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How many times have you phoned someone to be told, “They’re in a meeting!?”At least 60 per cent of a manager’s time is spent in meetings. Research in one large organisation discovered that the figure could be as high as 90 per cent. And another survey found that many managers consider meetings they attend, to be a waste of time. In fact, some managers say that – “meetings take ‘minutes’ and last for hours.”If you are a manager or team leader, then you will have to hold meetings; here are 4 steps to make them exceptionally Motivational:

1. Don’t hold a meeting unless you really have to. Be really, really sure that the meeting is needed and that it has a clear objective. By the end of the meeting, however long it takes, the shorter the better; you have to be sure that you’ve achieved that objective.

2. Start the meeting on time. Don’t wait for anyone and don’t go over what’s been discussed for latecomers. Of course, you really shouldn’t have latecomers and if you do, speak to them individually after the meeting and sort it out.

3. Have a structured agenda showing start time, breaks and finish time. Don’t schedule meetings to start on the hour; say 1.20 rather than 1 0’clock. And if it’s a half day meeting, start in the afternoon rather than the morning; people will keep moving if they think they will be late leaving work. Ruthlessly stick to that agenda; don’t allow people to ramble or talk about things not on the agenda. If you want to have chit-chat time – put it on the agenda! Keep people moving and even get them out the door before the finish time on the agenda.

4. Make meetings fun. Supply snacks, drinks, fruit and chocolate. Start the meeting with a fun energiser game or quiz. Let one of the team chair the meeting occasionally (as long as they control the agenda). Allow people to have a laugh; create energy and enthusiasm.

So there you have it; Motivational Managers run structured meetings with clear objectives where people have fun and resultantly contribute and get things done.

Read more on How to Hold Motivational Meetings…

I have a confession to make; I, on occasion, have felt a little de-motivated. Yes, me, the ‘Motivation Doctor,’ feels a bit lacking in motivation from time to time, just like everybody else.

I’ve talked in the past about how to develop your Brain and Body Energy to build self-motivation; so here’s another suggestion – Spend time with positive people.

Last Saturday I had lunch (well beer and chips) with five of my really good friends. They’re always interested in what I’m doing, really supportive and they really make me laugh! When I leave them, I feel much better and more motivated than I did before we met.I like to think that I do the same for them, and that’s the secret to receiving support and motivation from others; you need to hand out some ‘Warm Glows’

So let me ask you; do you remember how you felt after your last interaction with another person either on the phone or face to face? That person – it could have been one of your customers, a colleague, a salesperson, a friend or even a member of your family. Did they make you feel good, uplifted and more positive? Did they leave you feeling neutral or, even worse, did they make you feel down and more negative?

Unfortunately, most of us have grown up in a negative culture where it’s much easier to tell people what they did wrong rather than praise them when they succeed. Research in the United States found that 65% of employees received no recognition for good work in the past year.  Similar research in other countries of the world shows comparable results. Other research has shown that the number one reason people leave their job, and customers take their business elsewhere, is that they don’t feel appreciated. (And if you think about it – many people leave their partners for the very same reason) If customer’s leave an interaction with you or one of your team feeling better than they did before, then they’re much more likely to come back, recommend you to other people and spend more money with you.If one of your team feels better after an interaction with you then they’re much more likely to pass that feeling onto a customer.

“The way you treat your staff is the way they’ll treat your customers” – Karl Albrecht

If a friend feels better and more motivated after spending time in your company, then they’re much more likely to return these feelings to you.

So, go ahead; give some positive and motivational comments to the other people in your life and you’ll have – a workplace that’s more productive and more fun – more happy customers – more friends – better relationships and a healthier, happier and longer life.

Remember – “Hand out warm glows, not dampeners.”

Read more on How to Feel Even More Self-Motivated…

Let me ask you a simple question. Do you, as a manager, want a highly motivated team who don’t take time off work, who achieve their goals and objectives, and don’t stress you out in the process?I’m sure the answer is – Yes! However, you’re no doubt asking how you’re supposed to achieve this ‘miracle.’

The one thing you need to know about team motivation is that – there’s no such thing! Okay, so the football manager ‘motivates’ the team by getting them together at half-time and ‘explaining’ how they’re about to lose the game unless they start to play a lot better. (This, of course, is the polite version)

However, the only way to build a highly motivated team is to concentrate on individual motivation and create an environment where the individual ‘motivates them self.’ Every member of your team is a complex and complicated human being and they all have different needs. Your job, as a Motivational Manager, is to find out what these needs are, and satisfy them.

There are 3 actions you can take

1. Spend some quality time with each team member – One or two minutes of quality time on a regular basis is far more productive than an appraisal once a year. You need to get to know the individual better and they need to get to know you. You’ll gain a much better understanding of them and how they’re handling the job. It will also send the message that you care about them and show that you’re there to help with problems, both personal and business.

2. Give feedback and coach them – You need to regularly tell each of your team members when they’re doing well and when not so well. This is where so many employers and managers fall down in dealing with their people; they’re hopeless at giving feedback! Many managers are uncomfortable telling staff how they feel about their work performance. Some managers still believe – “Why should I praise people when they’re only doing what they’re paid to do!”However, most employees want to know how they are performing in their job; they want to know if they are doing it right or how they could do it better. If you really want to motivate your team members then you need to ‘catch them doing something right’ and tell them about it. If, on the other hand, you hear or observe them doing something you’re not happy about, then you need to tell them what needs improved and coach them.It’s important to tell the team member when they’re not performing. There are too many managers who either ignore poor behaviour or come down on the person like a ton of bricks. There are particular ways to give feedback and coach and they’re described in detail in my book – How to be a Motivational Manager.

3. Be a believer – You need to constantly demonstrate to the team member that you trust and believe in them, by what you say, your tone of voice and your body language. They will very quickly sense if you don’t trust them to carry out their job and they’ll act accordingly. If you believe that your people are not to be trusted to do their job; that they’ll turn up late and go home early, then that is exactly what they’ll do.On the other hand, if you believe that your people will do their job well, that they can be trusted to make decisions that are good for the business and that they’ll give you a fair day’s work, then it is more likely this is what you’ll get. As with all theories, there is no guarantee that this will work every time. However the majority of people in this world are reasonable people; if you treat them as such they’re more likely to behave in a positive manner.

So there you have it; Motivational Managers know that to get the best out of their people they need to concentrate on the human interactions and make that emotional connection with each individual team member.

Read more on The One Thing You Need to Know about Team Motivation…

Image taken on 2009-05-26 14:37:37 by zoompict (away again).

Image taken on 2009-05-03 19:02:43 by whitehatblackbox.