Self-Motivation
Discover more from How to Lead Everybody (with their permission)
“I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.” ~ Winston Churchill
Not everyone is a natural self-starter. Some people stand around waiting to be told what to do.
As leaders, you can direct your people and get them to be productive team members. But also look at ways you can grow people’s capacity to self-motivate, self-start, and self-lead.
Empower them: When they know how to do something, give them control of that part of the project. They still need to keep you in the loop, but they can complete the tasks up to the quality standards and by the deadlines in any ways they think best.
Build their confidence: Give positive feedback for good work and good efforts, and redirect or refine their efforts to revise drafts so they know how to polish them to a professional level.
Communicate your expectations: Let your people know that, while you have an “open door” if they run into problems, you are looking to help them grow in their careers, and that means they can take actions based on their best judgment to fix problems.
Have a “no failure, only learning experience” mindset: Not every decision will be a right decision. Help your team members to learn from missteps, and hopefully learn ways to make things right when they happen.
(Photo by Clemens van Lay on Unsplash)