Chapter Three: Master the Art of Transforming the Workplace | Part 4 of 4
Revised and updated | Hire Train Monitor Motivate: Build an Organization, Team, or Career of Distinction in the Transformational Workplace
Audio voiceover:
Substack’s AI-generated voiceover is now available from “By David J. Waldron.” To access it, open the chapter in the Substack app. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or via direct message. I will use AI to clone my voice for the book’s official audiobook release.
Learn more about audio voiceovers:
https://davidjwaldronbooks.substack.com/p/audio
Haven’t read the previous chapters? You can find them here on the webpage:
https://davidjwaldronbooks.substack.com/p/hire-train-monitor-motivate
Chapter Three
Master the Art of Transforming the Workplace
Part 4 of 4: Motivate for Performance
Customer-focused, team-oriented, and consensus-driven organizations dedicate themselves to excellence in recruiting and retaining employees who educate and serve their constituents. Their ongoing responsibility is to hire, train, monitor, and motivate passionate contributors who strive to achieve the desired customer and organizational results.
I was fortunate to have successful tenures in organizational leadership and team building by learning and practicing the art of hiring, training, monitoring, and motivating. These four skills are essential for building and sustaining an organization, a team, or an individual’s career of distinction.
Motivate for Performance
I am a certified practitioner in the behavioral science of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), and I believe its principles are excellent tools for motivating or staying motivated in an ethical workplace.
NLP—initially developed in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder—offers a collection of effective communication techniques suited to the transformational workplace.
For brevity, I present several key presuppositions or premises that—when understood and practiced—can significantly boost the motivation of outstanding teams and individuals.
Our Brain Has Two Mindsets
NLP theory works from the premise that each of us communicates to the world via our conscious and subconscious minds.
Our conscious mind tries to justify our thoughts, decisions, and communication. We tend to stay motivated at work based on our conscious mind’s rational thinking and actions.
In contrast, our subconscious mind taps into our brain’s database of a lifetime of learned values, beliefs, and motives, along with our intuitive understanding of the world around us and what might be ahead.
To effectively persuade or motivate a team member ethically, you must understand that individual’s conscious and subconscious thoughts.
For example, a team member operating from a conscious mindset might enthusiastically support the new strategic initiative. However, on a subconscious level, they might hold unspoken doubts about the proposal, influenced by past negative experiences that reflect the plan’s parameters.
In the example shown above, the conscious mind conforms to political correctness by buying in, while the subconscious considers possible objections and consequences that might emerge later, without expecting them.
So, how can you tell the difference between these two states of mind without coming across as patronizing?
Motivate by Engaging the Three Sensory Channels
There are few substitutes for the three main sensory channels of communication most common in the workplace: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
With all due respect to readers in the foodservice industry who rely on the gustatory or taste sense, as well as those in other professions that depend on the olfactory or smell sense—or perhaps the sense of touch—the focus here is on the three commonly used senses of sight, hearing, and emotional feeling.
I have found no better way to understand staff and colleagues’ motivations than by being aware of how they communicate in the workplace through their sensory channels.
It is assumed, despite any physical disabilities, that each of us communicates through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic channels. However, as individuals, we tend to favor one over the others. At a minimum, you should be able to identify a person’s preferred order of using these three channels in everyday spoken and written communication.
Pay attention to or read your colleague’s word choices. You might notice a dominance in one particular channel.
Visual Person: “I see what you mean. Let’s take a look at the report.”
Auditory Person: “I hear you on that issue. Let’s listen to what she has to say.”
Kinesthetic Person: I get the sense that things will improve. The new team member has a warm personality. I feel confident about working with him on the project.
The above examples demonstrate how simple it is to determine a person’s primary communication channel by documenting their keywords.
Once you identify their dominant sensory channel, remember to communicate with your colleague using their preferred words, whether spoken or written. This method can help them feel connected to your message on either a conscious or subconscious level.
Here are example matching responses that correspond to the earlier examples.
Visual Person: “I see what you mean. Let’s take a look at the report.” ◦ Your matching response: “Okay, and the good news is the info is easy to visualize.”
Auditory Person: “I hear you on that issue. Let’s listen to what she has to say.” ◦ Your matching response: “Sounds like a plan!”
Kinesthetic Person: “I am getting the sense things are going to improve. The new team member has a warm personality. I do feel good about partnering with him on the project.” ◦ Your matching response: “I understand his former team gave him a heartfelt sendoff.”
Matching and translating someone’s predominant communication style is a fundamental NLP principle in motivating performance.
We all know someone great at connecting with people, forming quick friendships, or influencing others. I argue that an individual’s ability to motivate through the three sensory channels relies on the theoretical knowledge of the NLP hypothesis about these interactive paths, if not from a natural predisposition or intuitive understanding of the concept.
Effective communication and motivation extend beyond just sensory channels. Neuro-linguistic programming concepts provide a range of interactive options within an ethical workplace.
The Intent and Response Are Separate Modalities
The counterintuitive theory behind NLP suggests that resistance to communication or an idea often indicates the communicator’s rigidity rather than the receiver’s.
When working with a staff member or coworker, do not assume that any resistance to your communication is unavoidable or simply stubbornness.
First, assume your communication, no matter the form, failed to influence your staff member, coworker, or supervisor as intended. Therefore, you must take responsibility by reconnecting—without defensiveness—to persuade your audience to your point of view.
Begin by identifying their main sensory channel. Is it visual, auditory, or kinesthetic? Once you know the dominant channel, adapt and deliver your communication by matching and translating your audience’s map instead of your territory.
Most people have the resources to change how they communicate and motivate. Use this idea ethically to reach your professional or career goals. Take responsibility for your part of the communication because that is all you can control. Analyze your message and improve it. Subconsciously, colleagues may notice that you take responsibility for your actions for everyone’s benefit.
Every Behavior Stems From a Positive Intent
I suggest that a core NLP assumption has become more relevant in today’s competitive workplace within the so-called sharing economy.
The positive worth of a person remains respected as we assess the value and appropriateness of both internal and external behaviors.
A classic example of the positive intent theory is that nobody smokes cigarettes because they want to become addicted to nicotine or develop cancer. Positive outcomes like relaxation, oral fixation, or keeping nervous fingers busy can lead to reliance on smoking.
At work, a coworker’s questionable behaviors that stem from good intentions might include repeatedly arriving late due to a child’s special needs, rather than poor work habits. Perhaps a colleague overcontributes during meetings in an attempt to gain acceptance from the group, rather than just dominating it.
Another example is a staff member’s history of frequent job-hopping or constant applications to internal postings, which doesn’t stem from a selfish desire to advance their career, but rather from a conscious longing for change and the emotional thrill it offers.
A Winning Strategy for Self-Motivation
Staying motivated in your job and career is just as important as inspiring others.
A key principle of NLP states that a person is more likely to achieve their goals when they move toward a new objective rather than away from something that no longer interests them.
An example of this counterintuitive self-motivation approach is leaving an organization or team because of frustration with the culture or a supervisor. In this case, it’s crucial to direct your energy toward the new opportunities you’re pursuing, rather than just aiming to leave the organization.
Productive, self-motivated professionals look ahead and move forward. Unsuccessful self-saboteurs often get stuck in their emotions after abandoning a goal. By refocusing on our new goal after deciding to leave a previous one, we may find ourselves winning more often in life.
Consider using interactive tools based on traditional NLP behavioral models. The willingness and ability to motivate—or stay motivated—in ethical ways are crucial for the success of organizations, teams, and individual careers in the changing workplaces of the twenty-first century.
Best Practices for Motivating Effectively in the Workplace
Although necessary, some may argue that motivating for performance is difficult in today’s typical workplace environment.
Whether as a team leader or contributor, your focus should be on influencing others and staying motivated in the competitive local and global markets.
Here are the top ten practices that ethical, high-performing team leaders are using to keep themselves and their staff inspired.
Cater lunch when the whole team wins.
Sponsor award ceremonies with approved plaques and giveaways.
Host fun games to fuel the competitive spirit.
Regularly publish privacy-cleared customer, employee, and organizational results to maintain enthusiasm about daily achievements.
Encourage staff to attend organizational or team meetings that include ceremonies so that they can experience the meaning and ultimate joy of their work.
High-achieving contributors are central to the meeting agenda as speakers.
Publish and share privacy-approved lists of valued customers or colleagues so staff can offer congratulations.
Arrange events outside your central workplace to engage with the community by showcasing your strengths and expertise.
Conduct customer surveys to identify and resolve common issues, and share positive feedback about the team and its dedicated members with staff and corporate.
Remember to praise publicly and reprimand privately.
Motivate, or stay motivated, by being open to new and ethical communication methods, such as the behavioral science of neuro-linguistic programming. At a minimum, use best practices that keep you, the organization, and its stakeholders inspired about the ultimate mission and values your products or services support for the betterment of local or global markets.
Equally important, practice ethical motivational strategies that foster a fun and productive workplace of distinction.
Hire, Train, Monitor, and Motivate for Results
By prioritizing stakeholders, especially customers, a team or organization is more likely to foster a culture that values employees with optimistic attitudes, beyond just the necessary credentials.
When there are no openings, interview a constant stream of blue suits from the lobby to maintain bench strength. If you are currently seeking new opportunities, then be that blue suit in another team or organization’s lobby.
Focus on quality training by starting with a comprehensive new employee orientation day, recognizing that training is both an individual effort and a group activity. Ensure compliance with laws, regulations, industry standards, and organizational policies in a supportive manner. Demonstrate commitment to following the rules by first understanding what they are and what they aim to achieve.
Motivate performance by applying proven behavioral strategies and other recommended best practices to recognize and support employee and customer strengths. Also, accept any shortcomings that do not pose liabilities to the organization.
Consistently applying these principles and being receptive to them often results in successful and ethical outcomes.
Now recite and repeat: “Hire for optimism, train for quality, monitor for compliance, and motivate for performance.”
Next in Hire Train Monitor Motivate | Chapter Four: Play the Game the Right Way
Hire Train Monitor Motivate is copyright 2016 and 2025 by David J. Waldron. All rights reserved worldwide.
Universal links allow you to preview or purchase David’s published print or ebooks — each available globally at your preferred online bookstores — with one or two clicks, brought to you by our trusted partner, BookFunnel.
Share your network with the “By David J. Waldron” author website to earn credits for a premium subscription that offers full-text and audio access to all of David’s manuscripts and updated chapters of his published self-help books.