business, but if you are a manager yourself then you should be aware of what leadership is all about too.

Take the employees who work for you, for example. If you asked them whether they wanted you to be a good manager or a good leader, many of them would probably choose the latter. This is because leaders are more pro-active rather than reactive. And they are also more capable of changing and driving a business forward towards more success, rather than trying to keep up with it and react as it changes in front of them.

Leadership can have profound effects on a workforce. Few people who would count themselves as merely employees will go into work with a pro-active attitude. Many of them will turn up, do their hours and then go home again.

But if you want your employees to consider themselves members of a team and to do the best they are capable of, and be a strong part of that team who can think on their feet, you need to be a leader.

So does this mean that management is dead as we know it?

Clearly it isn’t, otherwise we wouldn’t have as many managers as we do. It is merely a case of redefining that role, so that we can get the best out of it and inspire team members to do more each day than they may at present.

And in truth, it is usually a combination of effective management skills and effective leadership skills that are found in each and every successful business. So while the two skill sets are very different in many ways, they are also capable of being combined in the one role to enable the business to move forward and develop in the future.

The real question is perhaps where your strengths lie. To be a good leader you need to be able to think ahead and focus on what needs to be achieved further down the road. And you also need to be able to inspire everyone else in your team to help you get there. Leadership could never be defined as a solo role – it relies on ensuring that everyone else is with you.

And while it may be an obvious statement, it is essential to remember that if you wish to be a good manager you need to be able to manage all of the available resources effectively – whether they are human resources, financial resources or whatever.
But no matter how you see yourself, or which role comes most naturally to you, you should keep one eye firmly on your own development. By doing this you can be assured that you will be better able to nurture the people in your organisation that you are responsible for. And by doing this you will also get the results you desire in your own role.

Using Technology

Some people are naturally better at embracing technology than others. While the onward march of computers, various applications and the internet in our working lives goes on, it can still be very challenging to embrace these changes.

That’s where good management comes in. It’s pretty obvious that when any new computer system or software application is rolled out adequate training should be arranged to ensure that everyone is brought up to speed long before the new system comes into full time play. But there are other considerations that should also be highlighted if the team performance is going to be kept to a high standard.

One good example of this is doing more than just providing those initial training sessions. Learning how to use technology in a training session is quite different from using it in a real work situation and some employees are naturally better than others at making this leap. It is also often the case that there are hiccups and glitches that are only caught when the new system is up and running in real time. By providing ways in which the employees and managers can liaise with each other to identify and solve these glitches in the fastest possible time frame the installation of any new software or technology will be made that much easier – and everyone will be able to play their part as well.

Another great way of building team confidence and coherence is by arranging feedback sessions where the employees can talk directly to the managers and tell them honestly how everything actually went in reality.

Quite often the managers will only know how things should be, rather than how they actually panned out. By filling in the gaps the management can more readily plan for future technological advances by using that newfound knowledge that comes directly from their employees.

But there doesn’t have to be a big change in the technology to make big changes in the company’s performance. Some people will naturally find it difficult to handle computer tasks but simply won’t want to speak up and ask for help.

It is precisely these situations that are hard to spot, but they can be easier to identify by ensuring that the bonds between management and employees are strong and are open to two-way conversations. Sometimes employees feel that they cannot approach their managers and this doesn’t help to create a fully functioning work environment.

In the end it is essential that employees of all levels are encouraged to enhance their skills and embrace the technology they need to work with, and if managers can identify the best way to do just that with each employee they will be better able to improve the performance of their whole team. Ultimately everyone has the potential to effect the people around them and it is vital that this effect is positive if the best team performance is to be achieved.

Addressing Poor Performance

Poor performance can severely hamper a business’s performance, particularly if it is left unchecked. Good management is necessary to make sure that any negative behaviour or substandard performances are dealt with in the most appropriate manner and as soon as possible.

The problem that comes with not dealing with poor performances from specific individuals is that their actions can and will effect team performance more than you might think.

Speed is therefore of the essence when it comes to dealing with the poor performance of an employee. The longer that nothing is done about such performance the less faith other employees will have in their superiors. For example – why should I work hard if no one else is?

So what exactly is the best way to deal with poor performances among staff? There is no single course of action that should be taken on every occasion; it largely depends on what is going on and what has led up to that point. For example, the way you would deal with an employee who up to this point has always done their work in an exemplary manner would be very different to the way you would deal with an employee who is continuously late or never does their job in the right manner.

To this end, management training can give you the essential skills you need to be able to handle this type of situation. Preparation is the key to getting the results you want. Equally, if you go into a meeting with an employee without having prepared all the necessary information beforehand then you may not get the results you desire.

You may wish to ask yourself the following questions:

• Is this the first time their performance has slipped below the required level?
• Are there any obvious reasons for their substandard performance?
• Has this type of thing happened before? If so, why?

You may find that the reason for their poor performance is down to a lack of experience or training. Up until now they may have coped, but were afraid to ask for the assistance and training they needed. In this case it would be inappropriate to criticize them for their poor performance when a better approach would be to help them to get the training they need.

As a manager, by analysing the situation before you speak to an employee you will be much more likely to achieve the positive result you are after.

Developing Problem Solving Skills

Whether you recognize it or not, we all have problem solving skills. What’s more we use them every day on both a small and a large scale to ensure everything we do is completed to our satisfaction.

Problem solving skills are even more important in a work based environment since they can directly affect the outcome of a particular job or task. Most people in management roles within a company have outstanding problem solving skills (indeed that is one of the things that will have propelled them into that position) but those skills need to be developed over time. They are unlikely to appear spontaneously.

This brings up a key point in this topic which is worth mentioning. While we all have problem solving skills to some extent, we may not all have the experience of using those skills to their fullest at work. This is particularly true of those people who wish to step into management roles in the future.

So how do you develop these skills?

The key is to approach situations in the right way. People who don’t have good skills in this area tend to approach a problem very differently from those who do have good skills. For example they may fret about how they will solve the problem, because they don’t feel able to do it. This is a good way to identify how robust your own problem solving skills are at the moment. Do you feel helpless when faced with a problem? Or do you immediately start thinking about how you could tackle it effectively?

We can see that your point of view is instrumental in the development of your problem solving skills. A pro-active stance is necessary to look at the problem from all sides to determine a way forward that will bring the results you desire.

While some people react to a problem by diving in before they evaluate it properly, others are almost frozen by fear – the fear that whatever they do could result in failure. The correct route to take is a kind of middle ground between these two extremes. You should stand back and evaluate the problem from all sides before thinking of all the ways you could solve it. This is an essential technique to master if you want to further your leadership skills in the future.

The first thing to do is to check that you are focusing on the actual core problem, and not the mess that the problem has created. To do this you have to make sure you gather all the relevant facts.

Having identified the real problem, you then need to brainstorm some possible solutions. Once that is done ask yourself what would happen if you took a particular route over another one. Look at the benefits and the challenges/costs of each solution and then weigh them up. Jot down your thoughts and evaluate them side by side to see which route would be the best one to take. This helps to develop your problem solving skills and gets your brain into the right place to find solutions that are usable and workable. The value of the solution will ultimately be based on how much the benefits you’ve identified will outweigh the challenges/costs.

You may come up with more than one possible solution to a problem. In this case you would need to consider other factors as well before making your final decision on how to solve that problem, such as the amount of time each solution would take to put into practice.

One final point – the speed with which you address problems will both assist in their speedy resolution and also show your substance as a leader.