Motivation is an essential business skill that is difficult to teach and can't be taught overnight. It takes a willingness to learn and develop new strategies along with guidance and the ability to execute strategy effectively. Motivation is a key process that assists leaders in defining and maintaining business objectives and future plans. In today's business environment there are numerous drivers of motivation which include; managing time, managing resources, building performance, and exceeding customer expectations.
Motivation, what motivates it, has long been researched for many years and most business leaders have employed psychological tests to identify an employee's personality and improve their interpersonal skills. However, psychological assessments alone will never reveal all that you need to learn, it's important for managers to understand their team and how they view motivation and how to be even more specific with their approach to motivation within their own organization. For example, a motivated team of individuals working in a technical support center should be compared to another team of individuals working at a different company. One would expect the technical support center to have a higher morale than the other company, however if you dig a little deeper than just the jobs being performed, you'll see that there are many differences between the two teams. One company may emphasize having a great work ethic and motivating employees by rewarding them for hard work and the other may emphasize that the higher number of tickets they have in a day indicates that they are performing better than normal, therefore they should be encouraged to keep pushing and get those extra few tickets done.
A major portion of motivation has to do with job satisfaction and employee motivation is about being happy at one's work. If the employees in the technical support center are truly happy with the work they do then they will enjoy every aspect of their job and they will be fully engaged, which will lead to a much higher level of motivation for them. The more fulfilled an employee is at his or her work the more motivation they will find to continue being productive and making a positive impact on their workplace. A team that is having a lot of members that aren't happy with their job is in danger of losing motivation between each other. When this happens negativity can spread through the team and it can be quite harmful to the group overall. It is essential for motivation within a technical support center to stay high in order to keep the employees motivated.
It has also been found that highly motivated team members are more productive than their less motivated counterparts. In order to keep motivation high and keep business moving forward employees should be evaluated on their job performance from time to time. Sometimes business owners will notice that their team members have a consistent positive attitude, motivated and focused, and they seem to perform at their best when there is a leadership evaluation conducted, this can be a good sign that the owner needs to send the team to a leadership camp.
Another aspect of organizational culture that has been linked to motivation is the trust and satisfaction that individuals feel when they are part of a team. Research has indicated that this satisfaction can actually lead to increased productivity as well as better employee engagement. There is also research that suggests that larger companies have a much higher rate of satisfaction than small businesses and this may help explain why there are a greater number of complaints among smaller companies when compared to those of large corporations. Building trust within a team has also been shown to increase motivation among team members.
Although there have been many studies conducted in regards to leadership styles and business motivation, many people still remain unsure as to what exactly leadership styles mean and how they can benefit their organization. The truth is that a person's leadership style can greatly affect his or her motivation levels. However, one thing that most business owners and managers do agree on is that good leadership skills do come from a good sense of self-confidence. This means that a person's self-confidence can influence their overall motivation levels as well as their ability to provide a positive work environment for their team.
One of the more popular leadership styles in use today is called the entrepreneur. This type of leader considers himself to be the leader first and foremost and does everything he can to support his team. He takes the initiative and leads by example; often times displaying amazing entrepreneurial spirit through his actions. Most employees view an entrepreneur as highly skilled at managing chaos while maintaining focus and productivity.
A final common leadership style that is commonly used is the dynamic leadership style. The employees are considered to be part of a team first and foremost. This means that they are responsible for performing tasks assigned to them and anything else that the leader, who is also the manager, feels is necessary. They are often considered to be problem solvers and are great team builders. This particular dynamic leadership style is becoming more common in the workplace.