What’s the best way to motivate you?

Do you prefer the cheer leader or drill sergeant?

What’s the difference and why is it important?

Let me give you an example.

One time I was at the gym. It was a small ladies gym, in the back of the owner’s house. The owner had employed a young girl to assist with training. There was only enough room for about 4 ladies to train so it was quite cosy and everyone could hear and see what was going on.

I was on the rowing machine. It was 6:00am.

I was moving very slowly and deliberately as I wanted to concentrate on getting my technique right.

The young girl approached me and as she did she yelled “Oh, come on. A bit more effort.”

I was shocked and also embarrassed because the other ladies stopped and looked.

“Come on”, she said again. “Put a bit more effort into it. Stop being lazy.”

Now I was furious.

I was deliberately going slow to practise technique. Yelling at me like a drill sergeant is not the way to motivate me.

What would have worked better for me would have been for her to come over quietly and say something like, “Great technique Shirley, how about we just speed it up a bit more now so you get a bit of a cardio workout with it”.

I was so annoyed and upset by the way this young girl yelled orders at us, I decided not to go back. In hindsight we both missed out. The owner missed out on the revenue and I missed out on the exercise.

This young girl had no idea about how to motivate and inspire people. It wasn’t her fault. She most likely hadn’t been trained.

If you own the business, it’s your responsibility to train your people how to lead and manage. It’s your responsibility to make sure they know how to motivate and inspire your people.

There’s a huge difference between acting like a cheer leader or a drill sergeant.

Both have their place. What is important is that you know when, with whom and how to use the techniques.

You have to know your people.

You have to know what they need.

This week I encourage you to observe your people or simply ask.

“How do you like to be motivated and inspired?”

“What’s the best way for me to support you?”

It’s not a secret. People will tell you. They’ll be impressed you care enough to ask.

Based on what you know already, which of your team members require a cheer leader and which require a drill sergeant?

Now might also be a good time for some self-reflection, what’s your predominant motivation style? Does this work for everyone?

P.S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

P.P.S. Claim the date. Our next Loyal Lieutenant Masterclass Series starts Thursday 30^th March 9:30am Sydney time for 9 weeks. Hands on training, creating and streamlining systems and processes for your team and organisation.

Many years ago, when I was working with Kip McGrath and new to management, I proudly announced that I was going to engage a cleaner. Kip thought that was a great decision. What he didn’t think was so great, was my expectation that I was going to be able to supervise the cleaner to do things the way I wanted them done.

“Shirley, you can’t supervise what you don’t see”, he said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“If you’re going to supervise someone, you have to be able to see what they’re doing. You have to be able to monitor their work.”

It was many years later before I fully understood this.

It doesn’t mean that you micromanage someone. It doesn’t mean that you watch them like a hawk.

What it means is that you have to be able to observe, in some way, the actions they are taking towards the outcomes you want.

It means that you have to have an understanding, of what the person is meant to be doing. You can’t outsource supervision, but you can outsource the work.

Confused?

Here’s an example:
Say you have a team of workers who are working remotely. They may be onshore or offshore. How do you monitor/supervise their work if you can’t “see” what they are doing?

Here’s the fine distinction between my example with the cleaner and your remote workers. With my cleaner, I was only able to see the outcome. Was the house clean? Unless I was in the house or had cameras installed, I wasn’t able to observe how the cleaner did the work.

If I wasn’t able to see how the cleaner did the work, I couldn’t help them improve or become more efficient, assuming I knew the best way to clean.

It’s the same for you and your team. You need to be able to observe how they work in order to help support them. Think about the salespeople in your business. I expect they have targets to reach, either number of sales or dollar value.

If you don’t know what they are doing to reach those targets, you can’t help them grow and develop or become even more efficient.

It’s the same with your workers who may now be working from home or overseas. You need to be able to see what they are doing. You can do this via systems and processes. You can do this via regular catch ups with them. Ask them how they do things. Ask them to show you. Ask them to explain their thought processes.

In my years as a consultant, I’m still amazed at how people perform tasks. I’m still intrigued that many don’t look for a better way to do things. I’m still challenged when there is a better way to do something and we meet resistance from those who don’t like and actively resist change.

You can’t supervise what you don’t see.

Your task this week is to start looking. If you want to improve things, best you know how things work first.

P.S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.