Tap into the individuality of each person on your team to begin effectively motivating and empowering your team. (Complete video script below)

Video Content Script:
Managers, how effective are you at getting and keeping your people motivated? Think about your team–do you really know what motivates them? Do you know exactly how they want to be managed, motivated, supported and held accountable? If so, how do you know? If they didn’t tell you, then you could be making a very costly assumption.

Each week we produce 5-part video series around a single topic. That’s 1 short video a day–Monday through Friday–to help you evolve into the Master Manager Coach you want and need to be in order to develop your competitive edge. So, how do you effectively and consistently motivate and empower your team? As business evolves, individuals evolve too. So how do you keep up with these constant changes? The answer is as simple as ABC–the new ABC’s of Leadership–Always Be Coaching!

So, when a manager says, “Yeah…I manage 10 salespeople.” I always make the distinction, “Now, do you manage 10 salespeople” or “Do you manage ten individuals who just so happen to have the same job?” You might say I’m splitting hairs here, but this is an important distinction. Your team is comprised of unique individuals. So when we use words like inspire, overwhelm, motivate, persistent, difficult and stress, are we making assumptions that the other person has and is using the same definition that we are? Yes! We absolutely are! You’ll find very different definitions depending on who you ask. So the first tip to really empowering and motivating your team is this–tap into each person’s individuality.

And how do we do this? We do it by learning to ask well-crafted questions. So if I was a manager, I might ask one of my salespeople…

1. What do you want to achieve in your career 6 months from now? One year from now? Two years from now?
2. What motivates you to come to work each day?
3. What do you love most about your job?
4. What gives you a sense of accomplishment at the end of each day?
5. What would you love to change about your job if you could?
6. What would make your job even more exciting and fulfilling?
7. How do YOU like to be acknowledged for a job well done?

Imagine how empowering and motivating it would be for your team, of individuals, to have you sincerely ask them these questions today! What might be possible for you as a manager if you knew, really knew, exactly what it was that motivated each individual on your team? You have an opportunity to create greater alignment between their personal goals and the business objectives. Asking these questions, and others like them, will provide you with the tools needed to motivate each person around their own goals, values, and individuality instead of simply managing them in your own image.

Lets recap: To inspire and motivate people for the long-term, tap into their individuality by asking better, well-crafted questions. You’ll often be surprised with what you hear!

And remember, the solution to eliminating most of the challenges you’re faced with is the same solution used in building a team of sales champions…the new ABC’s of Leadership…Always Be Coaching!