How to motivate people – and keep them motivated – to produce terrific performance improvements that show up on the bottom line seems to be the number one challenge in today’s motor industry.

Motivation (or motive to action) is very simple and straightforward. Unfortunately, as with many things in life and business in particular, it’s been complicated beyond reason.

When it comes to motivation there’s one fundamental principle that underpins it all: When people believe in themselves, in the work they do, in the benefits that it gives to them, their families, the team, the customers, the community and the company, then people really do become unstoppable.

Employee motivation is not all about incentives, big bonuses and moving people up the promotion ladder.

However, the power and influence that managers, supervisors and team leaders can have on employee motivation – is massively underutilised.

The worst thing managers can do to try and motivate a team is say something like: “We need to increase profits by 25%.” It’s such a superficial thing to say that the whole team will then spend all their energy proving it can’t be done.

Leaders need to help them picture what that extra 25% looks and feels like and what the benefit is to them.

The key is managers knowing their team’s personal aspirations and where they link to the company objectives.

The traditional way of motivating in the motor industry is to throw money around.

Surprisingly, if managers asked what the number one motivator is among their teams, they won’t say money.

They say things like providing for their family, job security and being made to feel valued and appreciated before they even mention cash.

So find out what switches your people on. They’ll then achieve amazing things, not because you want them to, but because they want to.

There is no bigger motivator than someone doing something for the benefits it will bring to them, their family, their community, their feeling of well-being.

Only by being aware of and dialling into an individual’s aspirations, or hot-spots, can we paint winning pictures in their minds and help them to develop their own winning pictures.

Research has shown that the top six hot-spots are peace of mind, health and energy, loving relationships, financial freedom, worthy goals and ideals, plus personal fulfillment.