Wouldn’t it be wonderful to wave a magic wand and instantly motivate your employees?

Have you ever watched a sports movie where the coach delivers a roaring motivational speech?

All the players look deep within them after the speech and the find something extra to deliver on the game field.

Then the team wins, and they lift the coach up on their shoulders and carry coach off of the field.

When things looked their darkest, coach came in and said the right words to change everything for the players.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have that same effect on your team members?

You don’t have to be a wizard with words or a perfect public speaker to motivate your team members.

Motivation isn’t built on a ten-minute rah-rah speech.

Motivation is built over time.

At the heart of motivation is trust.

Your team members have to trust you and trust that you have their best intentions in mind and heart.

Unless your team members trust you, your motivation will fall on deaf ears.

You must build an environment where trust is sacrosanct on your team.

With trust at the heart of motivation, you will have the power to motivate your team when you they need motivation.

Recently I interviewed Leadership Expert David Onks and he gave me the following top three ways to motivate your team members.

Be Present and Listen

Have you ever had tried talking with someone when they were texting on the phone while you were talking with them?

This is one of my pet peeves.

When I talk to someone I wan to have a connection with that person.

When someone is distracting their attention towards an inanimate object while I a human being am talking to them I feel like that piece of glass and silicon is more important than me.

Nobody wants to feel like they are playing second fiddle to a hand sized piece of electronics.

When you take the time to stop what you are doing and be fully present with your team members, you show by your actions that they are important.

Everything else can wait while you give your full attention to that person.

Just think how you feel when someone is listening intently to you while you are talking.

Now think of the effect your team members will feel when you give them that same attention.

Encourage Time For Balance and Development

We as humans only have some much bandwidth for work.

We all need time to recharge our batteries.

One of the worst jobs I had was one where I was working incessantly.

I was giving everything to my employer.

I never really felt that my employer appreciated how much I was sacrificing to do a good job and be a loyal employee.

I become overbalance at work and I was the one that suffered the most from being overbalanced with work.

One of the best things you can do for your employees is help them develop their personal and professional skills.

Becoming better at your craft is its own reward.

When people improve their skills they enjoy their work more because it’s easier to do the work.
Don’t Micromanage

Micromanaging sends the worst message to your team members.

When you micromanage your team members you are saying to them that you don’t trust them.

You are telling them that they are not smart enough to manage themselves.

Certainly you have to keep your team members accountable to company objectives.

However you have to give people the latitude and freedom to do their work.

Inject Fun

All work and no play made Jack a dull boy.

If you are an unfun person, assign one of your team members to be in charge of fun for the team.

Think about how laughter brightens a room.

When things are fun, they are more enjoyable to do.

People like to enjoy their work.

While many things might not seem fun at first glance, if you put some thought into it you can make almost anything fun.

There are so many ways to make things fun.

I remember one year, my company held a bingo tournament during for the month of march.

Everyone was given bingo cards and then once a day we were emailed a number to mark on our bing cards.

I left that job nearly 13 years ago, but I still remember the fun I had playing Bingo that March.

Conclusion

Out team members need us to be the best version of ourselves.

Likewise, we need our team members to be the best version of themselves.

When we motivate people in the right way, we improve their lives and help remove roadblocks from their lives.

Motivation is a form of investment in our team members.

We show respect and caring for our team members when we motivate people based on factors of trust.

Then when we face challenging times, we are able to use that investment of trust to motivate our employees to do what is necessary to get beyond those challenging times.