Sometimes a great person leaves, and you think “I never knew he/she was unhappy”. You just didn’t notice, because the quality of their work carried on being great, as they prepared to quit.
Many managers forget to think about the motivation of their staff, they are so engrossed on getting the job done. All those problems and tasks arriving every day, that have to be dealt with or farmed out to other people to do. The best you can hope for is that you think a bit about who you give the job to, maybe give it to someone who will find it interesting, or learn from it, as well as just whoever will do it quickest or best or with the least hassle for you.
So what am I saying you should do?
Take five minutes per month to do a Motivation Review in your head. Go through a list of all of the people who work for you and, for each one, ask yourself all these questions:
- Give each person some Attention – “Have I spent a bit of time with Freda recently? Do I know about what’s going on in her life, is she happy, is anything worrying her about work or her life generally?”
- Does Freda need any Coaching in any areas, things that are new to her and she might be finding difficult? In fact, what has she had coaching on in the last few months?
- Have I Thanked Fred recently?
- Stretch: Has Fred got any challenges on his plate at the moment, anything that is going to stretch him, and give him a sense of achievement when he achieves it?
- Does Freda have clear Objectives that she’s working on at the moment?
- Is Fred Learning anything at the moment? Either from training or from areas of his job that are stretching him.
- Does Fred have Ownership of something – something that’s HIS, where he has some freedom as to how he does it and is accountable for the results?
…..and of course, if you spot any problems, make a note on your jobs to do to fix it straight away!
onwards and upwards!
CC
Or, Chris, do a motivational map!