Do you have green fingers? Can you make a plant thrive? Have you ever bought a plant and forgot about it? What happened? Have you ever planted a tomato plant? Did you get tomatoes, or did it wither and die? Have you ever bought an aquarium and wounded up with fish floating upside down in green water? Have you ever hired a highly motivated person just to see them fail? Is it enough to tell the plant to grow? Is it enough to shout “Swim, damn it!” to the fish?

Would you like your team to perform better?

You need to understand that motivation is not just about showing up at work and smile. It is not just about fun. Motivation is like a plant or a fish tank, it needs the right environment and it need caring hands, tender and love. You need to clean it sometimes, keep the cat away and you need to pay attention. What would happen at your job if everybody performed just 10 % better? Do you think it is possible? Sure it is. Do you know what your team is capable of?

Grow motivation

Motivation is harvested like tomatoes in a greenhouse, remove the weed, water when necessary and make sure the bugs are at arm’s length. You need to understand motivation to know how to grow it. Plants and fish tanks do come with instructions. Motivation does too, there are a lot of books about motivation out there, and there is a lot of research on the topic.

The Recipe to motivation

• Add a lot of positive feedback to the soil
• Make sure that you got good tools that work
• Define clear and understandable goals
• Include the people in the process, talk and share
• Believe in them, and feed them with trust
• Give them light and love, not darkness and fear
• Show them what the great huge red tomato look like, and tell them that they also one day might even become ketchup
• Ask what they would like to improve
• Create space to grow

And add the powerful ingredient of WHY!

I can tell you to run a mile or two. I can even show you how. But there is still not sure you will do your best? What if I told you to hurry because there is happiness waiting at the end? [Insert whatever would make you happy] – but you have a limited time to do it? Would you need me to explain how to run? Would you want me to do it for you? Or would you start running right away? What and how is easy to understand, but understanding why is the most powerful tool to include in your recipe.

Understanding why applies to a lot of things at work. It helps you in a direction, it helps you to stay motivated and it will help in changing times, hard times and good times. 

Why motivation is important

Your employees and co-workers will stay in their job longer, just as a plant will last longer with love and care. Let’s say you have 50 people at work. 2 people quit each month, resulting in a total new staff every 25 month. Reduce the number to one and you have doubled your average experience of your staff. More experienced staff produces more. Costs of employee turnover are enormous. Do you have a team that train new employees on a regular basis? How much does that cost? The bigger the team, the more problems you have with motivation. Do you have your own class room? These are signs that you might need to re-consider your employee strategies. Would your customers rather be served by rookies or experts?

And money for the win

You do not necessary need to pay more. Pay is not the most important factor in motivation. Pay needs to be good enough to rule out financial hardship. If people have a clear vision of why, in a warm and trusting environment where they can contribute and be listened to they will turn down jobs paying a lot more and stay loyal to you.

So create your own “fish tank” at work. And ask yourself this, can you afford not to? Do you know the level of motivation at your job? What can you do to increase motivation? – But remember motivation is not implemented by a memo.

Read more about motivation to better understand:

- How do you provide value at work?

- Spot the big picture.

- Slow Down Motivation

- How to make your employees thrive

- The Positive Power of Applause

- Lift me up! How to motivate an employee

For some inspiration watch this great video:

- When it comes down to motivation

I hope you enjoy these resources about motivation and feel free to subscribe to my blog. Thank you so much for reading, you rock!

Motivational Gardener

We are currently re-profiling our company and I love the new package. I have decided to take up the challenge of one of our new values to take on a social responsibility. This could be anything from keeping the sidewalk clean, helping less fortunate, volunteer or anything that makes you take a stand. So I did. I have currently been going to political meetings for a couple of weeks and I feel home. That is why I want to share this experience with you as I think it is relevant to this blog.

Engage to Recharge
I have been a father of two, I have a demanding job and I thought there were no place for exchanging relaxing time with engaging time. So what do I experience all of a sudden? I experience an energy boost, I am getting to use my mind for something else than work and family. I am getting mental input and I suddenly have something new to discuss with my wife. I feel that my life is aligning even a little more. For sure I am happy to start with but in life I have learned one thing…

…Do something bigger than you
It feels nice to do something that isn’t selfish, something to help others in whatever way we chose. I do believe that any human has the capacity of doing something great for others. And you as well hold this capacity.  “Always set the trail, never follow the path” – Unkown.

Basic Human Needs
So why is it vital to engage? I need to tell you a story to explain this. My wife is a wonderful woman, and she hates to bother other people. She suddenly needed a favor from a family member abroad to get hold of some books. For days she walked around dreading the moment when she needed to ask for this favor. I then told her, people love the feeling of being useful, when you ask for help and this favor is something that they can master as well. Humans love the feeling of being useful to others. So do not be afraid to ask for help! But that is not quite the point.

By being useful to others you suddenly have more meaning in your life. This is why engaging in volunteer work or similar activities are such great benefit to your mental health. I am strongly advising you to take a stand and do something for the greater good.