How To Motivate Your Employee

Supervising people involves more than telling them what to do. Effective supervision involves motivation from within the individual, not by externals.

1. Treat them as individuals, not merely as necessary cogs in a wheel. Remember their personal problems, find appropriate times to ask how they or their families are, how the big event went, whether the plumbing problem got fixed.

2. Acknowledge their contributions. Let them be confident that when you pass their suggestions and contributions up the chain of command you will acknowledge the members of your team as the source.

3. Back them up. When things go wrong, the buck stops at your desk. Do not deal with problems by telling your superiors how awful your supervisees are. Tell how you will go about preventing a reoccurrence.

4. Take time for them. When a supervisee comes to you, stop what you are doing, make eye contact. If you can't be interrupted, immediately set up a later time when you will be able to pay full attention to them. Otherwise people may feel that they are bothersome to you, and you may someday find yourself wondering why no one tells you what is happening in your own department.

5. Let them know that you see their potential and encourage their growth. Encourage learning. Help them to take on extra responsibility, but be available to offer support when they are in unfamiliar territory.

6. Explain why. Provide the information that will give both purpose to their activities and understanding of your requirements. Providing information only on a need-to-know basis may work for the CIA, but it does not build teams.

7. Don't micro-manage. Let them know the plans and the goals, that you trust them to do their best, and then let them have the freedom to make at least some of the decisions as to how to do what is needed. Morale and creativity nosedive when the flow of work is interrupted by a supervisor checking on progress every two minutes.

8. Let them work to their strengths. We all like to feel good about our work. If we can do something that we do well, we will feel proud. If you believe supervisees need to strengthen areas of weakness, have them work on these, too, but not exclusively.

9. Praise in public, correct in private. NOTHING undermines morale as effectively as public humiliation.

10. Set reasonable boundaries, and empower your supervisees to set theirs. Once set, respect them. This is not a challenge to your power, it is their right as human beings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What to do when you feel stuck and unproductive

Feeling stuck and unproductive is natural and it can be caused by overwork, lack of momentum, a bad mood, a success block, the weather and/or dozens of other factors. And, while it's helpful to understand why you're stuck and unproductive, sometimes it's just better to do one or more of the PRACTICAL things which follow!

1. Play the Check-In game.

Call a friend/colleague and say, "I'm stuck/unproductive. Can I check in with you every hour for a couple of hours until I get cranking again?" This really works! And, your friend may want to play along too! Just share what you want to get done, specifically, between now and the next time you call in. Your friend would listen and accept what you're saying -- or ask you to increase/decrease the goal for the hour. In either case, keep the check in call to be less than 5 minutes.

2. Take a walk, go to the gym, go running, move your body.

Increasing your body's metabolism also loosens up your mind and spirit, resulting in a greater energy flow. It's that simple.

3. Take a nap.

Sometimes, your mind needs a break to work through an idea or block. Take a 1-3 hour nap and see if that helps.

4. Turn up the music.

I use music as a prompter, especially when I'm feeling draggy or alone. Rap, disco, instrumentals work for me. And when I'm really stuck, Frank Sinatra does the trick.

5. Eat/drink something that you will respond to emotionally or physically.

If I'm REALLY stuck, I'll have a couple of cups of coffee -- caffeine is a great unblocker for me.

6. Completely clean up your work space.

It's said that "stuff" around you that's not in its place, can be a drain of energy. When I get stuck, one of the first things I do is take 10 minutes and put things in piles or file stuff away or clear my immediate work area so that there's less stuff dragging me down.

7. Work on another task or project.

I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to push myself through a project that I'm just not in the mood to work on. So, I find a project/idea that I DO want to work on and my productivity picks right up!

8. Have a schedule/routine.

A routine provides momentum and momentum will keep you from getting stuck. So, schedule in an hour or three of dedicated work between appointments/calls/meetings.

9. Play the reward game.

This may not be spiritually healthy, but I'll give myself rewards when I finish a tough project. Like a vacation, a trip, a shirt, a massage, etc. Hey, whatever works!

10. Go on a trip.

I find that i'm especially creative when on a plane, train or bus. So, sometimes, I'll book a 3-10 hour trip, bring my laptop and be incredibly productive. And, financially, it's WORTH IT.