Need to Know Lessons About Motivation
Back in the early years of my business I was struggling.
Not from a lack of direction, workload or help either. It was all there in abundance. I had a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve. And I had clear goals for my team as well.
But, no matter what I did, these goals were frustratingly not being met by my team.
And according to a recent survey I did, 77% of the respondents are feeling exactly how I did. They’re struggling with the same obstacle. Their teams not taking ownership in their jobs.
They’re trapped feeling like they need to micromanage their staff to get anything done.
This feeling had caused me a great deal of stress over the years, even before I’d started out in my own business. Despite several leadership courses and books I’d digested on the topic.
It was when I was faced with unhappy clients that were about to leave, that I knew I had to do something different. I needed to learn how to motivate my team.
That started me looking to the great thought leaders on the topic of management and leadership. The first few were Michael Gerber and his book The E-Myth, and Dan Pink’s talk on Motivation.
In this post I’m going to share the two key lessons I learned that have been the cornerstone of my own transformation as a manager and leader.
1. Successful Leaders Don’t Micromanage
This was the first realization that transformed how I motivated my team.
In Michael Gerber’s book, which I read several times as I stood face-to-face with the prospect of losing my business, he made a clear distinction that revolutionized how I led my team.
I could no longer be a micromanager for the results my staff were meant to be achieving.
I needed to delegate the business’ workload and know – with confidence – that the work was going to be done. Correctly. Without me having to step in and fix it every single time.
Otherwise there’d be no point in me delegating. And there would be no weight taken off my shoulders. I’d still be working a job, instead of running a business.