Use these ideas to help encourage your managers to coach today!

Motivation is such a nebulous and ambiguous concept. Here's why I say that. Many managers and leaders will attempt to motivate employees based on their own values and principles when in fact they often do not know specifically what motivates another person. How do we go about ascertaining what motivates people? Here are three high-level concepts that are from a fantastic book called the Progress..

Gallup organization's research shows that less than 30% of employees are truly engaged. However, it also states that 85% of employees who are engaged have said that they are going to stay with their current employer and are not looking for another job. 

Self-development can be a frustrating subject for coaches. Ultimately, the amount of self-development that an employee does is up to them. What employees might not know is that any self-development they do benefits the entire company. Your job as a coach is to inspire employees to pursue self-development. This is where WIFT comes in.

Mary comes into work every day and is motivated, engaged, has a good attitude, and is ready to tackle any project that might come her way.

One question you may ask yourself is, "Why should I coach my employees?" or "Why should my company invest in a coaching culture?"

Coaching your employees to be motivated can be difficult. Motivation comes from within, so its not a surprise when a manager saying, "everyone needs to be more motivated" doesn't help increase motivation at all. Motivation is tricky, not everyone is motivated by the same thing or in the same way, but when everyone is motivated, the results include progress, engagement, and success. 

Coaching is not managing. Managing is telling your employees what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. Coaching, on the other hand, is a way for managers to guide employees toward figuring out these answers for themselves. By doing this, employees feel more engaged, motivated and prepared to handle future projects and problems they may have. Employees progress with coaching. 

Progress, productivity, sales, income. Every manager would like to see an increase in each of these categories. That increase is directly related to an increase in motivation. When employees are motivated they get more done, and overall they do a better job. Employee motivation is the key to success in the work place.