Like this article? PLEASE +1 it!

Having Trouble Motivating or Instilling Loyalty in Your People?

Article Overview: This article give you 3 specific steps to turn your people into believers. It starts with you and your expectations . . .read on.

Free Download - How to Get the Most from Your Key People By Susan Ireland

Having Trouble Motivating or Instilling Loyalty in Your People?

Having Trouble Motivating or Instilling Loyalty in Your People?

Develop this one trait.

In an earlier post, I introduced you to the 12 traits all great managers possess - as evidenced by my work with hundreds of top performing (offices are highly profitable) managers throughout the country. I began with vision because I've found that without vision, it is nearly impossible for a manager to survive, let alone thrive in today's marketplace.

Today I want to talk about another important trait all great managers possess - and that is charisma. According to Ron Willingham, founder of Integrity Systems®, charisma is the winsome quality that causes people to like us or respect us, and want to emulate us. Difficult to describe, it's a deep attitude about who we are, what we're about, and where we're going (remember the vision thing?). It begins with high self esteem that is then passionately directed towards goals and objectives. It is energy and seems to spring from the rightness of our course and beliefs. It is almost a sense of destiny. Yet, it's not contrived or feigned, but natural. You really can't fake it.

How does charisma tie to motivating employees? It may not be what you think. Charisma's dynamic energy causes those who have it to have high expectations of others. It gives leaders a natural assertiveness (notice I didn't say aggressiveness) that allows them to trust implicitly others' commitment to results. It's not flashiness or eloquence although sometimes it can appear as such. It can BEST be demonstrated by quietness and humility -quiet strength elicits trust and confidence. In Jim Collins' famous book, Good to Great, he describes the "Level 5 Leader" as one who demonstrates this perfectly . . . a person who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will. Does this describe you?

The charismatic leader radiates hope, concern, confidence, love, excitement, AND high expectations of others. It instills the kind of loyalty in people that make them want to follow you. Caution: Charisma can be hollow or even destructive when not tempered with wisdom and strong values. How many times have you witnessed or read about a con man? Or maybe you've encountered the big personality corporate executive who hops from company to company, wreaking havoc in their wake. He or she possesses charisma, but because they rely too heavily on it, it almost always brings the deceiver destruction. Such people are usually found out, and their lack of integrity exposes them.

So, if you're not as effective as you would like to be at motivating your people, examine your charisma. If charisma is something you feel you need to develop, start with these three steps:

Mentally work on attracting others in a silent, compelling way. Look at the people who work with and for you, and say to yourself, "I value this person because (fill in the blank)". Mentally project positive thoughts and feelings towards them. Make it a habit of doing this every day.
Review your vision for your business. Become crystal clear on what it will look like in the not-too-distant future. Be able to clearly articulate it, in as few words as possible, to everyone both inside and outside your company.
Write down and review positive affirmations about achieving your goals. Review them often - and this is what separates the average from the top -- share them with your people! Begin to act and live as though your goals are already achieved. Others will witness your conviction and confidence and rally to your cause. Sincere conviction and confidence are contagious!

Finally, break the Law of Limited Performance: People soon discover the level of performance their managers will settle for, and then gravitate to that level. Managers then assume that's all that people are capable of, so they accept it as fact and quit challenging their people to get better. So, both reinforce what the other believes.

Related Articles

Revealed key elements of a successful customer loyalty programs

Entrepreneurs – Have You Thought About A Loyalty Program?

5 Thoughts On Guest Loyalty

Are you an Effective Team Leader?

Who’s Responsible for Increased Sales Anyway?

Home > Productivity > Susan Ireland > Having Trouble Motivating or Instilling Loyalty in Your People

Article Tags: loyalty, motivate employees

About the Author: Susan Ireland
RSS for Susan's articles - Visit Susan's website

As a Certified Integrity Coach and member of The Master Coach Council, I work with business owners, managers, department heads and professional services providers to help them achieve high performance and lasting results in any economy. My passion is helping people develop strengths they often don't know they have and take advantage of opportunities they don't know exist. My vision is to build life-long relationships by making a difference in people's lives, one client at a time.

Click here to visit Susan's website