Motivate and Inspire Your Employees
by Dera DeRoche-Jolet

Would you like to motivate and inspire your employees (and even others in your life) to be their best?

We all know people who inspire us. For some of us it might be a family member. For others it might be a historical or religious figure. Those who have started out small in business and built their companies into multi-million dollar empires inspire many of us who own or would like to own our own company. For kids, it might be an imaginary hero from a book or movie. Of course, most of us in America were inspired by the actions of the heroes of September 11th.

Part of your job as manager (and even in your own family) is to motivate those around you. But exactly how does someone inspire others?

Start with the examples of those people who inspire you and learn from them. How and why do they inspire you? Once you’ve reflected on your own heroes, you can then put into practice some other simple ways you can motivate and inspire your employees to be the best they can be:

Be a good example.
”Do as I say, not as I do” is not good advice for managers. Employees will always watch what you do more than they listen to what you say. Don’t be hypocritical. Be someone worth following.

Take a genuine interest in your employees.
Every truly great leader who inspires people takes a genuine interest in others. Once employees see that you’re taking a genuine interest in them, they will be more apt to rise to their potential and do their best.

Appreciate your employees.
Everyone likes to be appreciated for the work they do. Employees like to feel as if they are a valued part of the company, which will also help them do their best.

Share from your own experiences.
Share your own personal experiences with employees. They will be much more likely to be interested in what you are saying as well as the business. Being personal shows that you can relate to them and that you understand their viewpoints. Your own stories will not only inspire, but they are easy to learn from. It’s no coincidence that children learn best from stories.

Share your failures.
By willing to share your failures as well as your successes, others will relate to you much more deeply. They'll understand that they're not the only ones with challenges and that success doesn’t come overnight or without problems.

Watch what you say.
Watch what you say and how you say it. While we may not mean to come across a certain way, it’s easy to be condescending when relating how you’ve overcome problems or how you’ve made it (and they didn’t). This also includes written communication and especially e-mail.

Challenge your employees.
If you’ve ever had a teacher who challenged you, you’ll understand what I mean. They asked you to go the extra mile and to do your best. It might have been difficult and you probably didn’t think you could do it, but believe it or not - you usually made it and were grateful for the push.

Read.
Every good leader has a thirst for knowledge and is always looking to learn from others. The best way to expand your horizons and “meet” other people is to read.

By learning how to motivate and inspire employees, we not only help others but our companies and ourselves as well.