Newsletter - February 2004

Motivating My Staff is Hard Enough, Who's Going to Motivate Me?

Motivating staff is an important function of any team leader or manager. This can sometimes be hard work and with the constant focus on others we can sometimes forget to motivate ourselves. This in turn leads to a problem, if you aren't motivated , then it is likely that others around you will lose motivation and will not strive to take action. Here are the seven simple steps to motivate you to improve your own performance.

Step 1 Mix With positive People

Spend your time associating with positive people, people who are winners or successful in their chosen field. People with a negative mindset love to see others fail or falter when faced with a challenge. You will learn negative thoughts and behaviours from negative people and positive thoughts and behaviours from positive people. Positive people exude positive energy and a can do attitude.

Step 2 Erase Negative Mindsets

A negative mindset will guarantee you a negative result every time. Focus on the positive and erase negative thoughts and behaviours from your personality. It is highly unlikely that you will complete any project or challenge if you have a negative mindset. Be wary of people who say "We can't do that here, this is the way it we have always done it here". Be positive, focus on a plan of action and implement the plan.

Step 3 Develop Clear Goals

If you set clear goals you will become more motivated. Goals challenge and test your ability to achieve and create success by that achievement. Make sure your goals are challenging enough and still realistically achievable.

Step 4 Write Your Goals Down

There is an old saying that 3% of the population control the wealth and 3% of the population write their goals down! Committing your goals to paper is a very powerful motivator and allows you to focus on what you are striving to achieve. Read your goals at least three times a day, carry them around with you on a card in your pocket and refer to them often to remind yourself what you are working toward.

Step 5 Make a Goal Plan

If you have taken the trouble to commit to paper, the next step is to develop a plan to make the goals happen. Work out what steps you will need to take and by when you will need to take them. Write this plan down also so that you can measure your progress along the way.

Step 6 Network Your Goals

Share your goals with those you trust among your network that could be peers, superiors or subordinates. Make sure you involve staff who may be directly affected by the outcome of the goal or who will contribute to their success. Making a commitment to others in your network will make your resolve to complete the goals even firmer.

Step 7 Celebrate Your Success

It is important to record your progress and as you reach milestones or the final goal to celebrate your efforts. Celebrations and rewards for effort make the work seem worthwhile and energise you to achieve more. Achieving your goals will guarantee your ongoing motivation!

I Can See You Are Listening, But are You Really Hearing What I'm Saying?

Listening is one of the most basic skills of any human being. Managers and team leaders spend at least half of their day listening to staff. It is very important for any person in this role to listen carefully and avoid any misunderstandings . Listening can be hard work and it is so easy to switch off or become distracted or caught up in our own thoughts. If you are a manager or team leader you should make listening one of your better skills.

It is important to listen fully when listening. This may sound comical, however you must concentrate on what is being said. Be aware that we apply filters as we listen to people. Some people we have judged as time wasters so we don't listen to them as carefully as we should. Others we have decided are valued colleagues, so we listen to them very carefully digesting every word they utter. By applying filters we can hinder the communication process, missing important cues or information from the other person.

When you are listening, show the speaker that you are interested. This can be shown non-verbally by nodding your head in agreement, facing the speaker, leaning forward slightly and by repeating key words or phrases or even paraphrasing the conversation. Make sure you look at the speaker, rather than letting your eyes wander to the background view, focus on the speaker's eyes and make sure you keep your eyes open.

Often when we listen to others we experience feelings associated with the topic. Avoid letting your feelings or emotions cloud your ability to listen. Keep an open mind.

Make sure as you progress that you understand exactly what has been said. Test your understanding by paraphrasing occasionally. This signals to the speaker that you are listening and are keen to understand their topic, plus it clarifies any misunderstandings that may occur.

Because we think faster than people speak, we often evaluate conversations as they progress. Take some time to notice the speaker's body language, posture and skin colour. This information will allow you to judge their sincerity or commitment to the topic.

Listening is a sophisticated skill and requires self discipline. Work hard at it and reap the rewards.

Does One Size Fit All?

With the modern trend toward grouping staff in workstations in offices becoming more and more popular some people are revelling in their new found togetherness, while others are going home stressed, underperforming and suffering from people overload. How could grouping staff together at workstations cause stress and productivity to suffer?

It comes back to people's preferences for how they like to relate to others and how they like to get their work done. Some people prefer to work in a more extroverted way, talking with their colleagues, discussing issues out loud, having impromptu gatherings and meeting frequently with their co workers at their desks. These people love to get involved in others people's work and relish a variety of tasks and activities in their day. People like this thrive in the crowded workstation designed workplace.

Other people however, are more introverted in their behaviours in the workplace. They prefer a quiet reflective environment which will allow them to think issues through on their own. These people don't have a high need to be with or around other people and value time to themselves to work quietly and think before meeting with others to problem solve or agree a course of activity. These people also prefer to work on one task at a time in a linear fashion, finishing one task before moving onto another. People like this suffer in a workstation environment.

People with an introverted preference are often overwhelmed by the noise and activity going on around them in a workstation environment and find concentrating on tasks difficult. Lack of concentration leads to job stress and can lead to a reduction in work quality and output. People with an introverted preference work best in an office environment where they can close the door and shut out the outside world for periods of time.

One client in a large public sector organisation said "When I have important tasks to perform I try to book a meeting room so I can shut myself away and concentrate. If there is no meeting room available I take the work home and do it there." This is OK for some people, but brings added stress into the family household while the bread winner is working long hours at home to catch up on what could be done during the day.

So Does One Size Fit All? Obviously not in terms of office accommodation. If you have staff that are grouped together at workstations or you are finding it near impossible to concentrate at your desk it could be because of your personality preference. If you want to increase your team's productivity you may need to consider locating them in a variety of seating combinations or provide a range of work space to accommodate the people you have in your team.

Introversion and Extroversion preferences and how you relate to others at work is one of the four work preference measures which form part of the Team Management Profile. This profile is a psychometric personality typing instrument which quickly identifies your preferences in the workplace. For further information contact Lindsay Adams , who is accredited to administer the instrument.