I’ve been thinking this week about motivation and productivity – both my own and that of the people around me. Looking for ways to hit this year with enthusiasm and commitment so that we can achieve all we set out to do. 

High performance is hard to do consistently, especially with remote working. So, let’s have a look at some methods for this. 

The basics are to stay connected, increase face to face communication and clarify expectations, but there is one question that stands out head and shoulders for me – and that is solving the question “why work?” What I mean by this is why is it that you, and the people around you, come to work? Is it just to pay the bills, or to get away from the kids…? To play the A game and achieve something of real consequence our work connection needs to be more meaningful. 

My latest thinking on ways to ensure that we all “Love what we do” goes as follows: 

1. Always recruit people whose personal goals and aspirations are aligned to your vision. For example, if yours is a health company, you will want to find people for whom health is a passion and part of their personal lifestyle – so recruiting an overweight smoker clearly isn’t a great idea

2. Bring work into the light. As remote work drags on, I have noticed a growing tendency to “hide behind the screen” where no-one knows if you are actually working or not.  You may be brushing the cat, watering your garden or simply gazing into space. If this pretence of work turns into poor outcomes, low morale and generally poor results there is a problem!  I see two basic options her

a. Not recommended: Get sneaky software to record where people are and what they are doing. The good thing about this is that we can bring any problems into the light, analyse and then solve them, but the bad thing is the danger that the sense of being spied on quickly results in broken trust. Remote working plus low trust seems like a sure recipe for disaster. 

b. Recommended: Raise individual motivation by acknowledging good work done. We all like to feel appreciated and so the more we are acknowledged and commended for good work the more encouraged we are to do more of it. Alternatively, if I feel no one even notices if I do good work or not, things can quickly downward spiral to non-delivery and into hiding behind a pretence of work whilst actually doing nothing at all.  

Staying tuned-in to solving the Why Work question will add fuel to your rocket for 2023. This makes it a good reason to find and acknowledge the work that people are most proud, and regularly reward them for this with praise, prizes or even promotions. 

Wishing you a fabulous week – Lets work together to make it the best year ever. 

Supplementary reading list:

9 ways to motivate your remote employees

How to motivate remote employees