I hear leaders talk often about trying to motivate their teams, but this is a dead loss. Speaker, John Lees, says, “It is not my job to motivate people. It is my job to hire motivated people“.
As leader, the best you can do is inspire your people. But how can you do that if you are not yourself inspired? You have to be inspiredif you are going to inspire others.
Inspiring leaders are motivated leaders. To be inspiring, you must be motivated. This raises two questions: Who motivates you? What motivates you?
Who motivates you?
The answer is the right people. Surround yourself with inspiring, motivated, happy people and you create an environment where results happen.
It is worth the effort to ensure that every position within your company is filled with motivated, happy and competent people. It takes a lot of effort, but then again, you are the leader and this is your primary task.
You cannot always be on your game. Sometimes you feel flat. But if you have a winning team, the team can sometimes motivate you. Here you are, feeling flat, and in walks a winner glowing because she has just got a result. Winners are inspiring to be around, and this one has just inspired you. Certainly beats people whinging about how tough the market is.
What motivates you?
Inspiration without direction is fad. So if you are going to be inspiring and motivated, you need goals and plans.
Goals are so important! Your team won’t succeed without goals, and neither will you. Most of your team will resist goal setting, and so the best way to get them to set goals is for you to teach them, encourage them, and work with them to set goals. But how can you do that if you have not done it for yourself?
Set personal goals. As a business owner, the money required to reach your goals comes from company profit. Your personal goals and your company goals are entwined. Your required profit per month must be converted into the amount of listings and sales required each month, and you need to consider how many winning salespeople you will need on the team if you are to achieve those listings and sales.
From here you will need to put in place training programs for the people currently on your team, hiring programs so that you find more people to join the team, and management programs so that you can monitor individual performance and help those who are falling short of target.
Set goals, define targets and make plans.
This is time consuming, but it is so inspirational. You begin to see the potential for your business to make great profits from your sales department, something which many leaders have found impossible to make happen consistently. This does not mean that it can’t be done. There are many leaders who make great profits from their sales departments, and most if not all follow the same formula: Set goals, define targets and make plans.
Once you have goals, and once you help your salespeople to set goals you will see a change in your company. You will be more focused, motivated and inspired, and so will your team.
Answer these questions:
- What are your goals?
- How are you going to achieve them?
Without goals and plans you will have no idea. And without answers to these questions, you no doubt will suffer from spasmodic motivation.
Who motivates you? The right people.
What motivates you? Goals, Targets and Plans: clear direction.
You are the leader. You are your “ship’s rudder”. Steer it in a direction of your choosing.