Motivating Employees with NLP
Jeremy Lazarus
- the CEO and fellow directors have communicated clearly the organisation’s vision and values,
- these are used as part of the recruitment process to recruit people who are right for the organisation
- consequently, the organisation’s employees buy into its ethos, goals and vision.
- they want their staff to be motivated, so that they’ll perform well, which will be good for the staff, the manager, the team and customers
- their job as manager is to motivate the staff, and that they promise they will do everything they can, within their remit, to help the staff member have what they are looking for in their job
- they’re not mind-readers, so cannot be expected to know what motivates their staff unless the staff tell them honestly
- Ask “what’s important to you in your career/work/job?”, “what do you want/look for from your career/work/job?”, and write the answers (i.e. their values) in their words, without suggesting or conversing with them at this point (examples could be challenge, variety, recognition. Values are usually expressed in one or two words, not long phrases)
- Ask them to remember a previous situation (or two) when they felt really motivated and happy in their career/work/job. What was it about those situations that led to them feeling so motivated and happy? Add any new values to the list
- Show them the list. Ask, “if you had all this on your career, would I want it or is anything missing?” This is a ‘catch-all’ question; add any additional values to the list.
- Ask the staff member to rank the values A/B/C in order of importance, where A means absolutely essential (i.e. deal-breakers), B means important but not essential and C means ‘nice to have’.
- Check that this is a true representation by asking the staff member to imagine being in a career with the B and C Values compared to one with the A and B values. Which one would they choose? And would they want the one with all the A and B values? If they prefer the career with the B and C values, or are not really motivated by the thought of the career with the A and B values, re-visit steps 1 to 4.
About the Author
Jeremy Lazarus is the author of NLP: The Essential Handbook for Business. He is a certified NLP Master Trainer and business performance coach and owner of The Lazarus Consultancy Ltd, a niche NLP training company based in London.