How to Inspire, Motivate and Bring Out The Best In Your People

The American Management Association recently published a book by Brian Tracey on the topic of Full Engagement, which focused on insights to inspire, motivate and bring out the best in people, and when it was reviewed as part of Soundview's Summaries Executive Edge series, this appeared to be a key extract

In the research into what makes a "great place to work," perhaps the most important single factor is trust, Brian Tracy points out in Full Engagement. Trust exists when you can say, "I know I can make a mistake at work without being criticised or fired." When people feel free to try new things in order to do the job more effectively, increase quality and improve customer service, all of their time, attention and energy is focused outward, toward getting the job done better. When you drive out fear, what emerges is the most productive person that the individual can possibly be.

 

One of your key jobs as a manager is to neutralise the fear of failure, the inhibitive negative habit pattern, in the people you manage. You do this by telling people that there will be no downside to making a mistake.”

This idea that managers and team leaders can play a critical role in establishing a trusting environment in which people feel safe and inspired to give of their best also reflects FranklinCovey's experience. However, the implication that trust is offered universally and unconditionally so that there will never be a downside to making a mistake is not, in our experience, a realistic business proposition. 

 

While we advocate that people should assume and extend trust, we feel it is best to do so in a way that balances the heart (which is your propensity to trust based on your beliefs of the benefits it brings) with the head (which is your analysis of the requirements of the situation, the risks involved and the integrity, intent, capabilities and results of the individual in question.) In this way a leader or a manager takes responsibility for their role in creating the conditions for high engagement based on trust, and sets their people up for success rather than abdicating this responsibility by trusting 'blindly' and risking the consequences this can bring.