Providing Motivational Support is the skill at enhancing others' commitment to their work.

An employee demonstrating this competency:

• Recognizes and rewards people for their achievements
• Acknowledges and thanks people for their contributions
• Expresses pride in the group and encourages people to feel good about their accomplishments
• Finds creative ways to make people's work rewarding
• Identifies and promptly tackles morale problems
• Gives talks or presentations that energize groups

Providing Motivational Support is a key competency distinguishing leaders from managers.  It is by providing motivating support that a manager gets results through other people.  The productivity and creativity of your unit is likely to depend to a significant degree on your ability to keep your staff motivated.  The emphasis here is on self motivation; with the manager responsible for creating an environment in which each employee feels motivated to perform at a superior level.

Your own behavior and personal style contributes to your effectiveness in motivating others. If you demonstrate a high energy level and a positive attitude, even in the face of difficult situations, others are more likely to respond in the same way. Conversely, if you demonstrate low energy, frustration, anxiety, or tension, others are also likely to respond in kind. Another way to bring this competency into play is to demonstrate genuine interest and responsiveness to the people you manage. If you are strong in Interpersonal Efectiveness, you can use that competency to help in motivating others. Make sure that your people have access to you, especially when they have a problem or concern. Your responsiveness to their concerns will be motivating. A third way to use this competency is to show appreciation to others for their contributions and work. Too many managers take good work for granted and provide feedback only when a subordinate makes a mistake. A key part of motivating others is recognizing and rewarding people for their contributions.

Make a point of noticing and praising each employee’s best work. If someone goes above and beyond normal job requirements, acknowledge this effort, if possible, publicly. Find ways to celebrate accomplishments, especially, when the whole unit is involved. Pizza parties, and wine and cheese parties are possible ways to celebrate. Try to learn what motivates each person in your unit. What is each person trying to achieve? What are his/her interests outside of work? What kind of work does he/she most enjoy? Use this knowledge in making work assignments. If you notice a morale problem in your group, do something about it. First, talk with your people to understand what is causing the problem. If possible, do something about it. Develop your public speaking skills and practice giving energizing talks.

Ask a co-worker whom you trust to observe you over a one-month period and tell you when you are doing things that are positively motivating (acknowledging people’s efforts, praising desired behavior, staging group celebrations of accomplishments, speaking in an energizing way) and when you are doing something that decreases others’ motivation (e.g., losing your temper, showing signs of stress, demonstrating irritability, criticizing others in a non-constructive way). Get your direct reports together and tell them that you are working on this competency and would like their help. Tell them that you will be asking them once a week to give you feedback about specific things you did that they found positively motivating and negatively motivating. Then, on a weekly basis, get them together for five minutes and ask these questions: What did I do that was positively motivating? What did I do that was negatively motivating? What else could I do that would be positively motivating? Capture people’s responses on flip chart pages. Listen and accept people’s ideas. It may be helpful to summarize and paraphrase what you have heard (e.g., “You’re saying that when I criticized your report, you felt unmotivated because you had taken a lot of time to develop the recommendation). If you express disagreement or try to defend yourself, your direct reports are likely to conclude that you really don’t want honest feedback, and they will stop providing it.

Identify someone who is good at keeping his/her people motivated. Interview this person about what he/she does to keep people motivated positively. Ask for specific examples of what the person did and how he/she did it. Ask what this person has done to build teamwork. Ask for examples of how this person gives negative feedback in a constructive way. Try to work on a team headed by someone who is good at motivating others. Observe how this person (a) acknowledges people’s contributions, (b) builds teamwork, and (c) expresses disagreement in a constructive way.

If you are coaching someone who is trying to develop this competency, you can:

• Model this competency by acknowledging this person’s contributions and ideas and by staging celebrations of team accomplishments

• Assign this person to work on a team headed by someone who is good at motivating others

• Acknowledge and praise behaviors that are positively motivating

• Provide constructive feedback and suggestions when you observe behavior that is harmful to others’ motivation

• Encourage the person to come to you to plan interactions (group meetings or one-on-one sessions) that will be positively motivating

Over the next two weeks, I will praise some behavior or accomplishment in each of my direct reports. By March 15, I will plan and stage a celebration for some accomplishment by my unit (e.g., hitting a key milestone in the commercialization process). By December 20, I will meet individually with each of my direct reports and try to learn what each person likes and dislikes about his/her work, what each person’s career goals are, and what each person’s personal interests are, outside of work. By November 15, I will interview Sandy Duncan about what she does to keep her people motivated. From now through January 20, I will observe Bill Thomas, who is team leader for the Cost Improvement Team, and take notes on what he does that is effective in motivating that team. I will identify at least 5 ideas that I can apply on the Communication Team. By March 1, I will read Performance Management by Aubrey Daniels, and make a list of ideas to apply in my unit; by April 15, I will apply at least 5 of these ideas in my unit.

BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS

365 Ways to Motivate and Reward Your Employees Every Day: With Little or No Money , by Dianna Podmoroff. 288 pages. Ocala, FL: Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc., 2005.

Contented Cows Still Give Better Milk: The Plain Truth about Employee Engagement and Your Bottom Line by Bill Catlette & Richard Hadden. 224 pages, Wiley, 2012

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel H. Pink. 256 pages. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2011.

Human Motivation by Dr. David McClelland. 663 pages. Scott Foresman & Co. 1983.(Note: foundation for the development of job competence assessment and competency modeling)

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: The Search for Optimal Motivation and Performance ,
by Carol Sansone & Judith M. Harackiewicz. San Diego, CA: Academic Press,

Just Add Management: Seven Steps to Creating a Productive Workplace and Motivating Your Employees in Challenging Times , by Farzad Dibachi & Rhonda Dibachi. 229 pages. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2004.

Performance Management: Changing Behavior that Drives Organizational Effectiveness , by Aubrey Daniels & James Daniels. 321 pages. Tucker, GA: Performance Management Publications, 2004.

The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance, The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance,

WORKSHOPS & COURSES - PUBLIC, ONSITE, ONLINE

Coursera Online Courses
https://www.coursera.org/learn/motivate-people-teams

Educations Media Group (EMG). info@findcourses.com
https://www.findcourses.com/search/trainings?q=motivating

LinkedIn Learning. Online courses.
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/search?keywords=motivating

Direction Support and Motivation: 3 Secrets to Creating the Resilient Organization. Webinar. Ken Blanchard Companies. Tel. 760-233-6725.
https://www.kenblanchard.com/Events-Workshops

Motivation Training: Motivating Your Workforce and Team. Online course. Mainstream Corporate Training. Tel. 888-770-4430.
https://mainstreamcorporatetraining.com/courses/motivation-training-motivating-workforce-team/

Motivating and Inspiring Employees. One day. Pryor Learning. Tel. 800-780-8476.
https://www.pryor.com/blog/motivating-and-inspiring-employees/

See Appendix