Previously in my article “How do I motivate my staff?” I identified that there are two reasons why you do not have motivated staff. The first reason is you either hired staff that lack motivation or YOU disengaged them, which means you are the reason for their lack of motivation.
Below is a self assessment tool that will help you identify if you are the reason for staff disengagement.
Your self assessment starts – Now!
Please rate yourself out of 10 for how accurately the following sentences describe you and your impact on your staff. 10 is an extremely accurate description of you, and 1 is not like you at all.
1.You have a crystal clear vision of how your business will look, the staff will act and exactly how it will run.
2.Your vision is so clear that you are highly energised on a daily basis to achieve it.
3.You have clearly outlined your vision with your staff.
4.Your staff can see and feel the energy you obtain from your vision.
5.You are extremely proud of the service you provide to your community.
6.You communicate your pride to your staff and they can see that you are not just a business but a highly valued community service.
7.You always do exactly what you say you will do.
8.You actively listen to your staff with empathy and ensure that when they talk to you they feel respected, listened to and positive.
9.You always think about how they would like to be treated when planning your communication with staff.
10.You treat staff exactly the same way you would like to be treated.
11.You regularly request feedback from staff, colleagues and coaches about your own communication and the impact of it.
12.You understand that all communication needs to be planned in advance.
13.You understand that having ears and being able to talk English does not necessarily qualify you as a good communicator, but you are actively working on this skill.
14.You understand that 7% of all communication is the words you use, 38% is the tone you use, and 55% is your body language, and you are actively working with this knowledge to improve your communications.
15.You realise you are communicating to your staff primarily by the way you move, behave and the energy you have, far more than by the words you use, and you are actively working with this knowledge to improve your communications.
These 15 questions are a good starting point in your self evaluation of how motivating you are. If your score was less than 120 then you are very likely de motivating your staff.
Sea gull management
Many business owners believe because they are the business owner they can use sea gull management techniques, that is fly over to their staff, squawk at them, crap on them and then fly off. This might get some immediate action but in the long run your staff will pay you back. The facts are 30% of businesses fail due to employee theft and if they don’t steal they sabotage your business with a half heart approach to their work.
Warren Buffet – lessons from the richest man in the world.
Warren buffet says that 99% of managers think they make the sun shine, (God’s gift to staff) but this so far from the truth and the reality is if they were this good 80% of businesses would not keel over and die after only a few years. Warren Buffet’s investment strategies are famous. Warren invests in businesses that have great managers who score at least 130 or above in the self assessment you have just completed.
How to immediately get you and your staff motivated.
Work on the 15 points above and ensure you score no less than a 9 out of 10 for the first 10 statements. When you achieve this status your business will fly and you will feel great. Remember there will always be problems with staff. Even a good horse will go lame once in their career. But a good manager can get staff motivated in a way that makes them feel good. If your staff motivational methods make you feel anger, aggressive or annoyed, you are not motivating your staff you are in fact forcing staff. The law of nature says force will always be met with an equal and opposite force some time in the future.
“Practice Golden-Rule 1 of Management in everything you do. Manage others the way you would like to be managed”.
Brian Tracy
Committed to hiring the right person the first time round and recovering all the costs of the campaign!
David Osborne
