Work with Soul

How do you get your staff to be as motivated and passionate as you are about building the business?
Is it possible to set up an environment where people motivate and empower themselves? What if I were to tell you, you can have a team that is as passionate about your business as you are. Would you want to know how?

In all the years of working in team development and coaching there is one question that managers, directors and CEO's consistently ask...

"Why can't all my employees be self directed and motivated? What can I do to motivate them?"

In truth the answer is pretty simple.

Stop trying to motivate people!

Stop spending good money on motivational team building initiatives and expensive incentives. All you are doing is throwing your money down the drain and annoying your staff. The most successful businesses "live" their vision and values. They don't have to invest enormous resources in motivating people, because everyone is already motivated – they are aligned to the same purpose and share a common set of values.

As a leader, it is important to realise that you can't motivate anyone. It is impossible for you to make a committed, motivated and passionate team. Each one of us is responsible for motivating and empowering ourselves.

Your role is to make sure you are doing nothing to de-motivate people and everything to create an environment in which they can flourish. After all our behaviour is simply the response to a given set of circumstances. Change the underlying circumstances and you'll get a different response.

Sound easy? Actually it is.

All you need to do is create the right environment that:

1. Allows people to work towards purpose that is meaningful

Urging employees to simply rethink their jobs was enough to drop absenteeism by 60% and turnover by 75% according to a University of Alberta study. Researchers found that "people who are able to find meaning and purpose in their work, and can see how they make a difference through that work, are healthier, happier and more productive employees"

2. Enables people to use their skills, experience and ingenuity to work out the "how"
3. Treats people as equals that have a valuable contribution to make

Did you know?

• It is estimated that £1.4m a day is lost to UK business due to unnecessary sickness absence. This adds up to a startling 6.5million sick days per year. (HSE)
• The cost of losing employees can be anywhere between 30-150% of their annual salary.
• The average manager spends an astounding 30% of their time dealing with conflict. However, conflict situations typically involve more than just the manager. They also involve a minimum of 2 conflicted parties and typically a senior or HR manager to arbitrate! (2002) (John Ford & Cynthia Barnes-Slater 2002).