Great Managers Part 3: Motivation

Motivation is key to leading as a manager. The Gallup State of the American Manager report suggests that people leave managers, not companies. This is alarming given that Gallup’s research reveals only 1 in 10 people possess a high talent to manage. Sheesh. The good news is, within that 10 percent, we can identify what good managers have a strong ability to do:

• Build trust and dialogue with their people about both work and life away from the office

• Coach and develop people by focusing on their strengths

• Motivate every employee individually

• Engage employees with a compelling vision

• Create a culture of clear accountability

• Put the right people in the right roles

• Make decisions based on productivity, not politics

As a strengths coach, I know there is not a narrow set of themes to make a great manager. Rather, great managers are able to find ways to use their natural talent and developed strengths to accomplish the list above.

That’s the good news in all of this. I believe that the characteristics of a good manager are abilities that can be learned, invested in and improved. It’s true all managers have talent – no doubt about it – that’s how they were promoted to be a manager. However, far more often than not, the talent that got them there does not necessarily translate to being a manger of people.

Our mission at Ryan Church Consulting is to help people use their talent and strengths to improve workplace relationships. We have a strong bias that sustainable, high-performing, fun-at-work, stay-in-this-job-for-longer teams happen because of great relationships. Please join us on the blog to gain some insights about each of the points above as we journey toward becoming your company’s most valuable resource – a great manager.

Motivating Each Employee

A good speech can get me fired up. I still remember the address at my college graduation that all at once told me that my degree didn’t mean I was smart but gave me the challenge to prove it. Or it could be something like Bill Pullman (aka President Thomas J Whitmore) in the mid-90s classic Independence Day...”Today we celebrate our Independence Day!” Or Bluto from Animal House inviting everyone to consider, “This could be the greatest night of our lives!” A good speech is one that has the potential to truly engage me.

Gallup's report suggested that great managers have an ability to motivate every employee individually. If only motivating employees was as easy as a good speech, right?

The implication is that when it comes to motivation, one size does not fit all. A speech that lands for one person may not make any sense to another. And a skilled manager is one who is looking for granular ways to connect with each of their direct reports in meaningful ways.

In short, managers must be customizers. In a world of big data customization, managers must be close enough, available enough, and, ultimately, interested enough in each individual direct report that they can collect enough data to know how to best approach each person for motivation and engagement at work. I see this as the single biggest hurdle to managers achieving greatness. Our digital tools possess a great ability to connect us, but they often hinder our ability to really get to know someone. And it is precisely this type of knowing that is required for managers to be good motivators to the individuals on their team.

It is a refrain in workplaces across the country in closed door meetings managers have with various confidants: “Why don’t they do what I tell them to do? I was totally clear about what I wanted and what I asked.”

Maybe. Maybe not. What we do know is the person being referred to was certainly not motivated by whatever was said. Or even understood it. We have to stop and ask ourselves why. Why didn’t this person do what I asked them to do? Do I need to show them? Do I need to make it clearer how this connects to the bigger mission of the department or organization? Have I asked this person how they are doing and then actually listened to see if this is actually not about me as their manager at all, but maybe there is a difficulty outside of work making motivation difficult. We would all love for what happens outside of work to not impact us or the people we work with. But it does.

We also have to remember that the ways we are motivated are not necessarily the ways that others are motivated. A popular book that many blossoming romances are shaped by is The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Part of what Dr. Chapman enlightens people to is the manner in which individual people give and receive love and affection are different. An individual must learn how their partner receives love and then learn how to offer that type of love. Dr. Chapman then provides a brief and very helpful group of words and activities that might give shape to expressing affection to a partner.

While not romantic, it’s a similar concept for a manager. We need not only more robust insight into what makes people tick, but a better language to engage it. This is where tools such as CliftonStrengths, DISC or the Enneagram can be very helpful. They provide a clearer language and paradigms that help us discover new and different ways that we might motivate those we are privileged to lead, no matter who they are or what makes them tick.