Leadership Excellence: How to Motivate an Employee in 30 Minutes or Less

Almost every manager wants to know how you motivate people. That’s a great question with an initial answer. Everyone is already motivated! You don’t motivate them, you learn how to help them do it on their own. Here’s a clue, employees aren’t always too excited to do what a manager wants done. Most do their jobs just because they have to earn a living. Research suggests that people are most motivated by:

• achievement
• Learning
• pride in work
• Recognition
• Personal growth
• Responsibility
• Advance

As long as your salary is fair, money is not a determining factor for most people. So how do you motivate a particular employee? Ask yourself a few key questions first, and use your answers to guide your interaction with the employee.

1. What do you know about this person? (Family, hobbies, interests, background, education, personal goals, etc.)
2. What are your strengths?
3. What are your weaknesses?
4. How would you characterize the person’s job performance up to this point?
5. What can you learn about this person based on your knowledge of these questions?

Then tell the employee that you want to meet one-on-one for a goal-setting meeting. Let the person know that you are doing this with all of their equipment and that it will take about thirty minutes. This is the performance management process to follow. Be on time, be prepared, and be positive. After a few jokes, give them a blank sheet of paper and you take one too. Ask the employee to write four headings on his paper: Work priorities, strengths, areas to improve, goals. then have a discussion as follows:

work priorities

Ask the employee what their top 3 job priorities are. As he responds, write the answers on his piece of paper and ask him to do the same. If in doubt, suggest one or two and see how he responds. Your goal here is to clarify work priorities.

Strengths

Ask the employee to identify their top 3-5 strengths. As he responds, write his answers on the piece of paper. Ask him to do it too. If you are having difficulties, suggest some based on your previous analysis.

Areas to improve

Ask the employee one or two areas they want to improve to do an even better job. Again, write down the answers and ask him to do it. Give your opinion after she has answered.

Goals

Ask your employee for one or two work-related goals and one personal goal that they are willing to share. Again document the discussion. When you have finished, suggest that they meet again in a week to discuss an action plan related to the discussion. Ask the employee to bring the piece of paper and thank them for the meeting.

Please note that in the above, ASK the employee first before giving feedback. Additionally, discussion of priorities and goals emphasizes achievement, pride, and responsibility. When reviewing the strengths you are praying. As you discuss areas for improvement, you are highlighting learning and growth.

How do you think an employee will respond to your discussion? From experience, most appreciate it and find it useful. This process can work with both low- and high-performing employees. Most people think they are performing better than they are. Most can perform significantly better than they are. Your job as a leader is to bring out the best in others. Bottom line: Do this process regularly over time, follow through, invest the time, and you’ll find that most of your employees will be more enthusiastic, engaged, and motivated at work.