By: Christina Lattimer

Use these practical actions to transform your employees.

Shared: From your friends #*@TechAutoCareers.com®* the online resource for the *Automotive Sales Fraternity™*

You know employee engagement is vital to the success of your team. Research has definitely proven employees are more productive and are more likely to expend discretionary effort when they are engaged with your business.

If you don't take steps to create an environment where your employees are more motivated and engaged, you will be missing a vital competitive advantage. So make 2016 the year you make a real difference, by instigating each of these practical and effective strategies to create your dream team.

1 - Check Out Your One On One Time

Today, make sure every individual has regular one-on-one time with their manager and allocate space in the meeting for their suggestions, ideas, problems and issues as well as talking about performance issues and work.

2 - Find Out What Gives Them a Real Buzz

Find a way to ask your team what gets them out of bed in the morning. Start off a staff meeting and make the question fun, or do it as part of a focus group, or even send them an email. The answers may be revealing and lead to you questioning if work has any part in their thinking! It's a way to start the discussion and get focused on discussing motivation.

3 - Give Them the Resources They Need to Do Their Job Well

Ask your team what they need to do their job better. Do they need better equipment? More information? Training? More resources? Better space? Ask the question and test whatever comes up to make sure it will make a tangible difference.

4 - Make Motivational Messages the First Thing They See

Purchase some motivational posters or prints and place them strategically around the workplace. Buy tear off calendars with success/ motivational quotes for the day, or program motivational welcome messages on employee's device screens. These success messages are absorbed in a subliminal way constantly.

5 - Examine Your Beliefs About Your Team

Believing your team members do the best they can with what is going on in their lives is essential to create an atmosphere of trust and acceptance. Think of your employees one by one and bring to your conscious awareness three positive traits or attributes they have. Whenever you get the opportunity, mention what you admire in them personally.

6 - Initiate A Values Compliance Survey

List each of your company values and ask your employees to give a score between 1 - 10 for each value. If an employee gives less than a 7 for each value, ask them what needs to change to reach a 10. Make an action plan with clear outcomes to make any changes needed.

7 - Be Kind

Even your worst and most difficult employees are human beings and have a right to dignity and respect. Deal with behavior but not personality. If someone isn't performing or isn't present or has committed some kind of breach of conduct, deal firmly with it, don't broadcast it and be kind, while making sure organizational boundaries and psychological contract are intact.

8 - Create Excitement and Enthusiasm

Create excitement and enthusiasm in your team by being excited and enthusiastic yourself. People find it difficult not to mirror genuine emotion. If you are flat-lining every day, and there is no sparkle or bounce in you, it's likely that's how your employees will show up. If you are quiet and have a thinking personality make sure you employ someone in your team who brings positive sparkle and emotion to the workplace every day.

9 - Create A No-Blame Culture

Encourage people to get to the point where they want critical feedback and they love getting the low-down from customers because they know every bit of feedback is an opportunity to do better. Once you have a solution orientated attitude at work, individuals can't make mistakes, they can only create opportunities for continuous improvement.

10 - Have Fun

Is there friendly banter or friendly rivalry in the team? Good-natured jokes and storytelling are vital to the lifeblood of your workplace. If your employees never laugh or a sense of humor is frowned upon, your team will likely be extremely unmotivated. Do you socialize and have seasonal parties and birthday celebrations? If not get someone with mojo to get the party started.

About I.C. Collins

I.C. Collins is grateful that he can pursue something that is both interesting and has value on several levels. For over three decades in the Automotive Sales Industry a bottom-line guy Collins doesn't shy away from telling the truth in ways that cut through the noise to deliver streetwise and corporate knowledge from someone who's been there and done that, many times over.

He aims to create “a long-lasting major brand that for generations is a company that is business-critical to the leading brands in the world. We are focused every day on creating something that’s valuable and has permanence.”

P. S. Urgent if you’re looking to optimize your interpersonal skills for success get your copy of " How to Succeed in the Automotive Sales Industry " today @TechAutoCareers.com. Then settle in for a satisfying read that will surely enhance your interpersonal skills for success this year, it is not just a book we are a service.

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