Maximising staff performance to ensure the achievement of planned results

All managers are ultimately judged on their results. However many people you manage, you are dependent on the contribution of your team. And the quality of their contribution is dependent on their motivation. People perform better when their motivation is high. Furthermore the difference between adequate and excellent performance spurred on by motivation can be considerable.

Like most managers, you are doubtless busy. The greatest difficulty about motivation is perhaps simply the perceived difficulty of fitting it in. Yet the rewards make the time it takes well worthwhile – especially in a people business such as a bank, and at times when performance matters most. Similarly, the problems of a de-motivated team on their manager's time are all too obvious.

Successful managers are good at motivation.

What is most important then? Without meaning to negate other factors, ten keys to successfully adopting a motivational management style may be summarised as follows:

1. Always think about the people aspects of everything
2. Keep a list of possible motivational actions, large and small, in mind
3. Monitor the "motivational temperature" regularly
4. See the process as continuous and cumulative
5. Ring the changes in terms of method to maintain interest
6. Do not be censorious about what motivates others, either positively or negatively
7. Beware of panaceas and easy options
8. Make sufficient time for it
9. Evaluate what works best within your group
10. Remember that, in part at least, there should be a "fun" aspect to work (and that it is your job to make sure this is so).

Make motivation a habit, and make it effective, and you may be surprised by the results. The motivation for you to motivate others is in those results. Three things perhaps encapsulate what works best.

Motivational action must be:

• Well judged – the right action, at the right time, carried out in an appropriate way
• Creative – finding new and different things to do as well as utilising tried and tested methods
• Balanced – using a mixture of method well matched to the individuals involved
• Continuous – motivation must be an inherent, ongoing part of management, not a “when there is time” thing.

Finally, remember that the little things are as important as the large. Incentive payments may be powerful motivators, but so is saying “Well done!” Have you used those words sufficiently often lately?