Motivation is like the petrol in a car. Your car will roll along the road just fine – but not uphill unless it has some fuel. It’s the same with people – people will roll along just fine, until they hit a hill, but fuelled with motivation they’ll move along faster, enjoy the journey more and no obstacle will stop them.

No-one can motivate someone else. Motivation comes from inside – it’s internal and individual. You can affect someone’s motivation by the environment you provide. So understand what motivates each individual and then provide the right environment for them.

Agree a SMART objective with each team member – one that will move them towards one of their own goals (one of their great big outrageous exciting goals) and watch their motivation soar and the smart objective be achieved. It’s the job of  a manager to match the organisation’s purpose, the managers objectives and the person’s individual goals into SMART exciting objectives for the team member.