As a leader, you probably already discovered that while your specialty skills provide a foundation for your career,  leadership skills come into play every.  How do you keep your employees motivated and enjoying their jobs every day?

The Key to Creating Peak Performance at Work
The key to creating an organization with employees, who willingly give their best effort every day, is to create a high self-esteem environment by removing the fears of failure and rejection that inhibit personal performance. The manager who creates a positive, high-self-esteem workplace will have higher performance, lower absenteeism, lower employee turnover, higher productivity, and fewer mistakes.

To perform at their best, individuals have two basic needs in the world of work:

1) The Autonomy Need. The first is called “the autonomy need.” This is the need to be seen and respected as an individual, and to stand out for one’s personal performance. It is a need to be recognized for individual achievement or the “I am special” need.

2) The Dependency Need. The second need that each person has in the workplace is “the dependency need.” This is the need that people have to feel a part of something bigger than themselves. People want to be part of a team. It is the need to feel recognized and accepted as part of a group of people in the workplace.

A well managed organization creates environments where people feel both autonomous and important, on the one hand, and have their dependency needs satisfied by making them feel as if they are part of a team; part of the whole organization on the other. The reward structures in these organizations are designed to acknowledge not only autonomous performance but also team performance.

Low Self-Esteem Work Environment: Using Positive Reinforcement at Work
The key factor in employee motivation is the connected relationship between the manager and his/her team. It is what takes place at the moment of contact or communication between the manager and the employee that determines the performance, effectiveness, productivity, output and profitability of an organization. The point at which the two people connect, whether positively or negatively, is where the past, present and future performance of the individual and the organization is determined.

When this contact between the manager and employee is positive, supportive and encouraging of self-esteem, the performance, productivity and output of the individual will reach its highest level.

Low Self-Esteem Work Environment: The Worst Way to Gain Employee Satisfaction
If this point of contact between the manager and employee is negative for any reason at all, performance and output will decline. A negative relationship with the manager will trigger fears of failure, rejection and disapproval. If the manager is negative for any reason, people will play it safe, and only do exactly what they need to do to avoid being fired. Almost everyone has worked in a low self-esteem environment. These are usually remembered as the worst jobs the person ever had. Everything you do to improve this intersection or contact improves the overall quality of your work life, no matter where you are on the ladder of management.

The more effective you can become in eliciting “best effort” performance from each of your staff members, the more of the best people you will be given to manage for it. The top managers and leaders of today are those who are capable of eliciting extraordinary performance from ordinary people.

Leaders with the most impact are those who can build and successfully manage great teams. Every day, we help our clients and colleagues achieve their highest levels of professional presence and personal effectiveness. That includes everyone on the ladder, from company presidents to project managers, to staff members. Contact us at 800-282-3374 to find out how we can help you impact your own productivity and the productivity of your entire organization.