Motivation Shots from The Doc

Have you ever heard yourself saying this to members of your team – “My door is always open, come and talk to me anytime.”

I hate to tell you this, but you have to accept that your team won’t always do that. They might not want to bother you or they may feel that they should know the answers to their questions and they’ll look stupid if they ask. And how many times have they approached you and you’ve been on the phone or ‘too busy’?

It’s your job to get out and talk to them. I’ve also heard managers say – “I sit with my team in an open-plan office so I’m always available to them and I hear what’s going on” – oh no you don’t!

If you want to motivate your team; it’s important to get out of your office or up off your seat and mix with individual team members on a regular basis, don’t wait for them to come to you.

Pull up a chair and have chat, and don’t just talk about business, find out how they’re doing on a human level. That doesn’t mean prying into their personal life, but your team members want to feel that you’re interested and care about them as a person.

It’s also important that they feel free to chat amongst themselves so don’t stifle that. A team that have good relationships with you and each other are a motivated and productive team.

What do you think?

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