If you don’t get to know the people you are trying to motivate, you won’t motivate them. It is that simple. You can’t apply motivational techniques as if they are a recipe for cooking stew. Besides, even when you cook stew, you often deviate from the recipe.
You need to get at the heart of who each person is when motivating them. People are different, and you need to consider those differences. Some people are driven using high energy techniques whereas others like a laid-back and subtle approach.
To learn about others, you need to learn more about what they are like on a personal level. If you have been avoiding participation in after work activities, you may want to start. This doesn’t mean you need to do it every time. Your employees need to have time away from the boss on occasion. However, you do want to get to know your workers in a more relaxed and social environment.
It’s not likely that your workers will open up completely when you are…