ED 52 (Nov-Dec 2013)

COMMENTARY
The importance
of the emotional
connection
Do you want a team who make
a positive contribution to your
business? Who make customers
want to come back? Who nd new
customers and make more sales
and prots?
Of course you do, otherwise you
would not be in business. But I
sometimes wonder if business
owners and managers are losing
sight of this. You are often so
caught up in the day to day running
of the business, that perhaps you
forget exactly what your business
objectives are all about.
The only way you are going to
achieve more customers, more sales
and more prots, is with a highly
motivated and engaged team.
And I do not just mean those people
in sales and customer service;
everyone has a role to play. Admin
staff, maintenance, accounts,
delivery people - everyone in the
organisation.
The big question
The question most often asked by
managers is – ‘How do I motivate
my team?’ They want some instant
x, a magic bullet that improves
team motivation overnight. But as
we all know, life is not like that.
The answer is – ‘You don’t
motivate your team, you create the
environment where they motivate
themselves.’
Effective motivation is intrinsic; it
has to come from within. There is no
instant x; it is an ongoing day to day
process of small actions that build a
highly motivated and engaged team.
COMMENTARY
Building a
Motivated Team
It is like pushing a heavy boulder,
you need some initial effort to get the
process going, but once you have
done that, it takes a lot less effort to
keep it moving.
Two levels of communication
Gallup denes a highly motivated
and engaged worker as one who has
“heightened emotional connection”
with his or her organisation, leading to
greater effort in getting the job done.
The only way to develop that
emotional connection is for the line
manager to communicate with each
team member on a human level as
well as a business level. Business
level communication is all about
what needs to be done and who
needs to do it. It’s about solving
problems, and giving feedback both
positive and not so positive.
Personal example
Let me give you a personal example
of human level communication. I
once worked for a manager who
was excellent at this. Stuart was
the Director of Sales and I was a
Regional Manager with six Sales
people reporting to me. Stuart was
my boss, he was located about four
hundred miles from me so I did not
see him too often.
However, we did have regular
contact by phone. He would always
14
NOV DEC 2013
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