Motivating Your Staff with Inspiration

Don't be an inspiration killer. The following are some tips for motivating employees with positive communication skills.

by Veda Solomon

It's Monday morning and your staff has brought coffee into the conference room for an update on sales and current projects. Everyone's chatting with energy when your vice president for business development or operations or finance begins to speak. He/she opens his mouth and within minutes has the uncanny ability to demoralize the entire staff so that they slink back to their desks and spend the next hour trying to regain their good nature, hope for a productive week and courage to pick up the phone to make sales calls.

What just happened? A well meaning executive has bungled the job of giving news about the company's current state of affairs by not knowing how to inspire - how to speak in a manner that encourages and creates leadership, loyalty and the desire to make things happen for the firm.

It's simple really - a matter of taking the responsibility for positive communication within the firm as well as the responsibility of the leaders to inspire with their words as well as their actions. Inspiration can be responsible for mighty success or the decisions that bring motivation to your staff, resulting in positive change.

Ask your leaders these questions: Do you consider yourself a good communicator? How do your words impact others? What message do you want to send? How do you want people to feel?

Are you an inspiration killer? Do you use the word "but" often - as in "great idea, but…" How does it feel in your firm? Do you think about the physical and intellectual environment? How would you like it to feel?

The answers to these questions will give you a clear idea of what needs to be done in your firm to build pride, enthusiasm for the work, and inspiration. A few steps to be taken immediately include:

• Speaking well and sharing your organizational vision. Speaking well at employee meetings or in front of employee groups brings credibility to managers and team leaders. Employees need clear focus, especially during uncertain times. They need to understand and buy into the big picture, creating an atmosphere of ownership. The more you reveal to them, the more leadership they'll perceive.

• Clearly defining expectations helps your staff to understand what they are doing right and how they can improve their position within the firm.

• Celebrating small successes by finding opportunities to acknowledge individual and team accomplishments - opportunities to say "thanks" - creates an environment that fosters more communication, positive self image and firm image, teamwork and release from the day to day pressures of meeting deadlines and making the bottom line.

• Another important communication skill (and the most underestimated form is plain old conversation. We can say too much, too little, be too direct or too vague. To teach your people to speak with effect, remember these points: Relationships are formed and developed through talk; conversational style for each situation can be improved or altered; conversation can be dominated by one person in either a dramatic or boring way; conversation can be obstructed with specific body language, gestures, tone, and pitch; conversation and the meaning of your words can also be obstructed with mumbling and awkward pauses; opening and closing remarks should be practiced; listening well and asking questions are an integral part of meaningful conversation.

Finally, what is it that makes a company truly successful? The contacts of the principals? Yes. The talent and ability to live up to the sales pitch? Yes. A diligent marketing/sales staff? Yes. A marketing plan and image that sets your firm apart from the rest? Yes. A dynamic and loyal staff that impresses people wherever they go? Yes.

All of these points are more easily and definitely achieved through a program of inspiration. Inspire your leaders to take responsibility for positive and encouraging communication and you will reap the rewards of dedicated, well spoken employees. Train these employees to speak well themselves and they will reach out to current clients and new prospects with confidence and enthusiasm and become your most important asset in the quest for success.

Veda N. Solomon is president of her own consulting firm, Strategies for Success NYC.