Employee Motivation - Access Their Unique Talents

Your people are invaluable to you. They are the lifeblood of your business or organisation. And yet, in many situations, managers take little time to truly find out what makes each of their people special. Makes them unique.

But why would this be important to know?

When people bring their special blend of skills to your workplace, it's important to know about it. And not just because you might be able to get more out of them. When you know what turns your people on, they work happier and contribute more; sometimes, much more than you might expect from them. When they are working in their 'flow', they are on top form, in overdrive. And then remarkable results flow.

So, how do you find out what your people are best at, and also where they struggle?

Many organisations now use a variety of techniques to get to the bottom of who their employees truly are. These take the form of assessments - often simple questionnaires - that their employees complete. Then both employee and line-manager work together with the data, to understand the focused results that such information provides.

More commonly now, external coaches are brought in to work with special types of assessments, to provide an outsider's support, well away from line management or performance assessments. This enables openness and honesty ? not always possible if your boss is your coach.

In the assessment systems that are available, some tend to place people in boxes, which can almost lead to the employee 'acting out' what they expect to be like from the results. This can be very discouraging, especially when told that it's 'just the way you are' (and this with little hope of changing ever!).

There are now more modern approaches, which are enabling employees to understand better their behaviours. These can be adapted and developed, with the encouragement and challenge of a coach, to deliver far greater performance than previously possible.

Often these 'behavioural' approaches accelerate development, to such an extent that prolonged coaching contracts are unnecessary, although after a time, such is the success, that (especially senior employees) come back for a further burst of activity, to raise the bar on their own performance even further.

Ultimately, it the employee's prerogative to decide in which areas of developing their performance they might wish to focus. With a modern, self-assessment style questionnaire identifying where they are in the moment, it is be well worth the time and investment to give themselves a head start. Celebrating the unique skills and talents they already have is a good place to start.

Those at the head of a business or organisation can set an example. This enables them to model change as a 'good thing' and encourage others to take full part, in the knowledge that this is not going to be a painful experience, yes, maybe challenging, but ultimately good, for the employee as well as everyone else, both inside and outside the workplace.

© Martin Haworth 2005. At Coaching Businesses to Success, we work with clients from all sorts of business backgrounds worldwide, often entirely by phone, using Intercept® ID, a proven, soft-skills gap analysis tool.

For more information, checkout the Coaching Businesses to Success website for more details.

---

Organisational Culture for Continuous Improvement

I have been working with leading Business Improvement guru, Tim... Read More

Poly Bags and Pallet Shrouds - Just Get it Right

For many companies, procuring the right packaging, such as Poly... Read More

Managing Yo-Yo Style

Does being managed by others smack more of "Survivor" than... Read More

Experiences of Management Coaching (Part 2)

In our experience, we have found that there are several... Read More

Is Your Brain Getting the Memory Full Message? 5 Ways to Free Up Room on Your Brains Hard Drive

Lynn was tapped to head up the project team for... Read More

The 6 Steps to Six Sigma

Step 1Get the proper level of Six Sigma expertise at... Read More

Telephone Techniques: Boost Your Productivity With Effective Phoning

One of the things that most impacts people's productivity is... Read More

Keys to Feeling Powerfull In An Uncertain World

Life has always been full of uncertainties. Over the last... Read More

Business Relationship Germs

In management seminars I often compare debt to an infection.... Read More

How To Get What You Really Want

As a small business owner, entrepreneur or independent professional, it's... Read More

Why Businesses Fail - And What You Can Do About It!

Have you unintentionally set your business up for failure?No one... Read More

3 Tests To Hire The Best

Question: What's the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to have... Read More

Does Your Management Style Remind People Of Something They Read In Dilbert?

With thanks to Jeff Foxworthy, the comedian who does the... Read More

Organizational Techniques - Tickler and Chron File

One of the biggest problems we encounter in our consulting... Read More

Managing Rebellious Employees

Surveys of executives reveal that many companies fall short of... Read More

ISO 9001 and Total Quality Management

Total Quality ManagementTotal Quality Management, or TQM, has become one... Read More

A Checklist for Organized Executives

I could begin this article by providing a checklist of... Read More

5 Ways of Increasing Business Profits

The economy may finally be turning around and showing signs... Read More

Travel the World - for Free!

I have been very fortunate to travel to several countries... Read More

So, You Want to be in Management? Five Essential Factors that Will Determine Your Chances

The following information is based upon over 500 interviews with... Read More

Innovation Management ? smart people dont necessarily produce great ideas

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Innovation Management ? The Need For Knowledge Managers

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Never Wrestle with a PIG

The business books at the library and book stores fill... Read More

Problem Solving

When problem solving, you may recognize that you were working... Read More

Know the Source of Business

One of the first questions we ask a prospect or... Read More

Manage Communication to Add Value

Management guru Tom Peters says white collar workers and managers... Read More

Knowledge Management - Creating a Sustainable Yellow Pages System

How can I "know who knows" None of us can... Read More

Using Outlook to Count Responses

Here's a productivity tip that will save you a lot... Read More

Take This Into Consideration Before You Write Your Mission Statement

What principles should a company keep in mind when developing... Read More

Hire Winners: Avoid These 10 Interview No-No?s

Have you ever hired someone who did not live up... Read More

The Fairness of Office Politics... Integrity and Political Motivation!

I hear many complaints daily about the "unfairness" of politics... Read More

Spotlight on Productivity: How to Overcome E-Mail Overload

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by e-mail? Have you ever... Read More

The ?Better People? Fallacy

It's easy enough to convince your own staff that better... Read More