Here's how you can boost employee motivation as an executive coach.

Every leader can identify the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs of their team members and ensure that they are given opportunities to perform and earn the same. Helps the employee remain motivated and achieve their personal goals and professional goals.

Understand and support employees’ aspirations, strengths, and challenges. Connect their personal goals with the company’s vision to create a sense of purpose and belonging. Foster a growth mindset and celebrate successes. As coaches, we guide employees, build trust, and develop resilience to drive individual and organizational success.

As an Executive coach you can influence Employee Motivation through the executive you are coaching, in the following ways. 1) Give a fillip to the sense of “AGENCY“ in the larger team by coaching the Executive to delegate in both letter and spirit. 2) Raise the competence of the larger team by coaching the Executive to prioritise people development. 3) Build Team Spirit and Team Culture by initiating the Executive in these processes. Focus on intrinsic motivation is the key.

To truly motivate employees, it's essential to understand their unique needs and aspirations. In my coaching practice, I once worked with a senior executive who was struggling with high turnover in her department. By taking the time to understand the underlying concerns of her team—ranging from a desire for more autonomy to better work-life balance—we were able to address these issues directly. As a result, she implemented flexible work schedules and gave employees more control over their projects, which led to increased satisfaction and significantly reduced turnover.

You cannot motivate people. But you can destroy their motivation. Each person decides for themselves if they are motivated or not. You may be able to ignite shortterm extrinsic motivation, but that is not the motivation you are looking for. It is key for every leader to understand which of their behaviours is demotivating people. Once that is understood, you can shift your energy into rekindling motivation.

This is something which I think is so important as many clients I have worked with don’t have clear goals for they are going so will just wander aimlessly from day to day with out achieving anything or making progress. When setting goals it’s important to look at your long term goals first, define the dream and set the direction. Figure out where you are going then we can figure out how we get there by setting our medium and short term goals. But you have to make sure these short and medium term goals are SMART and you have actions to do to help you achieve them.

Setting clear, realistic goals is another powerful way to boost motivation. I recall a situation where a company was experiencing a decline in sales, and the sales team felt overwhelmed and directionless. As their executive coach, I helped the sales leader break down the overall target into smaller, achievable milestones that each team member could own. This approach not only provided clarity but also fostered a sense of accomplishment as each goal was met. The team’s morale improved, and they eventually exceeded their sales targets.

As an executive coach, I set clear, achievable goals by first understanding the client’s values, strengths, and challenges. Together, we define specific, measurable objectives aligned with their long-term vision. I break these goals into smaller, actionable steps, ensuring they are realistic and time-bound, while regularly tracking progress to maintain focus and accountability.

Great leaders provide feedback and seek feedback. They coach their team members, provide constructive feedback and help them work on personal development. They encourage 360’degree feedback surveys and provide employees with the reports to identify strengths and blindspots. The insights from such reports help the employees to work on their learning and skill development.

In one of my coaching engagements, a COO was struggling to inspire his team due to his overly critical feedback style. By helping him adopt a more humble approach, where he acknowledged his own mistakes before providing constructive criticism, the dynamic within the team changed. Employees felt more valued and respected, which in turn boosted their motivation to perform at higher levels. The positive shift in the team’s energy and productivity was palpable.

In my experience empowering employees with autonomy is a game-changer for motivation. I recall working with a company where micromanagement was stifling innovation. We shifted the culture by gradually giving team members more decision-making power. One manager, initially hesitant, saw a dramatic increase in productivity and creativity when he trusted his team with a major project. This transformation not only boosted morale but also led to outstanding results. As a leader, fostering a culture of trust and responsibility unleashes your team's potential, driving self-motivation and initiative to new heights. Conversely, taking away that autonomy can quickly erode motivation and stifle growth.

The best way to empower employees is to not take away their autonomy in the first place. Once you have micromanagement, distrust or too much hierarchy in your organization, it will be difficult to regain trust.

By making a culture of collaboration with trust and integrity, and systemic clarification of everyone's duty and their responsibilities, and communication strategy between separate sections of organization, in addition to select qualified person for each part and continuous education, we can empower autonomy which level up the motivation of employees.

Empowering employees with autonomy boosts motivation significantly. When trusted to make decisions and take ownership, individuals feel more invested in their work's outcome. As an executive coach, fostering a culture of trust and responsibility helps unlock the workforce's potential. This leads to higher self-motivation, initiative, and a greater sense of engagement, which drives productivity and satisfaction within the organisation.

Motivation is closely linked to one’s perception of being in control of one’s own life. The more this feeling is stripped from someone, the less enthusiastic they will become. The key to coaching teams is to work towards creating an environment where everyone feels empowered in their different roles, whilst also feeling supported and valued by the people around them. Equipping employees with the tools to become passionately accountable, and managers to adopt a mindset of championing and inspiring their team are essential to a successful workplace.

It is too easy as a leader to focus on negative experiences, your own failure and those of others. What about the positives or successes of the last season? Do you remember them? Have you stopped to smile about them? Try these four stages in a conversation: 1) Stop 2) Consider the two greatest achievements of the individual's last season 3) Discuss the feeling of success and what it meant to the individual and others 4) Reflect on lessons learned for moving forward

The culture of progressive learning, being up to date, being familiar with the new technology and data, and encourage growth by pulling energy, not pushing force and fear, motivates employees for showing up their best version.

Having a “growth” mindset is critical to success in life. A person with a growth mindset has optimism, hope and resilience as inner strengths. Such individuals are able to take setbacks without demotivation. They also have the belief that what happens is for the best and out of every experience they learn more about themselves. Such people are flexible and adapt to the circumstances which is what makes them incredible leaders. The good news is that all these virtues - optimism, hope, flexibility and resilience - are already present inside us and can be unlocked. An executive coach can help in doing so. There are tools and techniques that an Executive coach will bring to the table.

Encouraging growth isn't just about professional development; it's about nurturing the soul too. Spiritual Intelligence teaches us that true motivation comes from aligning one's work with their deeper purpose. As an executive coach, I guide organizations not just to offer training and mentorship but to help employees find meaning in their roles. This 360 approach can transform the workplace into a space where Spiritual and Professional growth coexist, leading to a more deeply motivated team.