Morning Motivation & Beyond
How Organisations & Leaders inspire their People
During the recent global Corona Virus pandemic, I have been inundated with clients wanting to make use of morning motivation coaching calls. Even in a very short time, with a targeted topic and focus, it’s heartening to observe people finding focus from fog, and gaining the confidence and clarity to identify goals and put action plans in place to achieve them.
I was left pondering how organisations could more widely motivate their workforces, providing inspiration on a collective as opposed to individual basis, particularly as we emerge from lockdown, somewhat battered and bruised after the shock of the Global Corona Virus Pandemic, back into our “new normal” working environment.
Here are my 7 Strategies for Walking the Motivational Talk:
1. Promote a Positive Working Environment
As an organisational leader, are you a positive role model for your employees? Do you adopt encouraging words towards team members to inspire them as opposed to de-motivate? What words, as a leader, can you use, combined with actions, to affect more positive outcomes for all? A collective “positive mindset” can be achieved in a variety of different ways, always starting at the top, and be shared culturally by all.
2. Offer Career Progression Opportunities
In coaching sessions, I always start by exploring the client’s goal. In his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey said that highly successful Olympians, business folk and other effective people he studied over years had in common the character trait to “Start with the end in mind”. By this he meant that they had a clear idea of their long term goals and were able to visualise them with ease, as if happening now, in the present. I’ve always been a big believer that “it’s hard to score without a goal”.
By offering employees a clear path to career progression, organisations not only encourage their people on an individual level to become highly effective cogs in the overall machine, but also collectively encourage a sense of forward movement, dynamism and achievement, as well as increase performance, productivity and ambition.
3. Encourage Personal Growth and Development
So how can you, as a leader in your organisation, encourage your staff to look at the bigger picture? Identifying opportunities for employees to progress is integral to this, whether by having a clearly defined path to career progression or by offering ways in which staff can access training and development opportunities to empower and upskill them, perhaps by way of Continuing Professional Development courses, Talent Identification programmes or coaching and mentoring.
This type of investment in staff goes a long way to making employees feel valued within the organisation as opposed to simply being a small cog in a money making machine, an integral human being as opposed to a dispensable 6 minute time unit, target crunching human resource.
4. Practise Cultural Gratitude through Recognition
Incorporating gratitude into workplace culture can also be a powerful motivator. Employee recognition and reward schemes can assist here: I spoke to an associate solicitor in a law firm recently voted “Lawyer of the Month.” Not only was she incentivised by the nomination but equally grateful: a winning combination for increasing her productivity, an incidental and added financial bonus for the organisation as a whole.
Transparent appraisal systems are also supportive of a motivated workforce, where people feel they are treated fairly, with respect and that positive feedback is encouraged.
5. Create a Pleasant Working Environment
Think of the office environment and how it might be improved, aesthetically and with other added extras. Are the fixtures and fittings conducive to a motivated and productive workforce? How can lighting, seating, desk arrangements and other fixtures be used creatively to positively impact mood? I’ve seen all sorts of privacy pods and funky seating and art work at Corporate Law Firms recently to help lighten the stress load and make the environment more pleasing to the eye. Likewise, introducing plants to communal areas and even office space allows a focus on nature of sorts: bringing a bit of the outside in is often credited for improving mood and shifting mindset.
6. Focus on Wellbeing
How can firms and organisations keep the wellness of employees at the centre of everything? Where leaders talk the talk and walk the walk about keeping “proper” hours, taking regular breaks and adopting a healthy approach towards boundaries between work and personal time, healthy cultural shifts will also occur. This might include looking at how the business operates and how flexible working within it can be harnessed. On the Bar Wellbeing Website, Mr. Justice Carr agreed, remarking that “maintaining a healthy life balance helps keep work triumphs and disasters in perspective.”
For example, leaders in organisations should offer genuine chances for employees to leave their desks, better still, the office, for a proper lunch break when and if they want. Similarly, promote wellbeing and social events such as yoga and team sporting get-togethers as being an integral and important part of the organisational ethos. Incorporating voluntary opportunities to exercise and access the outdoors in working days are frequently credited for an increase in performance, productivity and wellbeing.
Keeping in mind the impact to productivity of poor mental health and the cultural taboo of mental illness, businesses can break down barriers to inclusivity by embracing mental health initiatives such as Mental Health First Aider training, Mental Health Awareness Week and Time to Talk Day. By doing so, leaders ensure that each and every individual within the workforce feels valued and with a part to play.
7. Foster a sense of Community
With leaders and employees turning up to work feeling positive, with a genuine focus on staff wellbeing, leaders can also make employees feel valued and motivate their staff to experience a wider sense of community. A survey conducted called “Seven Key Trends Impacting On Today’s Workplace” identified that peer motivation came out as one of the top factors influencing employee retention. Everyone then experiences the feeling of working within an organisation with shared values and a genuine sense of togetherness and team spirit; peer motivation then begins to take effect. As we know “Team work makes the dream work!”
About the author
Nikki Alderson has 19 years’ experience at the Criminal Bar and now works as a specialist Corporate and Executive Coach:
· supporting law firms and Chambers to attract and retain female talent; and
· empowering female lawyers to achieve career ambitions.
Although her work focuses predominantly on one to one coaching within the workplace, she is also a Keynote Speaker and Author of No.1 Bestseller “Raising the Bar: Empowering female lawyers through coaching”.
You can purchase the book on amazon here.
You can also visit Nikki’s website here or follow her on social media using the links below:
