Leadership And Motivation

Motivation should never be taken as being constant as it can change on a moments notice. So how do you as a leader affect motivation?

People's lives change in an instant, one minute they are happy and doing a great job and the next minute they are depressed and upset. You as a leader have to constantly observe your team and their level of motivation.

It could be a phone call that was bad news, a rude customer, argument with another team member to name a few. When you notice a change it is important that you immediately take action. Why you ask, I am not a counselor. You are far beyond being a counselor, you are a leader and leaders take initiative and fix problems immediately.

Here is a true life example: Cristina comes to work motivated and full of energy, several hours later you notice that she is reserved and through her body language you see a totally different person. What are you going to do, ignore it or take the initiative to find out what the problem is?

If you ignore it then you will have an ineffective person for at least the remainder of the day or you can take action and talk with her to find out what the problem is.

In some cases they will tell you there is nothing wrong, don't buy into this and then there are the ones that will freely open up to you. The particular example I am speaking of was incredibly simple, Cristina had a major sale but the customer credit application was denied.

The reason she was so upset was her department would have made the daily budget as they have been having a bad week. It took all of 5 minutes to motivate her about there would be other opportunities' and we need you.

Motivation is never constant but you can have a major affect on your team if you are observant, engaged and above.