100 Ways to Motivate Others

100 Ways to Motivate Others
How Great Leaders and Produce Insane Results Without Driving People Crazy

by Steve Chandler and Scott Richardson

a few good insights… here are my flags…

pg 14 The mastery of a few key paradoxes is vital. They are paradoxes that have allowed our coaching and consulting to break through the mediocrity and inspire success where there was no success before. Paradoxes such as:
1. To get more done, slow down.
2. To get your point across, stop talking.
3. To hit your numbers faster, take them less seriously and make a game of it.
4. To really lead people, go ahead of them.

pg 29 Your own people are no different. If you cut off the feedback, their minds will manufacture their own feedback, quite often based on their worst fears. It’s no accident that “trust and communication” are the two organizational problems most cited by employee surveys.

pg 79 Your people limit themselves all the time. They put up false barriers and struggle with imaginary problems. One of your skills as a leader is to show your people that they can accomplish more than they think they can. In fact, they may someday be leaders like you are. And one of the reasons your people wind up admiring you is that you always see their potential. You always see the best side of them, and you tell them about it.

pg 91 So in the businesses that we coach, there are never any changes. However, our clients’ businesses are constantly experimenting to find what works better for the employees, the business, and the customer. The executives simply tell their teams, “This is an experiment to see if it works better for you and our customers. If it does, great, we are going to continue doing it. If it doesn’t, then we will modify it or get rid of it.” And as long as you monitor it and get feedback, you’ll find that the old-fashioned resistance to change melts away because your employees really do enjoy a good experiment.

pg 152 People look to their leaders for reassurance. Period. Truth is, they don’t get that reassurance most of the time. They get the opposite. They get the impression that the team is racing and behind the gun. Their manager’s demeanour and language cries out, “We’ve got to go, go, go. I’m late, I’m sorry I’m late for my meeting with you.” “I’m on the phone and it’s rush, rush, and we’re behind the eight ball, and it’s crazy around here.” The problem with that message is that you are not reassured. When you do the chaos act and convey a crisis mentality, it’s not reassuring. The concept that counters all of that and cures it forever is the concept of reassurance. Put that concept on the top of your list.

pg 157 To help your people get what they want, be mindful of them and listen to them until you find out what they really want. Then, make their goals fit inside the team objectives. Show them the link. That’s how long-lasting motivation finally happens.

pg 160 “When I’m getting ready to persuade another person, I spend one-third of the time thinking about myself, what I’m going to say, and two-thirds of the time about him and what he is going to say.” – Abraham Lincoln

pg 193 Every communication from a manager to an employee is an opportunity to instil optimism. Don’t waste that opportunity. A true leader never does. Look at your email before sending it. Is it uplifting? Does it contain an acknowledgment or an appreciation of the recipient? Does it inspire? Is it going to make someone happy? If not, take the extra minute to go back over it. Change the negative tone to a positive one. Brighten it up. Ask yourself: Would you be happy to get this email? Would you feel honoured and appreciated if you received it? Behavioural studies continue to show that positive reinforcement works more than seven times better than negative criticism to change behaviour.

pg 201 Every change is made for a reason. Every change was decided upon because the positives of the change outweigh the negatives. So, if you wish to be a highly motivational leader, you simply learn the positives, through and through. You find out everything there is to know about the upside of the change, because that’s what leadership is. Leadership is communication. … You are a leader, and so you will always reconnect the team to the mission of the company. Change will not be apologized for. Why apologize for something that will improve the strength of the organization? Every change is made (every last one of them) for the sole purpose of strengthening the ultimate viability of the organization. That’s why you advocate the change. That’s why you sell it to your team.

pg 211 Obtain a copy of Bob Nelson’s excellent study of how companies reward their people, 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, and read it with a yellow highlighter or a red pen in hand.

pg 212 The most important element of slowing down is to know that you’re always working on the right thing to be working on at any given time. Business consultant Chet Holmes says that he and his clients accomplish that by making sure each day has only six things on the Must Do list. That list lets them slow down.