2 traits of motivational leaders

Getting into a leadership position can be a difficult. Once you’ve managed it, there’s the needs of others to consider as well as any personal goals.

When there are people underneath you, their objectives become just as important as your own. Managing staff performance can be a tricky skill to master, but it is centred on motivation.

Here are the things to keep in mind, and the kind of traits you should be exhibiting if you’re looking to get a team fit and firing in the workplace:

Set an example

The best leaders will have an appreciation of the fact that any staff are likely to look to them for inspiration. Whether it’s merely through an infectious sense of positivity or by consistently coming up with the biggest and best ideas, you should try and carve a path that others want to follow.

To use a real world case, Business Insider Australia noted that tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is a highly motivational leader, as he consistently pushes his own boundaries and proposes projects that are outside of the box.

Offer incentives

It may sound like a simple trick, but offering employees incentives beyond their straight money is a great way to boost their output. The Harvard Business Review describes a reward system as one of the best organisational levers of motivation.

Again, looking at a real world example, Chinese billionaire Li Jinyuan recently flew 6,400 of his staff to France for a holiday in celebration of his companies twentieth anniversary, as reported by The Independent. The total cost was somewhere around the $47 million mark.

However, you don’t need to be as extravagant. A little extra reward now and again will help keep employees engaged and motivated, and is the mark of a leader who really knows how to get the best from their staff.