This is the continuation of our list on how to inspire employees we began in last week’s blog.
We want to restate our belief that if you want peak performances from your employees, you first need to create peak experiences for each and every employee. Everyone does their job better if they are lights-on and enjoying their work. Our 20 Ways to Inspire Employees will help you create that experience.
11. Use coach-able moments to improve the performance of employees. Watch for both the good work people are doing as well as the areas where they can improve. Coaching’s purpose is to improve an individual’s performance. Good coaches make sure to acknowledge when the work is done well while also guiding the employee on how to improve the performance. When you see an opportunity to improve performance take that moment to do it.
12. Remember that a big part of your responsibility as a leader is to develop other leaders. Every good employee wants to grow and become better at what they do. Train them often. Provide opportunities and encouragement for them to learn new things, better methods, and their own deeper self understanding.
13. Always direct your thoughts and your expression of them to the positive. Your primary focus should be on what is working, rather than what is not working. Do not spend all your time, energy and conversations on all that’s wrong. This does not mean you don’t need to solve the problems. It’s how your energy is focused on solving them that’s important.
14. Focus on developing each individual’s strengths; don’t keep expending all your managing efforts on trying to fix that person’s weaknesses. When every employee is primarily using their strengths every day, it creates energy in the workplace that is very palpable and powerful.
15. Remove judgment and criticism from your actions and your conversations.Direct everyone’s focus to what worked or what did not work – what was effective or ineffective. Judgment and criticism creates drama and negative energy throughout an organization. Assigning blame and making personal attack will only have people get defensive and resistive.
16. Keep total faith that you will achieve the shared vision while remaining fully aware of the current reality. It is your unwavering faith in the vision that will spark the productive energy in your employees. This is very critical when the current reality becomes challenging and difficult. Designing strategies and solutions to handle current realities are much easier to see and do when guided by the light of the shared vision.
17. Let go. Don’t hold on to past mistakes – yours or your employees. Bringing the past into the future has everyone looking to the past for justification or excuses. It is just not effective. Focus instead on where you are now and where you want to go. Remember the lines from Willie Nelson. “I know just what I’d change if I went back in time somehow. But there is nothing I can do about it now.”
18. Be grateful for the opportunities offered by the work you do together. This is related to focusing on the positive. When you take time each day to recognize what you are grateful for, you create an energetic opening that generates more positive energy. Expressing gratitude helps you keep your focus on the right things to be productive and effective.
19. Celebrate wins often. Nothing is emotionally more energizing then celebrating work well done. Taking the time for company or team high fives will energize everyone. Remembering the satisfaction of accomplishment feeds the desire to do it again and again.
20. And, to help make this list similar to other lists you may have read on how to motivate employees, take everyone out to a ball game once in a while.
