Motivating Employees Starts with the Supervisor and the Relationship

Productivity is everything to a business. You can't remain

productive unless your employees are motivated. If you are a supervisor, chances are you have not had a formal course in how to motivate employees, so let's discuss your role in the process and how you can be more influential in motivating your employees.

It’s been said that motivating a large group of employees can be like herding a group of cats. Each one is an individual, and therefore you must look at employee motivation in much the same way.

Motivating the employees you supervise starts with getting to know them as individuals. There are no parlor tricks in motivating employees. You conjure up magical and inspirational speeches that will cause them to be motivate. The problem of motivation goes much deeper, and for each of your employees it is a different formula for what does the trick.

Building a relationship with the employees you supervisors does not mean that you probe them for personal information and get involved in their personal business. However, it does mean you speak with them regularly, engage in real small talk and discuss what they do an their goals.

It means spending time with them individually, getting to know them at work, and discovering their likes and dislikes in the general course of a workplace relationship.

Once you begin to "profile" your employees in this positive way, you will learn what "turns them on" and you will think about how to develop resources or opportunities that motivate them to achieve more on the job.

Through this process, your employees will perceive that you care about them. You won't have to worry about whether they are thinking positive thoughts about you. They will. Your goal is to create an atmosphere where motivation flourishes.

Eventually you will get a strong feel for the ways each of your employees can be motivated, and you can plan opportunities and rewards that fit these unique aspects of their motivational profile and personality makeup.

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EAP Workplace Awareness Training Program: Helping Employees Make a Positive Decision about Psychotherapy

EAP Workplace Awareness Training Program: Helping Employees Make a Positive Decision about Psychotherapy: What is psychotherapy and how do I found a therapist; what kind of therapist should I use; how does psychotherapy work

Show You’re Confident (An EAP Office Counseling Tip to Help Employees)

Confidence is the belief in oneself or one’s abilities. We don’t always feel confident in what

we are facing, but there is a way to feel and appear confident in job interviews, oral presentations, sales pitches—almost any personal challenge.

The secret is taking the focus off your awareness of feeling deficient or lacking in ability and shifting it to the people or situation in front of you.

How? Ask yourself questions that cause you to shift your focus: Think “What does this person need?” or “What are these people’s needs?” or “How can I discover what’s important to them?” or “What do we have in common?” or “What is the mood of my interviewer or audience?”

Any question that helps you empathize and reach out to discover more about what you’re facing will change your behavior--you will shift use of your brain from right brain to left—the more analytical side—reducing fear and altering the way you appear, speak, and project confidence to those in front of you.

Did you like this “EAP Office Counseling Tip?” Look for more tips by following on LinkedIn. Share with new staff. Coming soon . . . "Follow Up Tip for Supervisors After EAP Referral" (Feel free to copy the above, use, and share.) Follow me on LinkedIn to also see more tips at http://linkedin.com/in/workexcel/