You only need two things to meet your goals ✌️

Motivation and support. 

When you have the motivation to do the thing, and the support to get it done, you have the perfect formula. 

Motivation means willingness, but it is more than that. Motivation is also the excitement of doing the thing, it means looking forward to it and being a reliable party. 

Support means enablement. Support provides the training, the resources, and the tools required to get the thing done. 

When you – and your team – have both motivation and support, you are unstoppable. 

Offer motivation

How are you maintaining the balance of motivation and support in your business?

It starts with hiring. 

Motivation is not a technical skill, it is not a retail purchase, it is not a software tool. Motivation is a competency that your people either have or do not have. Hire the people who are motivated. 

Specifically: hire the people who are motivated by the same things that motivate you. 

How?

Use your mission statement: hire people who want to join you on that mission. 

Complete your mission statement with your guiding principles: hire people who value the same things you do. 

Offer support

How do you make sure your employees have everything they need?

Ask. 

Giving the correct support means creating an environment in which your employees can do what they need to do. 

When you give them a job to do, you have to ensure they are able to do it. Offer them the right training, make sure the software they need is accessible, list the business tools and resources they will need, and provide them. 

How?

Ask them. Your people have plenty to teach you. 

Your team leaders or individual employees must be able to tell you what they need to get the job done. Allow them to create the best process, suggest the right tools, and request additional training. 

Trust your people

When I say that a good work environment is a continuous conversation between employer and employee, this is what I mean. Offer motivation, offer support, expect motivation, and expect support. 

What next

When was the last time you let your employees write their own job descriptions? Now is a good time to review their roles: contact me to talk about your new organizational chart, balanced between motivation and support.