7. Have Clear Success Standard
This is sometimes known as targets. Visionaries usually have targets. Meanwhile, many people are simply waiting for the weekend to arrive with the minimum of hassle in-between.
People work better and are more satisfied when they know they are meeting success criteria. Agreeing what these are is helpful. When someone finishes a job it is tempting to say “Great…..But”. Whilst this criticism my be immediately relevant, remember that you will probably have to work with that person again and if you finish on a sour note that will be put aside and applied to you on the next project. So keep any criticism relevant to the original success standard and not appear to be an entirely new standard. The objective is to build confidence plus an appetite for more complex and demanding projects in the future.
Note that being too draconian about this to the exclusion of common sense will cause you many problems. For example, “Do it as cheaply as possible”, may put cost cutting ahead of actual performance and hence the ultimate success of your project. So make sure all concerned know that common sense will always apply.
8. Check For Real Obstacles
When you ask someone to do something, if that person thinks it is impossible to begin with, how motivated do you really expect that person to be? If that person is expecting to fail, do you think they will be happier if he or she is proved wrong and unexpectedly succeeds? In this instance, failure can be much more satisfying for that person.
Discussing options that overcome possible snags is a positive and motivating way forward. Ultimately none of the obstacles discussed may work. But if the person you are motivating is expecting to succeed then he or she will be alert and welcoming to new solutions that achieve the desired objective.
9. Good Tracking System
How often do you get annoyed by having to chase someone up to find out why your request for action has not been met? Similarly, how often do you get annoyed by other people chasing you up? The key point to note here is “annoyance”. If you don’t like someone or that person does not like you, is that a receipt for effortless success?
As far as possible, try to lay out in advance an update or completion schedule. You could say “Give me a call first thing on Tuesday morning to let me know you have finished. Or if it was not possible to finish by then, call me anyway so that we can discuss the specific obstacle you were not able to overcome”. Similarly request updates at specific times. Why, remember that if you attempting to do something, its can be annoying to get pestering “have you finished calls” when you are busy. Less bothersome is to report progress at more convenient moments.
10. Win Win
This is the most important. So to make it easier to remember it is here at the end.
To get the enthusiasm of all participants in a venture it is vital that there will be a clear benefit for all concerned. People often make the assumption that just because it is someone’s job to do something, he or she will want to do it. Remind the person you wish to motivate of the benefits that completing the task in question will bring to him or her.
Similarly, the person you are motivating will frequently have to enlist the support and cooperation of others. The other participants may also require some of the ten point strategy to motivate that is outlined here. In particular, this last and most important point of Win Win makes success vastly easier to achieve, always check it is present when motivating.
You will notice that everything written here is actually simple and easily to apply. One of the great fallacies or false-hoods in life is to assume that if something looks difficult, then the answer will be complex and problematic to implement. Whereas if you simply seek to address all the simple and easy to apply solutions to your challenge, you will generally succeed. So whilst you will inevitably know about much of what is written here, let this be a helpful reminder to put your leadership into practice more often.