Coworkers who inspire and motivate are team players. They want to give their total effort to complete a task and bringing everyone’s efforts together can get the goal completed more quickly and often produce a better product. If there is a coworker trying to rally everyone towards the same goal, it is a sign of good leadership and a person you really want on your team.
The most important thing about coworkers who inspire and motivate is that they make work a pleasant place to be. Rather than just putting in your 8 hours and going home, these coworkers make things fun and challenging. The days fly by and I want to do my best in order to meet the challenge.
This is a topic that is near and dear to the hearts of my readers, researchers, and website visitors. So much so that one of them were kind enough to share their own personal opinions. I don’t claim to be the best interviewer in the world, but I do promise some good, raw, and honest answers from normal people like you and me. I do my best to NOT filter these answers, except for the bad words and hateful speech.
With that little blurb out of the way, let’s dive right into the juicy bits of (potentially) life-changing insights.
Current Topic: Coworkers Who Inspire And Motivate
‘R’ = Richard N. Stephenson (me!) ‘I’ = Interviewee (anonymous by request unless otherwise noted)
[This interview is inspired and fueled by research done for my book: Staying Motivated at Work.]
R: To you, what are some of the biggest benefits usually associated with this topic?
I: One of the biggest benefits of coworkers who inspire and motivate is a happier work environment, leading to greater overall productivity. A group of negative coworkers only inspires negativity in the workplace and less motivation to work. A team that is happy to be at work and inspired to do well in their job is far more successful in accomplishing the task at hand.
R: This is very interesting stuff here and I think it could help people. What do you feel is the most life-altering thing about the topic?
I: Inspiring, motivated coworkers could be life changing for someone who is feeling depressed in their life, as job satisfaction highly factors into overall life satisfaction. We spend hours a day, 40 hours a week in our jobs and sometimes more.
Working in an environment that is forward thinking and positive is a far better way to spend that time than in an environment that is dull, meaningless and uninspired. This leads to overall life satisfaction and changing jobs from one that fosters an unmotivated environment to one that does could lift someone out of a serious depression and inspire them outside of the workplace as well.
R: Tell me about your thoughts on how this helps folks be better in life?
I: Coworkers work together to help each other. One person has a weakness a co worker steps in and helps out, showing the person how to do something. When working as a team the co workers can each make each other better.
R: If you had to pick the “World’s Best” for this topic, who would it be?
I: Dale Carnegie is a person who wrote a very important book called How to Influence People. In the book Carnegie stated that most of all people want to feel important. Therefore to inspire and to motivate, simply make the person feel important.
Carnegie also stated that people like to hear their names. Always remember the worker’s name and mention it to get the employee motivated. The coworker should feel that what ever he does, contribute positively to the sustainability of the company.
R: Do you know anyone who could use a little more help on this?
I: . A coworker who gossips on the job.2. A coworker who is a backstabber.3. A coworker who takes your job.
R: Can you tell us what it’s like to have this subject in your life?
I: If I were the boss, I would reward coworkers for the times they have gone the extra mile without being asked. I would give coffee coupons or other small incentives. I believe that helps people to be motivated in the right direction.
I would give compliments and encouragement and back coworkers when needed. Also, I would listen to their ideas, which could offer unique solutions to problems in the workplace. Their input could offer solutions that I had never thought of.
R: Pick a time, pick any time… when should folks out there bring this idea into their lives?
I: It is always important to have coworkers who inspire you as a part of your life so that you will always have encouragement to do good. Surrounding yourself with people of like mind and spirit is a great way to stay motivated. Surrounding yourself with these types of people both at work and in your personal life will improve your overall mood and motivation.
R: When do you think folks should absolutely NOT work on this topic?
I: It’s always a good time to bring coworkers who inspire or motivate you into your life, but it’s important to consider station and power relationships. If your professor inspires and motivates you, you need to consider a limit to how far your relationship can go. If you are on the same level as the coworker, however, it might be nice to get drinks or have a meal together to see if you can move that into a friendship that enhances your life.
R: Can you tell me where folks out there should plan to bring this idea into their lives?
I: Personally, I work in an office for a church and the best way to motivate my co-workers is to have an upbeat and positive attitude each and every day. My co-workers have become like a “family” to me and by having the attitude towards work that I have it creates a much more relaxed and even fun and fulfilling feeling at work. We are much more than just co-workers at this point, we are friends and family who work together to make a difference in our church.
R: Where is a really bad place to start working on this topic?
I: Probably at home where you would be more prone to relax and decompress from the rigors and toil of your work life. Inspiring, motivating coworkers would be the furthest thing on my mind when I walked through the door from a long day of work. At home is where I focus on my family and my hobbies and not dwell too much on corporate slogans.
R: Describe the type of person who will get the most out of this?
I: Groups, organizations, and people who could use the most help with coworkers who inspire and motivate are those who are engaged in very difficult tasks, jobs, or long-term goals. For example, people who work in hospitals often have very difficult jobs with long hours and hard tasks, so they might really need such coworkers. Another example would be if someone is working at a job where there is a great amount of attention to detail or if the work has a very small margin of error.
R: Can you give us any hints or tips for working this topic into our lives?
I: If a coworker inspires or motivates you, it’s okay to look up to them but it’s not okay to put them on a pedestal. If you put them up on a higher level and they mess up, you’re making things bad yourself. I believe you should admire them but from a distance and not too much verbally.
R: What is the absolutely most dangerous and bad thing someone should stay away from related to this topic?
I: With coworkers who inspire and motivate, they are probably doing a good job but their strategy may not be as well thought out as they think. However, you should avoid making any statement ever that places blame on anyone else besides yourself in front of these people. They will label you as non-team players, even if what you are saying is true.
R: How would you describe a practical step we could take today to get more done on this topic?
I: In the workplace, it is easy to feel over-burdened with the required daily tasks that are expected of us. While focusing on the immediate tasks at hand, and often on looming deadlines that may seem unrealistic to meet, we can lose motivation and struggle not only to complete the tasks set out for us, but also to look for and pursue opportunities to grow or develop new skills.
However, in every workplace, there are a subset of employees who seem to have unlimited energy and who use that energy to motivate not only themselves, but also the people around them. Whether I am feeling a little overwhelmed with the workload I am experiencing, or whether I am looking for new ideas on how to approach a problem, I make an active effort to seek out those energizing colleagues. Often, after only a few minutes spent speaking with those colleagues, I return to my own job energized and full of ideas to implement.
For myself, and for others, I recommend setting aside time each week to meet with and interact with the coworkers that we see as energizing, inspirational, and motivating. Those few minutes spent with the inspirational colleagues will pay dividends … in personal productivity and well-being … later!
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Thank you for reading this personal journey into becoming a better person and having a better future ahead of you. I hope you enjoyed this interview conversation and found golden nuggets you can immediately apply to your daily life.
If you want to get more productivity (and fulfillment!) out of your work, career, and life through being more motivated, then check out Staying Motivated at Work.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments, or personal life-changing wisdom below.