For store/district/region managers and
owner/managers there is a huge and ever present opportunity to motivate
your people on the fly. This is the kind of motivation that comes from
comments and recognition that are informal in nature. They are not
necessarily expected by the recipients. These are the little things you
can say and do every day that can have a huge impact. If done properly,
motivation on the fly drives them to push for more, even if only
temporarily. Generally speaking sustained motivation is best and you
need to have a lot of different things in place to achieve that. See
DMSRetail viewpoint article at
http://www.dmsretail.com/motivationthroughPE.htm
Do not underestimate the power of motivation
on the fly even if it is temporary, because it does have a big impact on
your results and morale.
How does it work? Well, let's just say you
get mid-day sales reports and you see that someone, who has been having
some difficulty reaching targets, is having better than average results
that day. In fact, if they push a little harder, you believe they may
reach the day's target. So, you praise them and challenge them and you
get them excited about the possibilities. And they do even better. Then
you publicly recognize them for the achievement. Clearly the
motivational comments worked...on that day and in that particular
instance. Temporary but fruitful.
You may say that's not good enough and you
would be right if that's all you’ve got. But this is a fast and simple
solution that does not cost you anything. If you do enough of it to
inspire people to moments of great achievement, perhaps they will start
to self motivate (which, of course is what real motivation is all about)
and their moments of great achievement may grow in to hours and days of
great achievement.
So, motivate your people on the fly as often
as you can - If it works, you get higher achievement, if it doesn't, you
are no worse off.
