Employees inspire employees: First Tip by Dr. Field: (1) Twice a week think of a complement for a co-worker's contribution to the "team", say it to you co-worker OUTLOUD in front of the rest of the team or other co-workers, or expecially if a supervisor is listening. You will see a dramatic change start with the organizational culture. Tip 2 coming

Yes true, employees have to create a culture of trust n recognition in the organization . Recognizing their action in front of a team would help to create a positive work culture.

Tip 2: Have a cultural awareness lunch once every three months where each worker brings a dish from their family history. Each worker gives a quick description of the dish and a bit about their culture. This will enhance the Organizational Culture and void the enviroment of uncomfortable personal spaces. Workers will begin to bond and ask each other questions, before long diversity will actually start to work the way it can, to create an ROI like never before.

Dear Dr. Marilyn: In a public sector organization where more than 1000 employees do work, i feel that such a luncheon could be organized once in a year. I know, such a practice is done, particularly on anniversary day. socio economic and cultural setting in public sector is different than the private organization.

Having worked in management for a number of years, I recommend a person by person approach to inspiring them. That which is said above about treating them with respect is essential, but I discovered that what motivates and interests one employee doesn't necessarily motivate another. You need to be a student of your employees as persons and also corporately. Some are inspired only by monetary recognition, others by the chance to win public recognition for hitting certain goals, others by relationships, and yet others by a chance to feel that their work matters and makes a difference in people's lives. All seem to welcome genuine and sincere praise for a job well done, but not all are motivated by the same goals.

Yes Bill, since indivisuals are different in their nature, attitude and behaviour and the inspirational tools could work differently for different people; it is good to treat each individual separately. But for a leader to deal with each individual could also be a challenge.

I think, it can be done by practicing an appropriate employee engagement model. Gallop's model involving 12 questions (in the British context) is a good one. One may modify it to suit the specific context. For example, it may have to be substantially modified to work in Indian context. But it may not work in public sector. The real inspiration in this sector can come from practicing a people-centric leadership style including servant leadership. Managers have limited freedom to devise incentives due to excessive focus on rules and bureaucratic working in public sector. Being a caring leader and developing leadership at all levels helps a great deal in public systems and even in private system. Also, different interventions may be used for operational and managerial employees.

Yes Debi situation in public sector is different. People centric leadership has to work but influencing factors in public sector are diverse and make it difficult to gain popularity and effective . I think the working style and bureaucracy has to be changed and these institutions if could work like private entities then employees could be inspired. Inspiration happens when reward is attached to results and job satisfaction is there. In public sector leaders are more governed by rules and limit them to offer rewards. May be the experiences of some successful public sector could give us more insights on this issue.

Binod, I will suggest you to watch a Hindi feature film: "Do aankhein barah haath" which is a film based on a real story of reforming prisoners by a jailor through people-centric interventions and positive thinking, naturally in a government setting. I have used this film for training PSE managers in leadership development for employee engagement. I have always got high appreciation from all batches where I did that. It involves practicing servant leadership. I feel, transparency, care, honesty and fairness on the part of a leader have formidable potential, which are shown to have been used in this film, among others. That is what can work immensely in PSE context.

Thanks Will watch that fim for further insight. cheers

I often wonder what people mean when they talk about inspiring workers and when they do talk about it in a leadership context, does it mean to 'follow' regulations, help employees to become more engaged with their work etc.  Employees are not lemmings and will not follow blindly. Meaning becomes a powerful motivator, meaning in their work, meaning in the policies and procedures and meaning of the outcomes.  If the meaning is not positive and may in some ways be perceived as non-sensical, then it may become impossible to inspire workers....except when they feel safe in questioning some of those aspects.  This questioning should be embraced by .leaders as it may of be of benenfit for possible innovation and positive change.

Alex, it is true to say that meaning dominates the reasons people engage n activities, however there are examples in hidtory where great leaders CREATE meaning where there should be none, eg Hitler and others. That being said I whole heartedly agree with the need for meaning. Perhaps effective leadership also enails framing jobs so that the inherent meaning is more visible to employees.

A good leader is one who can inspire people. therefore a leader can inspire his employees by being a role model and someone that his employees can look up to.

Some people get motivated by achievement, some motivated by affiliation and others by power. A leader should identify which employee belong to which category.