As a manager, when considering how to motivate others, understanding the internal nature of motivation is critical. Motivation, like attitude, cannot be worn on the outside like a raincoat- it has to come from within. As everything we accomplish is related to how we feel, our attitudes towards work, life and our goals are something we should be checking on the hour rather than by the year.

Just how critical is motivation? One manager joked that he would rather have a stupid motivated person than a smart unmotivated person! Why? Because motivation creates momentum and momentum is the force that makes money, unifies strong teams and builds businesses up to their true potential.

First and foremost, good managers must cause motivation to happen internally, rather than causing employees merely to produce the desired external results. When properly motivated, those results will flow naturally. If you want an employee to increase productivity on a certain task, for example, but you micromanage the task until it is done to your satisfaction, you will have put so much of your own effort into the process that you will not be able to focus as successfully on your own work, not to mention other employees or colleagues. In addition, the employee is not really able to feel proud of his or her accomplishments and is thus not as motivated to work harder at the next opportunity. When managers simply cause results, the end effect is exhaustion for the manager, inferior performance from the employee, and a decreasing sense of motivation for all in question.

In order to feel motivated, people need to take pride in what they are doing. That pride extends to all levels and all participants of any given job. No matter how many things are on the to-do list, do one thing at a time and make sure each one is completed. There is nothing more un-motivating than feeling like you’re simply running on a treadmill, with too many tasks to ever successfully finish and/or with ever-incomplete tasks that are a standard part of the operating procedure. If you consistently promote the expectation of success throughout every project, employees are more likely to feel motivated at each step, expecting subsequent successes. In this vein, remember that it is always better to have one thing completely done than many simply hanging in the balance.

Listen and listen well. One of the biggest de-motivating factors for an employee is an employer who does not listen. Listening is often a difficult skill to learn but an incredibly important component of promoting self-accountability in all members of a team. Tune in before you turn on and remember to listen first, and talk second.

Be available and approachable. Employers can significantly affect the driving force of their employee’s inner motivation by having an approachable management style. While letting the employee do the job, also let them give you feedback on the project. When everyone is involved in the planning stage, everyone understands and appreciates how he or she contributes to the final outcome.

Lead by example. You may have heard it before but it’s true. Successful managers agree that the best way to get excellent performance is to set a stellar example. Your own motivation—as evidenced by your actions—in leadership and your hard work speak volumes more than anything that your words could say to a member of your team.

Have your expectations in place. Starting with the hiring process, keep in mind that a person lacking enthusiasm and motivation from the start will be much more difficult to motivate than someone who comes in with these innate qualities.

Keep track! In order to track motivation, have managers and employees set goals for themselves. Write those goals down, keep them in a visible place and make sure to verbalize them. Once a week, discuss with your team how close you are to reaching your target.

Let them know. As a project progresses, give everyone involved sincere feedback. With a positive but honest bent, let people know how they are doing and give them the space and time to adjust their actions and working plan to reflect the feedback received. Positive reinforcement should be given for results! It could be anything from a special parking spot, a badge, a cash bonus, a plaque, or a gift certificate for dinner. Remember this: people like recognition and recognition helps drive motivation.

On the other hand, don’t be afraid to let people know when they are under-performing. Confrontation in the form of sincerely addressing the issue instead of attacking the person takes finesse. It’s truly an art and it leads to enhanced motivation. Begin by appreciating what the person you are confronting brings to the table. Feed the person’s ego a bit while reinstating your commitment to that person. Create a performance agreement that relies on accountability. Track the performance, show the person their improvement and reward them. The simple knowledge that one is becoming increasingly successful at his or her job after previously struggling is a great motivator in and of itself.

Lastly, make sure to tell employees every day that you appreciate what they do. Feeling listened to and cared about helps to create a motivated team that gets results that benefit everyone!

With a client list that reads like a who’s who of the real estate industry, Ken Goodfellow (Coach Ken) brings experience and a proven track record to all his clients. As the CEO and Founder of CKG International (www.ckginternational.com
) he takes great pride in the caliber of the program offered. His proven coaching programs are highly regarded among real estate professionals as the top in the industry. In 2005 Ken was given the prestigious Business Coach of the year Award. On top of coaching Ken is widely known through out North America for his interactive and hard hitting speaking style that keeps audience wanting more. He focuses on how to make your business extremely successful.

Within his first year of being in real estate Ken became a top producer and maintained that level for five years. He then went on to build his own real estate company from the ground up, creating a firm that had 3 offices and over 150 agents. After achieving success with his business, Ken moved into the training business bringing all his experience with him.

With over 10 years in coaching, Ken is widely known for taking high producing agents and real estate companies to a level they never dreamed possible. www.ckginternational.com

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Have you ever walked into an office and felt that elegant confidence that is produced by a team of individuals who enjoy their occupation, excel at their tasks, and perhaps most importantly, thrive within an industrious and creative community? A rapport like this doesn’t happen on its own. While every individual in an office may nurture it, skillful and humane management is the key to the creation of strong community and high morale.
Management style has changed dramatically over the last few decades. People used to expect to have very few jobs during the course of their lives. With this expectation primarily outdated, relationships between management and workers have clearly changed.

In many ways, employees currently have less loyalty to their companies than they used to. Whereas obtaining a lifetime of security through staying stationary in a sole company was once held in high regard, modern professionals are more interested in finding the best, most rewarding position for themselves. And they’ll stay on the move as their ideals evolve!

This self-interest is not necessarily a bad thing for morale, however. What it means for management is that in order to have the best possible employees or team members, workers need to feel as if they are in the best possible job. Employees will be motivated…and employers will reap the benefits of a happy, productive workplace.

It’s essential to realize that what motivates one group of people is not the same for another. These motivations tend to follow generational expectations. The motivation for a lifetime of job security, for example, is most common in depression era workers, whose morale is enhanced primarily by a feeling of confidence in the security of their positions.

Employees who are in the twenty to thirty year age group have very different expectations. They will simply leave if they feel as if their needs are not met because they do not have the same anxiety about finding another job. Because of these distinct generational differences in workplace motivations and expectations, it’s important to find exactly what it is that an employee needs in order to feel that he or she is in the uniquely right position.

Despite the fact that people come from different backgrounds and respond to different motivating factors, fortunately there are some universal influences!

Say the word. One major way for employers to promote positive feelings of motivation in their workers is to let employees know that their presence makes a difference to the company as a whole. Empower your employees by letting them understand how their work positively affects the company. Ask employees “What makes a job perfect?” Sometimes simply asking is enough to let people know that you are listening, and that they are being heard.

Tune into the emotional needs of your employees. A manager of a successful company with enviably high morale shared a story of a valued employee who was part of a newly blended family. Summer childcare was something that she had never had to plan for in the past and consequently, she felt that she could not meet the demands of her work schedule. The manager listened carefully to her situation and proposed that she work from home every other week during these summer hours. The concept worked out wonderfully! The manager’s one simple act of empathy and understanding regarding the employee’s life situation produced a positive ripple effect. The employee reacted with even greater loyalty to the company, and morale in general improved as other employees observed this caring interaction.

Generate a spirit of gratitude in your office. Letting people know on a daily basis that they have done something both wanted and needed maintains a sense of your expectations on a platform of positive reinforcement.

Set and monitor the vibe. Unfortunately, one or two employees with morale problems can affect the entire atmosphere of an office. Sadly, when you walk into an office, even if you yourself are filled with enthusiasm, motivation, and high self-expectations, it is difficult not to experience a let down when another employee is engaged in negative behavior. It is the responsibility of a manager to keep a system in place that works against being undermined by the few.

Address change. Resistance to change and new authority is a common morale buster. When one employee is promoted and suddenly has authority over another who was previously a peer, managers need to address the shift immediately. Similarly, rumors and grievances that arise over changing personnel or procedures need to be taken care of quickly in order to focus the energy of the office on work, rather than morale problem solving.

Nothing personal. Sometimes an employee will have chronic personal problems and seemingly ingrained negative behaviors. This type of cycle is something that must be addressed openly, and if a solution cannot be reached, the employee may have to be let go. Otherwise, the constant negativity may create a whirlpool that steadily draws everyone into its current. Chronic complaining and defensive attitudes take their toll on morale, too.

In these cases, make sure not to become emotionally involved in an employee’s dramatic response. Stay calm, and carefully explain your expectations. Often when employers are clear about what they expect and offer boundaries, employees have the confidence to move beyond their habitual negative responses and on to creative solutions.

The best way to achieve good morale is for employers to create an environment in which promoting positivity is everyone’s responsibility. Managers are doing their best when they help all workers feel as if they are able to focus on what’s important in the office—great work everyone feels proud of!

With a client list that reads like a who’s who of the real estate industry, Ken Goodfellow (Coach Ken) brings experience and a proven track record to all his clients. As the CEO and Founder of CKG International (www.ckginternational.com ) he takes great pride in the caliber of the program offered. His proven coaching programs are highly regarded among real estate professionals as the top in the industry. In 2005 Ken was given the prestigious Business Coach of the year Award. On top of coaching Ken is widely known through out North America for his interactive and hard hitting speaking style that keeps audience wanting more. He focuses on how to make your business extremely successful. Within his first year of being in real estate Ken became a top producer and maintained that level for five years. He then went on to build his own real estate company from the ground up, creating a firm that had 3 offices and over 150 agents. After achieving success with his business, Ken moved into the training business bringing all his experience with him. With over 10 years in coaching, Ken is widely known for taking high producing agents and real estate companies to a level they never dreamed possible. www.ckginternational.com

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Is your business making the profit it should? Many individuals continually strive harder to make their business more successful, but in the end—despite their grand efforts—profit still languishes!  Like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill in Hades, this is the essence of a lose/lose situation.

We recently heard of a hard working manager who, after assessing the cost for each of his business transactions, realized that each sale lost the company $261.00! If you are increasing the volume of your business, you must also increase your profit. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

How do you accomplish it? Here are the top ten requirements for any business to remain profitable.

1. Customer Benefits - Word of mouth business is the most profitable. Do not be overly subtle and clearly express the extras that only your business can provide. How about special promotions for past clients? A festive seasonal lunch, a weekend get-away or gift certificates? Extra benefits are what customers buy and their perception of your benefits will decide your success.

2. Extra Value - In our culture, customers don’t want a fair exchange – they want a bargain. You should under promise and over deliver. People perceive successful businesses as delivering more value than they charge for their service. Make value an intrinsic part of your image.

3. Superb Service - Have you ever heard of service that was too good? Absolutely not. Clients like to be able to reach a personal cell phone or be able to contact members of the team. Courtesies such as answering the phone on the first ring, having an eight hundred number, keeping customers informed, and maintaining impeccable guarantees provide an essential feeling of security for your customer. When they know you will take care of all the details, they will return.

4. Know your Audience - Take time to create a client profile. As you cannot be all things to all people, consider whether price, quality or reliability is most valued. Then live up to these expectations.

5. Location - Make sure your marketing message is heard! If you advertise in the yellow pages, make your ad is distinct and central. Be certain to work with your programmer to place your website at the top of search engines. Only market in the area in which you work, otherwise you are simply wasting time and money. Consider a local newsletter outlining market conditions in your area with an insert of properties for sale. Make the best and most visible use of the marketing you use.

6. Convenience - Make it simple for the customer to communicate with someone who has definitive answers. Though you cannot be available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, be available as much as possible and find someone else to take calls when you are not able.

7. Innovation - Customers respect and trust businesses that provide the most modern technology. Email, voicemail, pagers and faxes are a minimum. Live chat, information sharing, lightning fast research and comparative information sites are better. One interviewed company implemented homefeedback.com. Highly effective, the site has generated additional business since its inception. Keep up with advances, educate your employees and sellers about any updates and always consider new Internet options.

8. Reliability - Your advice, your attention to detail and your follow-through are critical elements to your service. Ensure that your customer can rely on you and your company. Realtors, for example, would be well served to do daily home previews in order to do a better job of appreciating the advantages of various properties. This allows them to do a better job of handling incoming calls and the sellers appreciate the extra effort.

9. Planning - Are you in control of your financial destiny? Without a plan, you are subject to the fickle winds of fortune. Plan to monitor, influence and profit from change by creating strategies, and tracking profitability.

10. Communication - Perhaps you know that it is vital to have great communication between yourself and your clients, but what about the communication between yourself and your employees? Without clear internal communication, your employees will not have the benefit of your profitability plan which will seriously affect its usefulness.

Bear these ten strategies in mind while calculating your financial plan. Remember, more work ought to equal more money!

With a client list that reads like a Who’s Who of the real estate industry, Ken Goodfellow (Coach Ken) brings experience and a proven track record to all his clients. As the CEO and Founder of CKG International (www.ckginternational.com ) he takes great pride in the caliber of the program offered. His proven coaching programs are highly regarded among real estate professionals as the top in the industry. In 2005 Ken was given the prestigious Business Coach of the Year Award. On top of coaching Ken is widely known throughout North America for his interactive and hard hitting speaking style that keeps audiences wanting more. He focuses on how to make your business extremely successful.

Within his first year of being in real estate Ken became a top producer and maintained that level for five years. He then went on to build his own real estate company from the ground up, creating a firm that had 3 offices and over 150 agents. After achieving success with his business, Ken moved into the training business bringing all his experience with him.

With over 10 years in coaching, Ken is widely known for taking high producing agents and real estate companies to a level they never dreamed possible. www.ckginternational.com

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