Motivation through Coaching
Posted on August 16, 2012 by David Mashuri, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
This great coaching technique may help if your motivation dropped. It worked all the time I used it with my clients.
Coaching is one of the most important skills for the development of leaders and managers. Why is coaching so important in the personnel management? Because the modern business environment requires doing more with less resources, and the most valuable resource of any business is a human capital.
Coaching allows you to create a favorable environment in the organisation and helps achieve the following objectives:
Development of staff
Improved productivity
Building a strong team
Retention of talent
Enhancing motivation
Enhancing motivation is a subject of this article on coaching. Often we are confronted with problems whose solutions are difficult for us to see, and we lose motivation to move forward. If your employees or you are in such a situation, it is important to step back from this problem and see the big picture. Usually, it is easier to form your objective attitude towards a situation, when some time has passed. There is a saying: “Will this be important in five years?”
The technique I suggest for your consideration, called “the 70th-year birthday”, although you may select another round date of the birthday. The main thing is that this faraway birthday date should seem realistic and easy to imagine for the client. As always, the proposed technique of coaching is best done with a professional coach, but it is simple enough to do it with someone close to you or even by yourself. Here I propose a simplified version of “the 70th-year birthday”.
This is one of the easiest coaching techniques to increase motivation. If the answers are truthful, the session result is always positive, even if a client is not ready for action. He or she will begin to realize that there are other issues for a much longer term and in relation to them, the current problem seems not so significant, and therefore solvable. This technique can be used to address both professional and life issues when current specifics of the situation overshadow the big picture.
Why are motivational tools in addition to monetary incentives so important in an organisation? Because they are the building blocks of a healthy and strong team and allow employees get a sense of belonging to the organization, its mission and values. Coaching is one of the most effective ways of non-monetary motivation and is increasingly used in business. Even if the manager is not a professional coach and his or her sessions are not always successful, the fact of the communication with subordinates, and openness to discuss their problems will be a strong tool in enhancing employee motivation.
To get started, take a blank sheet of paper and answer the following questions in writing. If you help a friend or an employee, write the answers for him or her.
Imagine and describe in detail your future 70th birthday. Where it is held, how you look, who are invited from people close to you, and so on.
Describe the three closest to you guests and what they appreciate the most about you as a person and as a professional.
At your birthday, a well-known journalist is taking an interview from you to write an article about your professional career. Answer his questions: “How it all began? What was the secret of your success?”
Remember the past situation when you lost your motivation. Despite the complexity of the problem, you have found a solution and have been successful. How did you manage it?
If you could give a piece of advice to your younger self from the height of your age and the already established success, what would you advise with your current situation?
If the client has difficulties to provide complete answers, try to help her (or yourself) with additional questions like: “What else? What else do you see? What can you add to things you have said?” Now, when the answers are written, read them aloud and try to get a sense of the already established successful career and a happy life.
And now, let’s analyse the responses and see how this technique works in more detail.
The first question aids you really immerse yourself far into the future, and the small details will help you transform there mentally. Do not go into too many details though, so you don’t lose the main theme of session.
Three party guests are usually close family members, but even their positive assessment of your career will
give you the confidence and the feeling that you can solve any problem.
An interview with a journalist, as an independent third party, will give your answers more structured and credible form. Responses on the already established success will encourage a positive decision and force you to think about the given situation differently.
The advice that you give yourself is the optimum solution for you, because it involves using your own current knowledge and available resources. This advice from the future will inspire you to the specific steps (actions) to address this situation. Write them down and give yourself specific time to implement them.
