Time to read: 2 minutes

According to a recent Gallup Business Journal article: only 30% of American workers…were engaged, or involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their workplace.  An alarming 70% are not showing up to work committed to delivering their best performance, and this has serious implications for the bottom line of individual companies and the U.S. economy as a whole.

Leaders Discuss Motivation

How can leaders best motivate employees? Here are some answers, expressed in their own words:

• “Great leaders facilitate, they don’t command or control like infantry officers in combat.  Even under those dire circumstances, great infantry officers understand how to motivate troops.  They recognize the need for discipline, but the best of them temper it through motivational techniques.  So, why do some business leaders feel the compunction to act as infantry officers (as they see them)? It’s ego, pure and simple.  And, in the long run, it doesn’t work.  Great leaders understand that facilitation is the key to motivating employees.”
• “Continuous learning is the foundation for improvement and the cornerstone of motivation.  When employees learn, they grow, and when they grow they are motivated to do better jobs, to engage, to participate, to be part of the team.  Learning is an inclusive experience that brings everybody into the fold.”
• “You’ll really see the effects of motivation in periods of crisis.  That’s when a motivated team pulls together, and their combined strength is mighty powerful. It’s equivalent to synergism, where one plus one equals three.  Without that motivation you don’t have engagement, and when you don’t have engagement, results seldom exceed mediocrity.”
• “Contrary to what some leaders believe, compassionate management isn’t for sissies.  It doesn’t mean abandoning performance standards at the expense of placating employees.  It does mean empathizing with people who have problems by driving to the core reasons for those problems and providing employees with the tools to fix those problems.  Compassionate management, in that sense, is a potent motivational tool.”
• “Never underestimate the effect your bearing, your facial expressions, how you walk and behave, has on employees.  If you hold yourself erect, maintain a calm demeanor, keep the expression on your face consistent, and walk with a sense of purpose, even under the most stressful circumstances, it will spill over to employees, from workers through executives, and motivate them to face their problems with a sense of purpose and resolve.”   
• “Motivation doesn’t work when you have the wrong people working for you.  Highly effective leaders hire outstanding performers, place them in the right jobs, empower them, and watch as they accomplish great things.”
• “Successful leaders never accept the status quo.  They continually ask questions and seek answers and alternatives that are thoroughly explored.  This is the kind of intellect that identifies hard-thinking employees and gives them the opportunity to excel.”
• “It’s difficult to let go, to assign employees the responsibility to what you now do.  But if want a highly motivated workforce, that’s exactly what you must do.  You’ll be amazed at what people accomplish when they’re given both the authority and responsibility for their work.”
• “True leaders meet problems head on.  They don’t evade, delay, avoid, and make excuses.  Their ability to see things clearly, to possess the fortitude to accept responsibility, sends a clear message throughout the organization and motivates employees to do the same.”
• “One of the most destructive influences in a company is politics that flourishes unchecked.  When employees see that real achievements take a backseat to fawning, servility, and insincere flattery, their motivation goes into free fall.  When you find a successful leader know that they have eliminated that pernicious influence.”
• “In the successful company, its leaders have curbed the need to extract as much as possible from employees and replaced it with the need to instill value in them.”
• “One of the greatest tests of any leader is the ability to identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees and find ways to place them in jobs that magnify those strengths and minimizes weaknesses.”     

Contact us today to discuss our leadership development programs, executive coaching or to have nationally acclaimed speaker and award winning author Jeff Wolf speak at your next meeting, conference or convention:   madams@wolfmotivation.com  858-638-8260 or www.wolfmotivation.com  

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