Do You Have a Motivated Workforce?
Any successful entrepreneur will stress the importance of productivity, which is key to growing a business. Every business owner’s dream is a productive workforce that supports your company’s values and goals.
But what is a productive workforce? The key element is workplace productivity. In other words, not how many hours an employee works, but how many hours it takes to complete the elements of their role. Yet this simple definition does not consider how to account for what an employee truly brings to the table.
For employees to be productive, they need to be motivated. Motivation comes from understanding how individual roles are aligned with the company’s overall mission and values. Simply put, a productive workforce is a group of motivated people who work together to achieve a common goal, even if they perform different roles independently from each other.
However, productivity is not all about teamwork. Effective leadership is considered the most crucial element of creating a motivated workforce. Employees that are inspired and engaged will naturally be more motivated. In business, motivation is often categorized in a rudimentary way and offered in terms of material rewards, such as a bonus or a pay rise. While this form of motivation no doubt produces the desired result for a percentage of employees in the shorter term, it can lead to a high attrition rate in the long term. Employees need the needs of their inner self recognized by leaders that are genuine and instill meaning into the reasons they chose to work at a particular company.
Effective Leadership and Motivation
Qualities attributed to effective leadership often revolve around motivating, inspiring, communicating, and making hard decisions. And, although these abilities are all noteworthy, they are not the foundation of relationships, which are fundamentally what leadership is based on. This is supported by work from Abraham Zaleznik on how to excel in leadership. Here, he discusses the concept of leadership and challenges the theory that leaders need to exercise power. He proposes that relationships are the foundation for motivating employees and creating a productive workforce. This has been expanded in an article called Understanding Leadership, Published by the Harvard Business Review. The author analyzes previous work that has reframed the position of a leader and how employees respond to different styles of leadership. Interestingly, the author proposes that the “essence of leadership” and performance is based on how each individual’s motivating factors are recognized.
Motivation through self-interest is often seen as a negative motivator. Yet everyone operates for their inner self “interest”. Our inner self or true self is the real driving force in all elements of life, both professional and personal. To separate our inner self from self-interest results in a detached level of motivation and feeling as if we are Meant For More….
Business Relationships
Ok, let’s consider what it takes to create something. Resources, processes, and environment are, of course, important. However, “genuine leadership” unites everything to make it work effectively. Often, leadership is considered one of the elements of a productive workforce rather than the crucial element, without which all other factors become redundant. So how can you be more effective as a leader?
Relationships are key in every part of life. What many business owners and entrepreneurs try to do is compartmentalize their lives. Typically this will be a result of advice, to have a clear divide between personal life and work life. This is where the problem begins. When you focus on dividing your life into segments, you are dividing your inner self.
If you’re reading this, I take a chance on guessing that at times in both your work and personal life, you feel unhappy, insecure, or unworthy of what you have achieved. This may not, in your view, be anything to do with the divide of your inner self and operating from a place of higher consciousness. Stay with me. I know you are probably sighing and about to stop reading! I hear you! You don’t believe in “higher consciousness”, you are a successful entrepreneur or business owner and this was built from hard work. Everything you know about success has always stressed the value of separating personal and work relationships. After all, the saying is “It’s not personal, it’s business”. This is such a load of BULL, and this is why…..
Factors That Contribute to Workplace Productivity
In addition to outstanding leadership which starts with you, other factors will also support employees’ productivity.
An appropriate and comfortable work environment impacts how people feel physically and mentally. There are various aspects to consider, with the most important generally considered the design of office space, lighting, air quality, and thermal comfort.
Processes are another vital component of workplace productivity. Without streamlined processes, work may be repeated and time wasted completing recurring tasks. IT aspects should also be automated wherever possible and programs centralized.
Resources are essential. Without the appropriate resources, employees will struggle, regardless of work environment or processes. Ensuring training is adequate, technology is updated periodically, and consumables are monitored and replaced when needed will make the life of all employees easier.
Unlock Your Potential
Research shows leadership training is not effective long term, no matter who it is provided by or how positive the feedback and evaluation at the time. What is clear is that the person in charge is holding back the overall productivity of their employees by self-sabotaging their leadership with misconceptions that come from limiting beliefs.
Many of the difficulties you face in business result from misperceiving reality and misconceptions that are born from your own experiences. Whilst you may be aware of this, awareness does not equate to tangible results in terms of profitability and business growth. Until you uncover why you feel stuck or doubt your abilities, you will continue to operate in a false reality. This is a reality based on expectations of others that have been born by events that ignited feelings of doubt and feeling unworthy of success. I refer to this as “core trauma” based on how others have behaved, not your own truth.
You are, in essence, your business. Without your initial vision and consequent aligned actions, there would still be a space where your business now operates. STOP focusing on your business strategy and learn why working more and “trying harder” will NEVER bring you the success, joy, and fulfillment you are seeking. Studies into training and development have demonstrated over and over it will only, at best, trigger short-term results in ROI and workplace productivity.
When you know your self-worth, realize that your feelings are not a reflection of your inner self, and stop trying to control circumstances and the actions of others, the fear of failure will lose its power over you and your success. Learn how to become aligned with your authentic self and align your actions without working harder. Our Aligned Intelligence Method® will change the way you operate permanently. YOU are your business — its reason for existence. When you finally uncover what is holding you back, you can activate changes that fundamentally change how you operate.
Take part in the 5-day challenge. You will learn our self-coaching method that gives you practical and proven exercises. Our Aligned Intelligence Method® works permanently to challenge your limiting thoughts and take back control in business and life.
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